The ‘disturbingly disingenuous’ claims of many bishops

February’s General Synod vote to welcome the House of Bishops’ proposals was momentous and has thus provoked strong reactions.

Christopher Cocksworth, the Bishop of Coventry and leader of the Living in Love and Faith process, observed: ‘The proposed provision has united a broad alliance of evangelical networks, and some significant catholic voices, in suspicion, bewilderment, consternation and, among most [of] the evangelical spectrum, rejection.’

The vote only passed by a thin margin, the pastoral guidance about the ‘blessings’ was missing and, in practice, nothing has happened yet. We await the publication of the guidance, which will replace Issues in Human Sexuality, and then General Synod in July for the final outcome. Nevertheless, from an evangelical perspective, what the bishops have proposed, and what General Synod has now welcomed, for all its careful nuances, goes against the teaching of the Bible.