AN open letter to the Bishop of Gloucester following the meeting of Anglican archbishops.

I received a rather sad email from a brilliant, gay, young friend of mine who has decided to leave the Church of England. He has written in poetic form.

True Love

You welcomed my voice in worship,

As boy treble and tenor soloist.

Every Sunday for eleven years,

Funerals and weddings in addition.

In cord tied white cassock

I could serve my priest.

In both preparation and worship

My service a welcome offering.

I sang and served at weddings

As you wedded the divorced.

Month by month you gladly accept

My gift aided financial support.

But you will not let me wed

Not divorced: faithful, only to one:

Wishing to be together till death:

Because we are gay.

Tell me again about the Love of God!

In punishing the Episcopal Church of the USA for marrying single-sex couples, the Anglican Communion has, in effect, sided with those who would rather see gay men and women put in jail than allowed to marry, which is certainly the case among some African churches.

So I ask, why is it that the Church all too often sides against human rights and supports a conservative (pre-scientific) view of the world?

I know many churchmen and women (I shall not call them Christian for this suggests a lifestyle directed by love) will be itching to throw texts supporting this official Anglican view.

Such people are usually selective in their choice, using the Bible as a sort of spiritual bludgeon. It makes them sound like members of Isis.

Anglicans have set aside texts when allowing the ordination of women (hurray!), remarriage after divorce (hurray!), the eating of shellfish (yummy) and the wearing of mixed fibre clothes (warm).

So much is a matter of culture, history and environment.

When the first single sex couples were married in the UK marriage as an institution did not explode and the world did not come to an end.

Yet this is not merely about single sex marriage, it is about the way Christians have treated gay people down through the centuries.

The meeting of Anglican archbishops has only served to highlight their second class status.

– Mark Parry, Coleford.