Posted on 02/23/2023 7:04:33 PM PST by marshmallow
Sir Tony Baldry accuses The Most Rev Justin Welby of not offering ‘a fair representation of the facts’ over same-sex blessings debate
The Archbishop of Canterbury misrepresented his “summons” by MPs, a former minister has claimed.
Last week The Most Rev Justin Welby claimed that he was “threatened with parliamentary action” in an attempt to “force same-sex marriage” in the Church of England, following the institution’s historic vote to offer blessings for gay and lesbian couples and to apologise for its exclusion of LGBTQI+ people.
Speaking to members of the Anglican Communion in Accra, Ghana, where he is still visiting, he said that he was twice summoned to Parliament over the issue as he blamed rising secularism for triggering the historic debate at General Synod, the Church’s legislative body, on the new blessings.
He also warned that the church should not be “dictated to”, “blackmailed” or “bribed” over the issue.
However, Sir Tony Baldry, 72, who served as the Second Church Estates Commissioner from 2010 to 2015, a role appointed by the Crown and serves as a link between Parliament and the Church, said he was “surprised” by the Archbishop’s comments, as he accused him of not offering “a fair reflection of what happened” nor “a fair representation of the facts”.
'Not a fair reflection of what happened'
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “I think the only reasonable inference from Archbishop Justin’s speech in Accra was that the General Synod had voted in the way in which it had done, to allow for same-sex blessings, because they had in some way been pressured by external forces.
“And that was clearly not a fair reflection of what happened. And in not being a fair reflection of what happened, I’m quite sure it will cause those who doubted the sincerity........
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Listen to the death knell of anglicanism. I wrote Lambeth Palace more than 20 years ago to ask if they would stop this in the USA. No.
Why I swam the Tiber.
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