MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) – At least one in ten of bishops in the Church of England could be homosexual but fearing to come out according to Dr. Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham.
"The Rt. Rev. Dr. Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham, accused the current episcopate of preaching a 1950s "Janet and John" image of human relationships while adopting an "eyes wide shut" approach to homosexuality in its own ranks and the wider church," the Telegraph underscores.
Rt. Rev. Alan Wilson denounces a categorical prohibition of same-sex marriage between Anglican priests as "unlawful," the media source reports. The priest stresses that "our grandparents' cultural dictates" have nothing to do with the original teaching of Jesus Christ, rejecting the idea that the Holy Bible condemns gay marriage.
"To most English people under 40 a discussion of gay bishops or same-sex marriage feels as relevant and inviting as one about women being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia," the bishop notes as cited by the Telegraph.
Alan Wilson blames the episcopate for double-standards approach, revealing that there is about a dozen of homosexuals serving as bishops in the Church of England.
"Many who have publicly resisted same-sex marriage also have a dog in the fight arising from personal experience. This can arise from ambivalence or guilt about ways they have handled family members who have come out as gay, as well as their own sexualities," Dr. Wilson claims.
The bishop accuses the clergy of discriminating homosexual priests, referring to the case of Dr. Jeffrey John, the openly gay but celibate Dean of St. Albans, who was forced to reject a bishop's miter because of his sexuality.
"Jesus didn't say anything about being gay, he did say an enormous amount about the professional guardians of the sacred who take themselves too seriously," emphasizes Dr. Wilson.
However, despite the prohibition against same-sex marriages among Anglican priests, some of male clergy defied the ban and married their partners, Christian Today, the UK's Christian news provider reported on September 8.
"In London, Father Andrew Cain married his partner Stephen Foreshaw in June and both changed their surnames to Foreshaw-Cain. In April, Canon Jeremy Pemberton, an NHS chaplain in Lincolnshire, married his partner Laurence Cunnington," the online resource narrated, adding that after getting married Canon Jeremy Pemberton was forced to withdraw from his position by his bishop.
Christian Today pointed out that Anglican bishops faced "growing pressure" from human rights organizations, which demanded that the English Church should "soften" its stance regarding same-sex marriage and gay priests.
