A motion passed yesterday by the Church of England's General Synod has revealed deep divisions over the Church's response to the 2005 Civil Partnership Act, which legally recognised same-sex relationships, and the subsequent guidance issued by the House of Bishops in 2005.
The House of Bishops triggered controversy in 2005 when it issued its Pastoral Statement on civil partnerships which stated that gay clergy could enter into civil partnerships as long as they first assured their bishops that they would abstain from sex - guidance which conservatives feared would be ignored by gay clergy entering such partnerships.Synod debated a motion Wednesday afternoon put forward by the Rev Paul Perkin of Southwark, also a member of the evangelical group Reform, which said the Civil Partnership Act undermined the "distinctiveness and fundamental importance to society of the relationship of marriage".
Perkin's motion also said the House of Bishops' Pastoral Statement had "produced a recipe for confusion by not stating clearly that civil partnerships entered into under the CP Act would be inconsistent with Christian teaching".
Significantly, liberals and conservatives voted down an amendment recognising the controversial Pastoral Statement as a "balanced and sensitive attempt" to apply Church teaching to civil partnerships. Synod asked yesterday that the House of Bishops now review the Pastoral Statement.
Church liberals were among those voicing concern over the guidance, saying that it was too intrusive in advising clergy to ask clergy in same-sex civil partnerships questions about the sexual aspect of their relationships.
The Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Rev John Gladwin, also insisted that Church teaching on marriage had not changed in the wake of the Civil Partnership Act and that the civil partnerships did not undermine society and marriage because they did not equate to marriage. Another member said that civil partnerships did not undermine marriage but actually "promote fidelity".
The Rev Rob Munro of Cheadle in Cheshire, however, pointed out that public perception was important and that, regardless of legal definitions, the public did in fact equate civil partnerships with marriage.
Conservatives in the Church called for a return to Scripture, which they said was very clear in its position on homosexuality.
