Letter to Members of the General Synod (February 2005) from Anglican Matters.

Dear Member of the General Synod,

The Windsor Report and the future of the Anglican Communion has occupied a lot of our time at Anglican Matters: LGCM over the past few months. As you can see from our just published pamphlet Has Anglicanism a Future? A Response to the Windsor Report by Prof Andrew Linzey we have produced a comprehensive and, we believe, authoritative challenge to its main conclusions.

The Windsor Report and the subsequent response from the House of Bishops (GS1570) give us much cause for concern. In essence they propose rolling back all the advances LGBT Anglicans have made towards creating the inclusive and truly Christian Church, and asks those who are and have already suffered at the hands of the church for yet more patience and sacrifice to preserve the ‘unity’ of the Communion.

This can be most vividly seen in the House of Bishop’s response (1.4.4 ) where the isolation and constant scrutiny of Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, is talked of with no sense of shame. Such treatment of another properly chosen and consecrated bishop, let alone human being, should not be acceptable behaviour in any institution let alone one that wishes to call itself ‘Christian’.

So, I would ask you again to sign my Private Members Motion (705) that welcomes the General Convention’s decision to endorse Gene’s election. This means that we, as members of the General Synod, do not think it acceptable for our Church to punish people by forcing them into internal isolation, and we refuse to second guess the actions of a sister church that is in full communion with us.

As LGBT Anglicans we have a particular insight as to how power and authority are used to either enable participation and discussion or to crush and stamp out difference and dissent. One of the strengths of Anglicanism is that by allowing the laity, clergy and bishops to share together in the governance of their churches it enables the gospel to be proclaimed to people in their particular situations and contexts and to offer a variety of opportunities to hear the voices of different groups, however marginalised and disadvantaged. The Windsor Report’s recommendations will by centralising power in the hands of a novel, newly defined ‘instrument of unity’ change this irrevocably, meaning the Church will ultimately be governed by the episcopate.

We would urge members of the Synod to think carefully before welcoming the Windsor Report’s recommendations not just because of the effect it will have on LGBT Anglicans but also because it will change the nature of our church from being a communion of churches joyfully and voluntarily bound together by a common desire to faithfully explore the will and nature of God, to being a confessional church bound together by a central over-riding authority which excludes, disciplines and enforces its will. This Covenant, and that will, is not being determined by matters of faith but by relative and cultural morality which are at best peripheral to the Christian message and being done so in a climate of crises and hysteria. Put bluntly the defining characteristic of this proposed ‘new communion’ will no longer be its relationship to God through Jesus Christ but its attitude to sex.

Yours sincerely,


Rev Anthony Braddick-Southgate, Southwark (265)
Chair, Anglican Matters: LGCM