THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE, a gathering of bishops from across the Anglican Communion for dialogue on church and world affairs, begins in Canterbury this week.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has decided that they will use a process called 'Lambeth Calls' - shared declarations which are supposed to express the common mind of the church. Steven Shakespeare, author of Prayers for an inclusive church, calls out one that clearly doesn’t.

The Lambeth Conference Prayer Guide defines the Lambeth Calls as

clear statements, outlining ways in which the Anglican Communion might seek to be ‘God’s Church for God’s World’ in service, mission, action and justice.

One of the calls repeats the anti-LGBTQ+ stance of the 1998 conference. The draft says:

'It is the mind of the Anglican Communion as a whole that same-gender marriage is not permissible.'

There are many things that might be said about this. Here are some thoughts:

1. As it stands, this call is simply a lie. It is not the mind of the Anglican communion as a whole that same-gender marriage is not permissible. Views differ radically. Lying is incompatible with the Bible's call to holiness, justice and communion. As such, this call is already unscriptural.

2. The call once again represents a blunt reading of scripture and tradition, and an uncritical 'baptism' of one contingent and cultural form of marriage above all others. It fails to engage with the question of how the whole sweep of scripture is to be read in dialogue with developing tradition, reason and experience. No Christian position is ever simply read off the pages of scripture in isolation. As such, this call is already uncatholic.

3. The call undermines and short-circuits any process of listening, discernment and dialogue, which, however imperfect, tries to listen to the experience of LGBTQ+ people, and to which the Anglican Communion is supposedly committed, and which is being worked out in different national jurisdictions. As such, this call is already unAnglican.

4. Given this, we have to ask why this call would be made. The answer seems to be that it is a weaponisation of the conference once again to attack LGBTQ+ people and their allies. As such, this call is already incompatible with the affirmation of their human dignity.

There can be no serious dialogue with this call. It must be rejected, and unconditional solidarity with LGBTQ+ people affirmed.

UPDATE 26/07/22: The Lambeth Conference has since published a statement about the Lambeth Calls, which says that the Call on Human Dignity, which assumes global uniformity in belief that ‘same-gender marriage is not permissible’, will be rewritten). Bishops will also now be given a third option for responding to the Lambeth Calls, to clearly state their opposition to a particular Call. The options will be:

• ‘This Call speaks for me. I add my voice to it and commit myself to take the action I can to implement it.’

• ‘This Call requires further discernment. I commit my voice to the ongoing process.’

• ‘This Call does not speak for me. I do not add my voice to this Call.’

The revised text of the Call on Human Dignity is now available here.