According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, the Rev Ian Paul, a member of the Archbishops’ Council, a member of General Synod, and a leading voice for conservatives opposed to the full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in the Church of England told students at an Oxford Union debate on Thursday that allowing gay clergy to marry would amount to state interference in religion reminiscent of Nazi Germany. He argued that those supporting same-sex unions within the Church were allowing the views of the state to ride roughshod over religious teachings. Allowing same-sex marriage would be a “clear contravention of God’s word”.
He was addressing a motion on whether gay clergy should be able to marry, entitled "This House supports same-sex marriage in the Church." He said that supporting the proposal was “voting for a church which detaches itself from the clear and consistent teachings of Jesus,” adding: "If you vote for this motion you are, as a non-religious group, assuming secular authority can determine religious belief. You wouldn’t be alone in that, it was true in Nazi Germany, it was true in the Soviet Union. And true today in China and Iran and North Korea”.
On Thursday Ian Paul provided the evidence that underpins the conclusion I have reached that there is no relationship between my faith in the Mystery named God, a mystery manifest in the life and teaching of Jesus, a mystery experienced mystically in the essence and energy of unconditional, infinite, intimate love, a love experienced when our hearts are open to beauty, truth, and goodness - to the humanity of other people and the teaching of Jesus.
Ian’s belief is presumably shared by many of his allies and followers. It is faith in a god of infantile, ignorant, wilfully evil intent, a faith scarred by misogynism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism, that has created a supposedly Christian culture scarred by deep prejudice and widespread systemic abuse in the Church of England. Will any conservative groups and individuals voice dissent from Ian's position, I wonder?
Ian invests his time and energy in promoting a supposed Christianity that is scandalously un-Christian and perverted. This is one of the reasons why I decided to start the Unadulterated Love vlog. Over a period of months, I hope to set out a healthier awareness of the divine. I fear the corrupt Christianity presented by Ian Paul and others has infected all of us to some degree. Recovering our confidence in deeper truth within is going to take time and courage.
Wednesday's General Synod when the bishops’ proposals about same-sex marriage will be debated is, I fear, only likely to make things worse in the short term, heightening tensions and divisions within the Church of England. There will be deep hostility to LGBTQIA+ full equality and a radical new Christian inclusion from many. It takes courage and deep contemplative faith and trust not to let ourselves be sucked in to Ian’s poison. It will take the deepest personal conviction about our experience of God’s unconditional love to argue for and model the essence of Jesus in our lives – but we can do it.