Inclusive Church is an organisation founded in 2003 that advocates for the full inclusion of all people regardless of ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, in the Christian churches (especially the Church of England), including in the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. [1] More broadly, it seeks "to raise awareness about the ways that people feel excluded by the church". [2]
Inclusive Church was founded in 2003, following the resignation of Jeffrey John, a celibate gay priest, as Bishop-designate of Reading, following controversy over his homosexuality. It was also founded as a response to the Church of England's then-rejection of women as bishops. [3] The organisation's petition against John's resignation achieved nearly 10,000 signatures. [2] Its first chair (until 2005) was Giles Fraser, then vicar of St Mary's, Putney and later Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral; [4] later chairs have been Giles Goddard (2005–2012), Dianna Gwilliams (2012–2022) and Dan Barnes-Davies (since 2022). [3]
In the decade after its creation, Inclusive Church's focus broadened away from sexual orientation. The organisation seeks to include all who feel excluded from churches. [2] In 2014–2015, the organisation published a series of books under the title Inclusive Church Resource, dealing with disability, mental health, sexuality, poverty, ethnicity, and gender. [5] [6]
Inclusive Church's national co-ordinator is Ruth Wilde. [7] Its board includes elected independent trustees alongside representatives from other organisations with similar aims, such as Changing Attitude, the Association of Black Clergy, Women and the Church, and Modern Church. [8] Most member churches are part of the Church of England, but there are also member churches from the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, independent churches and churches outside the UK. [9]
In 2013, Inclusive Church started hosting an annual lecture related to the organisation's goals. The inaugural lecture was given by Martyn Percy, then principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon, and later Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and was entitled "Beyond Inclusion: Whose Church Is It Anyway?" [10] [11]
In 2014, the lecture was given by Linda Woodhead, Professor of Sociology of Religion at Lancaster University, and was entitled "Whatever happened to Liberal Christianity?" [10]
In January 2015, Inclusive Church, in partnership with other organisations, began a campaign focused on the General Synod of the Church of England elections taking place later that year. The campaign aimed to "work against discrimination" in the Church of England during the five-year synod term. [12] It was described by the campaign co-ordinator as "an attempt to increase the number of people on General Synod, both lay and clergy, who would take an inclusive line against discrimination on areas of gender, race and sexual orientation". [13]
The Church of England is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the origin of the Anglican tradition, which combines features of both Reformed and Catholic Christian practices. Its adherents are called Anglicans.
Within Christianity, there are a variety of views on sexual orientation and homosexuality. The view that various Bible passages speak of homosexuality as immoral or sinful emerged in the first millennium AD, and has since become entrenched in many Christian denominations through church doctrine and the wording of various translations of the Bible.
Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion has struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church. In 1998, the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops passed a resolution "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". However, this is not legally binding. "Like all Lambeth Conference resolutions, it is not legally binding on all provinces of the Communion, including the Church of England, though it commends an essential and persuasive view of the attitude of the Communion." "Anglican national churches in Brazil, South Africa, South India, New Zealand and Canada have taken steps toward approving and celebrating same-sex relationships amid strong resistance among other national churches within the 80 million-member global body. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has allowed same-sex marriage since 2015, and the Scottish Episcopal Church has allowed same-sex marriage since 2017." In 2017, clergy within the Church of England indicated their inclination towards supporting same-sex marriage by dismissing a bishops' report that explicitly asserted the exclusivity of church weddings to unions between a man and a woman. At General Synod in 2019, the Church of England announced that same-gender couples may remain recognised as married after one spouse experiences a gender transition. In 2023, the Church of England announced that it would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples."
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is legislation proposed in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or, depending on the version of the bill, gender identity, by employers with at least 15 employees.
The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Catholic Church. According to the 2016 census, 3.1 million Australians identify as Anglicans. As of 2016, the Anglican Church of Australia had more than 3 million nominal members and 437,880 active baptised members. For much of Australian history since the arrival of the First Fleet in January 1788, the church was the largest religious denomination. It remains today one of the largest providers of social welfare services in Australia.
Affirming Catholicism, sometimes referred to as AffCath, is a movement operating in several provinces of the Anglican Communion, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and the United States. In the US, the movement is known as Affirming Anglican Catholicism (AAC). The movement represents a liberal strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is particularly noted for holding that Anglo-Catholic belief and practice is compatible with the ordination of women. It also generally supports ordination into the threefold ministry regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have developed significantly over time. Today, lesbian, gay, and bisexual rights are considered to be advanced by international standards.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Cyprus have evolved in recent years, but LGBT people still face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female expressions of same-sex sexual activity were decriminalised in 1998, and civil unions which grant several of the rights and benefits of marriage have been legal since December 2015. Conversion therapy was banned in Cyprus in May 2023. However, adoption rights in Cyprus are reserved for heterosexual couples only.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+)-affirming religious groups are religious groups that welcome LGBT people as their members, do not consider homosexuality as a sin or negative, and affirm LGBT rights and relationships. They include entire religious denominations, as well as individual congregations and places of worship. Some groups are mainly composed of non-LGBTQ+ members and they also have specific programs to welcome LGBTQ+ people into them, while other groups are mainly composed of LGBTQ+ members.
The Anglican Diocese of Tasmania includes the entire Tasmanian state of Australia and is an extraprovincial diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia.
The Catholic Church condemns same-sex sexual activity and denies the validity of same-sex marriage. While the Church opposes "unjust" discrimination against homosexual persons, it supports what it considers "just" discrimination in the employment of teachers or athletic coaches, in adoption, in the military and in housing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope John Paul II considers sexual activity between members of the same sex to be a grave sin against chastity and sees homosexual attraction as objectively disordered. However, the Catechism also states that homosexuals "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity". This teaching has developed through papal interventions, and influenced by theologians, including the Church Fathers.
Christian Concern is the trading name of CCFON Ltd, a not for profit advocacy group. It has been described as "one of the most prominent evangelical organisations in the United Kingdom", reaching a mailing list of more than 43,000 people. Christian Concern seeks to alter law and influence the media and government, and is linked to the Christian Legal Centre organisation.
The Equality Act 2010, often erroneously called the Equalities Act 2010, is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-discrimination law in mostly England, Scotland and Wales; some sections also apply to Northern Ireland. These consisted, primarily, of the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and three major statutory instruments protecting discrimination in employment on grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.
The Archbishops' Council is a part of the governance structures of the Church of England. Its headquarters are at Church House, Great Smith Street, London.
The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) clergy who are open about their sexuality or gender identity; are sexually active if lesbian, gay, or bisexual; or are in committed same-sex relationships is a debated practice within some contemporary Christian denominations.
LGBT employment discrimination in the United States is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is encompassed by the law's prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sex. Prior to the landmark cases Bostock v. Clayton County and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2020), employment protections for LGBT people were patchwork; several states and localities explicitly prohibit harassment and bias in employment decisions on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity, although some only cover public employees. Prior to the Bostock decision, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) interpreted Title VII to cover LGBT employees; the EEOC determined that transgender employees were protected under Title VII in 2012, and extended the protection to encompass sexual orientation in 2015.
Within Christianity, there are a variety of views on the issues of gender identity and transgender people. Christian denominations vary in their official position: some explicitly support gender transition, some oppose it, and others are divided or have not taken an official stance. Within any given denomination, individual members may or may not endorse the official views of their church on the topic.
Jeremy Charles Baring Pemberton is a British Anglican priest who was the first priest in the Church of England to enter into a same-sex marriage when he married another man in 2014. As same-sex marriages are not accepted by the church, he was denied a job as a chaplain for the National Health Service by John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. Before then, he had been an Anglican priest for 33 years.