Exposing The Church of Englands Double Standard: ¨Please let us make some attempt to be even-handed and avoid such blatant hypocrisy¨

The Very Reverend Jeffrey John, Dean of St. Albans

¨Jeffrey John is a man in a faithful relationship with his life partner. Normally the church would commend this sort of long-term and committed relationship – but the rules change when the two people in question are the same gender...¨  The Reverend Dr. Lesley Fellows
 

¨...seeking advice to avoid the Equality Act¨ Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

¨The latest evidence of prejudice against homosexual people in the Church of England has come from the leaked Colin Slee memo and advice that Archbishop Rowan Williams sought in order to get around the Equality Act (2010). This counsel was to ensure that a gay man, ie Jeffrey John, was not appointed as bishop of Southwark. A cunning checklist was devised, consisting of five questions:

• whether the candidate had always complied with the Church's teachings on same-sex sexual activity;


• whether he was in a civil partnership;


• whether he was in a continuing civil partnership with a person with whom he had had an earlier same-sex relationship;


• whether he had expressed repentance for any previous same-sex sexual activity; and


• whether (and to what extent) the appointment of the candidate would cause division and disunity within the diocese in question, the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion.

By my reckoning, Jeffrey John fails on five out of five. One could be forgiven for thinking that this is a list deliberately designed to exclude him...¨ please join the conversation, HERE

·  Thanks to The Reverend Dr. Lesley Fellows, sidebar
·  Thanks to The Guardian, United Kingdom
·  Thanks to PA, photo