On Sunday, the Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt wrote an open letter to the Bishop of Portsmouth (where her constituency is). In it she called on him to vote to ‘back reform’ and, as demanded by a coterie of radical bishops, change forever the Anglican stance on same-sex marriage. Today the Church of England has partially rejected that demand, and will not allow clergy to conduct same-sex ceremonies, although it is proposing to allow ‘prayers’ and ‘blessings’ for same-sex couples in civil partnerships.
Mordaunt’s intervention was perfectly legitimate, you might think. What’s wrong with a democratic representative pressing for her constituents to have the ‘right to have their relationships solemnised in their local parish,’ and for an end to the ‘pain and trauma’ of gay people who see themselves treated as ‘second-class citizens’?
Despite the fact that Mordaunt has called for a re-examination of the church’s theology, it’s not as if her arguments are particularly theological
In this case, actually, there is quite a lot that should worry us.
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