ENGLAND
The Times
October 9, 2017
By Kaya Burgess
The Church of England should be stripped of its exemptions under the Equality Act to help it to stamp out a culture of abuse, homophobia and sexism, a serving bishop has said.
Under the 2010 act, the church as a religious institution has special permission to insist that those it appoints are Christians, but can also discriminate over sex, sexuality, marital history and gender identity if they conflict with “strongly held religious convictions”.
These exceptions should be scrapped, the Bishop of Buckingham has told The Times, for the established church to adhere to the law of the land. This includes allowing priests to conduct same-sex weddings, he said.
The Right Rev Dr Alan Wilson, 62, also set out seven failings in the church’s safeguarding policies, warning that despite “good intentions” they did not provide survivors with enough protection from abuse.
The Archbishop of Canterbury faced a protest from sexual abuse victims outside Canterbury Cathedral last week.
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