The Church of England has declared that sex is for married heterosexuals only, and everyone else should abstain.
The institution’s House of Bishops has drawn up a guidance document advising clergy to deny couples blessings if they are in civil partnerships, in response to a law change allowing mixed-sex forms.
“Sexual relationships outside heterosexual marriage are regarded as falling short of God’s purpose for human beings,” it says.
“For Christians, marriage – that is, the lifelong union between a man and a woman, contracted with the making of vows – remains the proper context for sexual activity.”
It adds that in response to new forms of civil partnerships, the church “seeks to uphold that standard” and “affirm the value of committed, sexually abstinent friendships” within them.
Civil partnerships were legalised in December 2005, affording same-sex couples legal status and property rights, but in 2018 the supreme court ruled that mixed-sex civil ties should have come under the act. The first mixed-sex couple was registered last month.
The CofE already bans same-sex marriage, which was legalised in 2013, but permits clergy to enter same-sex civil partnerships if they are sexually abstinent.
The traditional teachings on civil partnerships comes as the church carries out a major review of its stance on sexuality and marriage.
The pastoral guidance adds that Bishops “do not believe it is possible for the church to unconditionally to accept civil partnerships as unequivocally reflecting the teaching of the church” because of “ambiguity” over sex in these couples.
It advises CofE clergy that they “should not provide services of blessing for those who register a civil partnership,” and concludes: “The church’s teaching on sexual ethics remains unchanged.”
The new statement is likely to deepen divisions between conservatives and more progressive wings of the church.
Jayne Ozanne, a campaigner for LGBT rights and a member of the C of E’s ruling body, the General synod, said: “I’m sadly unsurprised by the content of this statement but I’m deeply saddened by its tone.
“It will appear far from ‘pastoral’ to those it discusses and shows little evidence of the ‘radical new Christian inclusion’ that we have been promised.”
