Anglican Mainstream has published a lengthy statement, apparently in response to information about what the Church of England is doing to combat homophobic bullying:
All bullying is wrong but C of E and Church Schools “should not promote Stonewall”
It is right that the Church of England should address issues of bullying and make schools ‘safe’ places for all children and young people. However, we are astonished that Stonewall has been chosen to deliver this service…
Changing Attitude has responded to Anglican Mainstream:
Anglican Mainstream’s homophobia
Anglican Mainstream has issued a statement criticizing the Church of England for working with Stonewall to target homophobic bullying in Church Schools.
The statement is a prime example of the homophobia that is institutionally present in the Church of England. Homophobia is personal or institutional prejudice against lesbian, gay and bisexual people rooted in a conscious or unconscious irrational fear of, aversion to, dislike of or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals (see dictionary definitions at the end)…
Read both articles in full to comprehend them.
Anglican Mainstream is quite right to oppose the presence of Stonewall in Church of England schools – from their point of view! They would have been wise to issue a statement reminding people of Stonewall’s nomination of the then Bishop of Winchester, Michael Scott-Joynt, without stating their other reasons. Accusing Stonewall of “discrimination” because they “only address LGBT issues” is bizarre. The programme is about homophobic bullying. Describing Stonewall as “unscientific” is even more off the wall. Stonewall stands in the centre of the worldwide scientific consensus that sexuality cannot be changed. Apparently “Many youngsters who self-identified as gay in… Read more »
The AM comment is useful because it reproduces the problem in the room and demonstrates the extent to which homophobia is entrenched within the Church of England, albeit among a small group of zealots in its most virulent forms.
All of this only goes to show that ‘Anglican Mainstream’ should really be called ‘Anglican Slipstream’ – irrelevant and out of date.
Shows their total lack of understanding of where science and genetics is just now, too, which is probably also general. It is a depressing read, which begins with a reasonable premise (we need to tackle all bullying) and moves on to the utterly unacceptable. We have let evil flourish, you know.
The statement by Anglican “Mainstream” consists mainly of nonsense, and pernicious nonsense at that. Its insinuation that the invitation to Stonewall to help and advise in combatting homophobic bullying implies treating other types of bullying as less important is downright dishonest, and its demand that “a campaign to eradicate bullying in schools should prioritize tackling its most common forms” reflects very oddly on the moral values of whoever drew up the statement. When campaigning against child sexual abuse, for example, do we prioritize tackling its most common forms? Does Anglican Mainstream regard the persecution of Christians in some non-Christian countries… Read more »
So Anglican “Mainstream” bullies a partner in the coalition to fight homophobic bullying. Miss the plot much?
“Jesus was very clear about sexual morality: he was against all forms of sex outside heterosexual marriage, and that included homosexuality.”
Anglican Mainstream is inventing their own Jesus, creating a bigoted god in their image instead of seeing the image of God in all, including LGBT persons. I guess that invention and lack of reason is at the crux of a phobia.
It’s very good that they have clearly stated their homophobia. Now everyone can see where they are coming from, inventing their own science as well as their own Jesus to justify bigotry.