/ world today news/ After the pandemic, a new fever gripped Great Britain. This time related to gender. Even the church is involved in the debate about who feels like what. However, such enthusiasm led to unexpected consequences.
A variety of species
“You have no choice. This is one of our British values and if you refuse, you will be severely punished.” This was heard at the Crown Woods Academy in London, where civil servants are trained.
The teacher showed the class a film about LGBT culture and gender diversity. One of the wards ventured to question the propriety of the performance. At which the teacher burst into an angry speech.
“That’s our approach. And if there are people sitting here who don’t agree with what I’m saying, they should go home and talk to their parents,” he said.
The student did just that. As a result, a complaint was filed against the school management. “We recognize that we live in modern Britain, but we are very upset to be told that our beliefs are not in line with British values,” the family said in a statement.
This is one of many such cases. Scandals mostly arise around children.
The report of the British analytical center “Policy Exchange” notes: the vast majority (about 70%) of secondary schools require children to be tolerant of gender and the LGBT community. At the same time, the number of transgender people in the country is negligible – only 0.5%. There are slightly more people with non-traditional sexual orientation – about 2%.
Special conversations are held with students about respecting the self-identification and sexual preferences of classmates, common changing rooms and toilets are introduced – without dividing men and women. In addition, in a quarter of schools, parents have not been notified of the development of the new “curriculum”.
In Great Britain there are many boarding houses under the patronage of the Church of England. There are many religious families. At the same time, the principals cited Cherish All God’s Children, a bishops’ handbook on the benefits of gender and sexuality education.
Worried traditionalists have therefore petitioned the leadership of the Church of England to withdraw its support for all this.
A broken vow
The religious organization itself, the largest in the country, has been at a fever pitch in recent months. The question of gender – biological and social – is a long-standing abscess on her body.
In 1998, when discussing the legalization of gay marriage, the clergy decided: “Same-sex unions are unacceptable and it is not recommended to bless them.” But this was only a recommendation, not a directive.
The Church of England is a confederation of 42 national communities with a common creed but different orders. Gays and lesbians are now marrying in the more liberal Episcopal churches of the United States, Brazil, Canada, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand and Polynesia.
At last year’s bishops’ conference, the Anglican spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, first softened the 1998 position, then still recognized it as “just”.
The ultimatum of the traditionalists had an effect: African clerics threatened to secede if they “violated the canons”. The trump card is powerful: after all, the communities in Uganda, Nigeria and Rwanda are more than 30 million believers, about ten times more than the liberal wing.
A few months ago, however, the reformers tipped the scales in their favor. In February, the Anglican Synod decided to bless LGBT couples. The very doctrine of marriage as a union of a man and a woman does not change. But non-traditional partners will receive “the widest possible pastoral care.”
And then the church leadership announced its intention to use gender-neutral terms to refer to God. Because this directly affected the fundamentals of dogma, the reaction of conservatives was much more violent.
At the end of April, they held a meeting in the Rwandan capital Kigali and declared that they no longer trusted the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“Public statements in support of same-sex blessings are a betrayal of the vows he swore – the Anglican hierarchy must repent,” the official statement said.
Otherwise, defenders of the faith will refuse to recognize Justin Welby as “first among equals” and the official mouthpiece of the church. That is, a split will occur in one of the largest Christian churches.
End of this
Welby himself only tentatively replied that most communities still held traditional teachings about marriage and sexuality. But some “after much prayer and thought” came up with other ideas.
Another thing is interesting. Immediately after the scandalous decision to bless LGBT couples, the archbishop announced pressure from the British authorities.
“As part of the discussions, I spoke about our interdependence, especially with the global South, where other beliefs reign. As a result, I was twice summoned to parliament and threatened to impose same-sex marriage on us,” he admitted.
The Church of England is a state church and willy-nilly dependent on secular authorities. And there, too, there is no unity on the sexual issue.
Conservative leader and current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tries to maintain a balance – he talks about the need to respect everyone’s rights. One party members are more decisive. His colleague, MP Miriam Cates, called what was happening in the field of gender and sexuality the “Wild West” and called for schools and the church to be protected from harmful influence. Labour, on the other hand, believes that the current discord, including the Church, is the result of excessive caution.
“It’s time to end post-colonial pretensions, let go of the homophobic provinces and focus on the Church of England here,” wrote Liberal MP Ben Bradshaw.
Only time will tell which way the Anglicans will take.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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