Archbishop of Canterbury: Church faces ‘irreconcilable’ divide over gay sex

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the church’s splits on LGBT issues are “irreconcilable”, as he admitted “not handling this issue very well”.

Deep divisions have arisen in the Anglican church over LGBT issues, both within the Church of England and globally.

Church of England bishops have been accused of discrimination in recent years, after opting to ‘punish’ gay clergy who enter same-sex unions under hastily-implemented new rules.

Meanwhile the global Anglican Communion has been torn apart by a rift between largely pro-LGBT Western churches and hardline anti-gay Anglican churches in Africa and the Global South.

(Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

In the past few years, the US, Canadian and Scottish churches have sparked anger from hardline African archbishops by modernising on LGBT rights, embracing gay bishops and same-sex unions.

In an attempt to keep the Anglican Communion from splintering, the Archbishop of Canterbury has dolled out ‘punishments’ for the US and Scottish churches, accusing them of making “a fundamental departure from [Anglican] faith and teaching” on gay people.

But in a interview with Alastair Campbell for GQ Magazine, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby admitted that the rift on LGBT issues within the church was “irreconcilable”.

The Archbishop, the head of the global Anglican Church, said: “It is just irreconcilable. There are some disputes that are irreconcilable. I don’t know [where it goes] at the moment.

“What I know is we have to be faithful to the deposit of faith, the tradition of scripture. We have to be holy, above all.

“We have to be people who look like God wants us to look like. When people look at the church they should see Jesus, and really, they don’t very often, particularly when we are totally hostile to people, judgemental, unpleasant, nasty.”