Over the next few weeks the Equal Campaign will be reproducing some helpful articles, by various authors, commenting on different aspects of the Church of England’s ‘Living in Love and Faith’ project.
Except where indicated, these articles have been previously published on ViaMedia.News and the Modern Church website; the authors and publishers have kindly given their permission for them to be republished here, for which the Campaign is very grateful.
The first articles in the series are listed below; links to them will be added as the articles become available, and more articles will be added to the list.
LLF – an unsafe space for LGBTQIA+ Christians
The first two articles are by LGBTQIA+ people who were involved in the LLF project: Sara Gillingham, who is intersex, and the Revd Dr Christina Beardsley, who is trans. Their experiences were so awful that they both felt they had no choice but to leave LLF for the sake of their spiritual and emotional wellbeing. Sara went further; she left the Church of England altogether. In 2019, having left, they wrote these articles to explain why and to call out the abuse they had suffered.
- On the Outside Looking in – Sara Gillingham [Modern Church]
- Dr Christina Beardsley: Why I left the Bishops’ sexuality project [Church Times]
Three further articles, written in 2020 after Living in Love and Faith had been published, explore different aspects of why the LLF resources and the discussions about them – including the LLF Course – are just as unsafe for LGBTQIA+ Christians.
- LLF: Patience & Pain – Peter Leonard [ViaMedia]
Coming soon …
- LLF: Please Break the Silence, Bishops – Charlie Bell [ViaMedia]
- LLF: Power, Fear & Our Inability To Do The Right Thing – Rosie Harper [ViaMedia]
“A diseased tree doesn’t produce good fruit” (Luke 6.43)
LLF – the good points, the deficiencies and the defects
Articles to follow
- LLF: Waiting for Godot – Prof Helen King [ViaMedia]
- LLF: That Video, Those Principles – a Call for a Public Inquiry – Jayne Ozanne [ViaMedia]
- LLF: Has There Been a Murder? – Rosie Harper [ViaMedia]
- It’s Time to Talk About… Sex – Charlie Bell [ViaMedia]
- Living in Love and Faith – Is There Really Hope for Change? – Christina Baron [ViaMedia]
- Living in Love and Faith – Adrian Thatcher [Modern Church]
- The Bible in Living in Love and Faith – Prof John Barton [Modern Church]
- Living in Love and Faith – Prof Diarmaid MacCulloch [Modern Church]
- Living in Love and Faith: doing history – Prof Helen King [Modern Church]