Articles and Talks

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31 July 2016: NEW ARTICLE. The following article has been placed on the Research section of this website

SEX AND GENDER VARIATION IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: IS IT NOT TIME TO CONSIDER THE SCIENCE?

Please note that the material contained in this section is provided for information only. It does not represent the current policy or the current attitude of the Sibyls.

To read the document: Click Here

26 January 2014: Information: NEW ARTICLE. The following article has been placed on the Research section of this website

THE PILLING REPORT: A DETAILED ANALYSIS BY CHRISTINA BEARDSLEY, FOR CHANGING ATTITUDE, ENGLAND

Please note that the material contained in this section is provided for information only. It does not represent the current policy or the current attitude of the Sibyls,  LGB&T Anglican Coalition, or any of its constituent groups.

To read the document: Click Here

16 November 2013: Information: NEW ARTICLE. The following article has been placed on the Research section of this website

A REASSESSMENT OF THE TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN TEACHING ON HOMOSEXUALITY, TRANSSEXUALITY AND ON GENDER AND SEXUAL VARIATION USING A NEW NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH: BY SUSAN GILCHRIST

Please note that the material contained in this section is provided for information only. It does not represent the current policy or the current attitude of the Sibyls, LGB&T Anglican Coalition, or any of its constituent groups.

To read the document: Click Here

25 January 2013: Lecture: “WHOLLY HOLY: WHAT DOES THE IDENTITY OF BEING LGBT ADD TO THE IDENTITY OF BEING CHRISTIAN?”

A lecture given by the Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, on Wednesday 30 January 2013.

Some Extracts.

To download the complete document, click on the link below:

…….And is there a place for LGBT persons in this model? Absolutely. They’re in the front seat of the van. Why? I’ll give you three reasons. One, because a terrifying, murderous and persecuted history, which has left LGBT persons so marginalised, scapegoated, and diminished in the church it’s astonishing they’re still here, makes LGBT persons almost uniquely qualified to identify with those people closest to Jesus’ heart, Jesus’ company, and Jesus’ ministry. After hundreds of years of seeing LGBT persons as living in Babylon, in an exile of their own making, the church is finally beginning to realize that they’re not in Babylon – they’re in Egypt, in a captivity imposed upon them by others. Of course LGBT persons are sinners – everyone is; but at last the church is beginning to recognize that this is a people incalculably more sinned against than sinning, with an inexhaustible store of wisdom and grace to teach their brothers and sisters…….

……LGBT people are made this way because God wanted ones like them to do a job no one else could do; and if the church is somewhat slow in affirming specific vocations and attending to long-hidden gifts it’s because it has hundreds of years of unlearning to do in breaking the habits of oppression and letting the Holy Spirit speak through an exiled people……..

…….What needs to happen now is repentance for the church’s ignorance and cruelty, a renewal of the church’s mission, and a reappraisal of the resources at the church’s disposal. And to lead the church as it discovers what it means to be a minority, to be misunderstood, mistrusted, and seen with contempt, who better to be its leaders and teachers than those who have been in that place all along. I wonder who those people might be…..

To download the complete document, click on the link below:

http://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/wp-content/uploads/Wholly-Holy-Jan-30-2013.pdf

21 April 2012: News:  KEYNOTE ADDRESS “MAKING SPACE FOR AN HONEST CONVERSATION”, BY THE BISHOP OF SALISBURY TO THE CUTTING EDGE CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE: 21ST APRIL 2012

"In British society, the game is up. Gay people are equal members of our society", said the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt. Revd Nicholas Holtam, to the Cutting Edge Consortium Conference 21st April 2012.

......"So, increasingly, there is an evangelical imperative for the Church to recognise that covenantal same sex relationships can be Godly and good for individuals and society; that they are at least like marriage for heterosexuals, and this is a development that many Christians in good faith warmly welcome. For LGBT people it raises a question about whether marriage is what they want, but for us as a Church there are things to affirm in this development.

It is a disaster that we have allowed the Church to be seen as the opposition to equal civil marriage".

To read the full text of the address Click Here

For comment in the Daily Telegraph: Click Here

6 February 2010: SEXUALITY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING

A Day Conference to explore and celebrate our relationship with God, with each other, and with our inner selves

Church of the Ascension, Stirchley, Birmingham

Click Here for the Full Proceedings

Click Here for the Conference Recommendations and Review