Justin Welby’s homosexuality reforms could still backfire

Last week, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury since 2013, started leading the Church of England. He got off the fence on homosexuality and backed a major change to the Church’s teaching. He said that that ‘all sexual activity should be within a committed relationship, whether it’s straight or gay’. This obviously goes against the Church’s existing official teaching, that sex should not occur outside of heterosexual marriage. The Church is now likely to change that teaching fairly swiftly – probably next year. I predict that Synod will affirm equal marriage within three years.

This shift comes after about 25 years of painful paralysis. At the close of the last century it was already clear to most bishops that reform was needed, that the Church’s condemnation of homosexuality was an embarrassment.

So why the slowness? Most liberals point to the deep-rooted homophobia of one section of the Church, and the influence of the Africa-heavy Anglican Communion.