Who does Justin Welby speak for?

Archbishop Justin Welby’s appearance on The Rest is Politics has caused quite a stir in Anglican circles. 

For the most part, the Archbishop came across well and gave some very insightful answers when questioned, for example, about original sin and peace-making in war-torn nations. But these good things are inevitably going to be overshadowed by Welby’s answer to Alistair Campbell’s question about gay sex.

Campbell asked Welby whether he had a ‘better answer’ to the one he gave Campbell in 2017, on whether gay sex is a sin. Welby essentially refused to reply, saying he didn’t have a good answer. In this most recent interview, however, he says that he has thought about it and has improved his take.

What followed, however, did not demonstrate much forethought. Instead of answering the question from an individual perspective (‘I’ve come to the view that gay sex is not a sin in these circumstances,’ or something similar), he began by talking about the views of himself, the Archbishop of York, and that of ‘a majority’ of bishops.