Queer theology may sink the Church of England, British Monarchy and the Commonwealth
It was Lord Acton who noted in his essay “Political Thoughts on the Church,” that when a religion formerly dominating a nation is supplanted by another belief system, all that nation’s foundational institutions change to reflect the values of the new zealots.
Acton was writing in mid-19th century England. However, as prescient as he was, he scarcely could have foreseen the rise and influence of the gay liberation movement, the beliefs of which have been affecting both the government and the Church of England.
English clergy such as Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, have bowed to the pressure of queer theory advocates. The spearpoint that has wounded the Church of England, perhaps fatally, is the acceptance of blessing same-sex unions. If history tells us anything, the blessing of same-sex marriage will soon follow, with the revision of “hateful” and “discriminatory” liturgical language and references to God reflecting the new queer standards.
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It would be tempting to regard the issue of same-sex blessing as an internal quarrel within just the Church of England. But the decision goes beyond the walls of the Church and the nation to shake the foundations of the British Commonwealth and the monarchy, which since the time of Henry VIII has been seen as the defender of the Christian faith, with the state as the supporter of the Christian religion as expressed in Anglicanism.
As Gavin Ashenden, former LGBT activist and onetime chaplain to the late Elizabeth II has indicated, until the death of the queen, England was part of Christendom. Christian principles were the spiritual and ethical glue holding the nation’s institutions and to a great extent, the British Commonwealth together.
In former centuries, Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant evangelical missionaries brought Christian mores and reforms to many of those nations, curbing or eliminating such practices as polygamy, ritual mutilation of the body, and shrine prostitution. Campaigns against child marriage, the practice of suttee, and the slave trade affected the laws of many nations now in the Commonwealth.
The implications of the Church of England’s capitulation to same-sex blessings are enormous, for the surrender invites further inroads of the tenets of a cult whose demands and practices are entirely antithetical to Christian orthodoxy. As the Anglican church embraces the new doctrines, rituals, and ceremonies promulgated by queer ideology, particularly if the influence of the trans movement continues apace, England and the Commonwealth countries will find the agenda goes far beyond the “blessings” now approved. The demands will inevitably progress from same-sex blessing to same-sex marriage, then to polygamy, then to pedophilia. The practices resisted by Christians past and present will now be resurrected in new forms if the Church of England continues on its present path while seeking to maintain its spiritual leadership.
It follows that what is left of the moral authority of England as head of the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth itself will now be jeopardized. It also means the monarchy itself is jeopardized. The charges of racism, combined with the charges of discrimination against gay and trans folk are ticking time bombs auguring a blowup of the monarchy, the Church of England, and the Commonwealth.
Consider: The most zealous leaders informed by the queer ideology approve of drugging and mutilation of the body as evidence of spiritual transformation necessary for a new identity as a member of the opposite sex. The cult infiltrating Anglicanism and Western Christianity in general openly endorses drugging, castration, mastectomies, hysterectomies, and extreme plastic surgery such as phalloplasty. Such a movement will not protest female genital mutilation. Leaders of an ideology endorsing same-sex unions and surrogacy in order to provide children for sterile couples will be speechless in protesting the callous rental of women’s bodies in order to produce babies. They will have nothing to say about polyamory and polygamy. Those who believe in a quasi-religion endorsing abortion as an unassailable right will have nothing to say about infanticide; nor will they have much to say, as Ashenden points out, against adult/child sex; much less about human trafficking.
But there is hope. There is resistance to queer ideology among core Commonwealth nations.
In Africa, where the Christian faith in the form of Anglicanism has long shed itself of the control of English prelates in favor of a completely indigenous and largely conservative clergy, Africans by the countless millions have embraced orthodox Christianity and its tenets, including traditional Christian mores concerning sexuality.
The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches has protested the decision to endorse same-sex blessings in no uncertain terms. As Baptist News Global reports, Stephen Samuel Mugalu, archbishop of the Church of Uganda, has called the Church of England’s decision “terrible.” The archbishop states:
“… from the first page of the Bible in the book of Genesis to the last page of the Bible in the book of Revelation, it is clear that God’s design for human flourishing is that we are part of a family — a family that is defined as one man and one woman united in holy matrimony for life and, God willing, a union that produces children … the Bible calls any other kind of sexual relationship a sin. Whether it is adultery, fornication, polygamy, or homosexual relationships. They are all sin, and they all separate us from God.”
African Christians do not want the West’s queer liberation agenda foisted on them. They are resisting the message of the church of England suggesting African Christians are not on the right spiritual path.
Africans who closely observe the increasing degeneracy of the secularized West do not wish to hear sermons on the merits of same-sex blessing and marriage. They understand that the disintegration of the ideal of marriage between a man and a woman combined with “reproductive choice”— code words for abortion — is aimed at reducing their numbers. They understand that African families are being attacked. Hence the cold reception given to Jill Biden.
As the Church of England further sinks into apostasy by embracing queer ideology, it will continue to hemorrhage members at home as well as influence abroad. A warning, then, to the English monarchy as titular head of the Church of England and of the Commonwealth, as well as a warning to the government of England: The promulgation of queer/woke theology augurs the departure of Africans who are orthodox Christians and the exit of the Commonwealth countries in which millions of traditional Anglicans reside. Countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda are not particularly inclined to accept the new religious/political paradigm accepted by the Church of England — as the recent uproar over the inroads of the LGBTQ movement in Kenya amply demonstrates.
Were he alive today, Lord Acton might point out that when a church established by the state becomes infiltrated by politics in open opposition to Christian foundations, no one should be astonished if the new ways are justly resisted or even repudiated both at home and abroad.
The growth of traditional Christianity in Africa may result in the transference of the West’s former authority and spiritual influence to Commonwealth countries in which Christianity is now dominant. After all, Africa is home to some 650 million Christians. Sheer numbers would indicate the future of Anglicanism, indeed Christendom itself lies in the hands of Africa.
As John Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris pointed out in a 2019 Christian Post article, African countries have already begun to send missionaries to a secularized West to reconvert America and Europe.
God works in mysterious ways.
Fay Voshell holds a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, which awarded her the prize for excellence in systematic theology. Her thoughts have appeared in numerous online magazines, including National Review, American Thinker, Russia Insider, CNS, RealClearReligion, LifeSiteNews and The Christian Post. She may be reached at fvoshell@yahoo.com.
