The question then becomes what status we should give to the acceptance of same-sex sexual relationships by some Anglican churches today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the words of C S Lewis, the traditional rule of the Christian Church with regard to sexual ethics has always been \u2018either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence\u2019[9]<\/a> (marriage here means marriage between a man and a woman). This is the consensual teaching about marriage and sexual ethics that, as Vincent of Lerin puts it, has been held \u2018always, everywhere and by everyone\u2019[10]<\/a> from biblical times onwards, in the same way that belief in the divinity of Christ and his bodily resurrection have been universally taught and accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the words of Darrin Belousek in his book Marriage, Scripture and the Church<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Scripture, consistently, presents a single picture of marriage and approves a single pattern of sexual relations: male- female union. Jesus summarizes this witness: \u2018the two\u2019 of \u2018male and female\u2019 joined into \u2018one flesh.\u2019 The Holy Spirit has woven this pattern of holy union throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, in the form, function, and figure of marriage. Tradition, East and West, also has consistently taught a single standard of sex and marriage: marriage is man-woman monogamy; all sex outside man-woman monogamy is sin. This doctrine has been taught always by the church, beginning with the apostles\u2019 testimony to Jesus teaching; It has been proclaimed throughout the worldwide church, among all people in every place and epoch, as God\u2019s will for sex and marriage; it has been articulated by apologetic writings and theological treatises, transmitted through baptismal catechesis and canonical discipline, celebrated in monastic vows and nuptial rites.\u2019 [11]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Judged against this standard, the acceptance of same-sex sexual relationships (and even same-sex marriages) by some churches in the Anglican Communion has to be viewed as a \u2018gross and grievous abomination,\u2019 since it constitutes a departure from a key part of the Catholic and apostolic faith and an endorsement of sin. To put it plainly the churches involved have supported both heresy and immorality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, as the Church of England Evangelical Council report \u2018Guarding the Deposit\u2019 notes, the apostolic witness in the New Testament, which has also been accepted \u2018everywhere at all times and by all,\u2018 teaches that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018\u2026the Church should make a separation in this world between the people of God and those who practise sexual immorality (1 Cor 5: 1-13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Tom Wright notes, Paul teaches that the Church has the \u2018God-given right and duty to discriminate between those who are living in the Messiah\u2019s way and those who are not\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> Martin Davie–Assessing two different visions for the future of the Anglican Communion https:\/\/t.co\/F3so2u4TtA<\/a> 'The difference between the two views of the future of global Anglicanism put forward by the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals and The Abuja Affirmation is that the former holds\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/LXTgMmiuOZ<\/a><\/p>— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 16, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>