Four in ten Church of England clergy now support same-sex marriage
Four in ten Church of England clergy now support same-sex marriage, a poll has found.
The research, conducted this summer by YouGov for the the Westminster Faith Debates, polled 1500 members of the clergy.
It found that despite the Church’s official opposition to equal marriage, support is steadily growing among the ranks – with 39 percent agreeing that same-sex marriage is right.
51 percent believe it is wrong, however, while 10 percent are still undecided on the issue.
In addition, 34 percent of clergy agreed that the Church had a negative impact on society because it discriminates against women and gay people, while 35 percent admitted the Church was “stuffy and out of touch”.
Incredibly, the poll also found that 1 in 50 members of the clergy don’t actually believe in God, with 2 percent admitting they think ‘God’ is just a human construct.
Professor Linda Woodhead of Westminster Faith Debates told Christian Today: “In both politics and ethics they are idealistic, and very concerned with protecting the weak and the poor. But these attitudes now set them apart from most of the general population and lay Anglicans.
“It’s also interesting to see how different most of the more evangelical clergy are from the rest in many of their attitudes.
“The Church’s official view that Anglicans should learn to disagree well seems to be undermined by the two-thirds of evangelical clergy who don’t think that a goal worth pursuing.”
