BRIGHTON, with fewer believers than anywhere else in the UK, has the reputation of being Britain’s most godless city. At the epicentre of much of this godlessness is the city’s sizeable gay population of around 35,000 – the majority of whom regard faith-heads as their natural enemies.
With 13 percent of its total population being gay, not for nothing is Brighton dubbed Britain’s Gay Capital.
So imagine my surprise when, earlier today, I spotted an Argus poster in Brighton posing the question:
How Gay Friendly is Your Church?
My instant reaction was:
Where the hell’s the question mark? and who the fuck cares?
Well, an outfit called Changing Attitudes Sussex, does. CAS is one of those benign but dotty gay Christian groups which believes it can change centuries of homophobia from within. It is:
Committed to telling the truth about Christian teaching on homosexuality, and works for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in every province of the Anglican Communion and more widely in all Christian churches.
Which is a bit like trying to teach a a snake how to rollerskate.
And its latest initiative, according to today’s Argus, is a survey to be carried out at churches across Sussex to find out how receptive their congregations are to gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered people.
The results will be used to create a “Which Church?” consumer guide to help LGBT people choose the church that is right for them.
The Argus revealed that the unprecedented move has been backed by Dr John Hind, the Bishop of Chichester.
Bishop Hind
The survey will start in autumn with all C or E churches in Brighton and Hove asked to rate themselves in terms of attitude on a four-point scale.
This will range from a traditionalist “homosexuality is condemned by the Bible” view, to an affirming “openly gay people are integral to the life of our church” approach at the other.
It will be then extended to cover churches of all Christian denominations in Sussex.
The idea is daft on at least two levels. First, the dear old C or E is in its death throes, and with congregations plummeting and churches closing down at an alarming rate – alarming from the Anglican perspective, that is – there will soon be no churches to welcome anyone, let alone all those “perverts” the Church has spent centuries demonising.
Secondly, no rational, self-respecting gay person would be seen dead in a church, unless it’s to attend a marriage or funeral – and even these are increasingly being held in non-religious venues.
CAS’s Dr Keith Sharpe claims to have been “taken by surprise” by Dr Hind’s positive to reaction to the initiative. In an article for inclusion in the August edition of Brighton’s leading gay magazine, G Scene, he wrote:
The official position of the Church of England as set out in a now famous, some might say infamous, resolution of the 1998 Lambeth Conference is that ‘homosexual practice is incompatible with the teaching of scripture.’
Even though the Church of England does not have a rigid system of doctrinal teaching such as for example the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, its bishops are nevertheless under an obligation to uphold agreed statements. And Bishop John Hind does indeed uphold this particular statement.
His speaking and voting record in the House of Lords on LGBT issues is from our point of view, to say the least, not good. He is not a natural ally of ours.  He does, however, take his pastoral role as a bishop in the established church of this country very seriously …
He is a leading light in an organisation called Forward in Faith, a grouping of Anglican traditionalists which emphasises orthodox Christian values and is opposed to the ordination of women. I think it would be fair to say that the adherents of Forward in Faith (which some rather unkindly lampoon as ‘Backward in Bigotry!) take a pretty hard line on most moral issues. So this really was a pastor reaching out a long way to find common cause with a particular section of his flock.
Was he really?
Or was he simply clutching at straws in a desperate bid to prop up the remnants of his fast-crumbling Church?
Of course, there’s the more likely possibility that Hind thought:
Sod this for a game of soldiers – I’m outta here anyway, so what does this silly survey matter?
After all, last October the Bishop was quoted in the Telegraph as saying he would be “happy” to be reordained as a Catholic priest, and said that divisions in Anglicanism could make it impossible for him to remain in the C of E.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
July 1st, 2010 at 10:08 pm
In other words “this company is going down the tubes, so I’m going to be looking for a new job and I don’t know how to do anything else except patronise people while wearing a silly hat”.
July 1st, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Probably about as LGBT friendly as the Argus has been in the past.
July 1st, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Next project: dog friendly Mosques.
July 1st, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Seems a pretty pointless exercise to me and quite frankly embarassing for the gay community. Of these gay Christians, the ones I’ve known have been consumed with guilt and fear and unable to live normal lives.
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:58 am
WTF??? The gays are desperate for companionship!
You don’t need some church or ‘formal group’ to be xtian…For he said..sort a…
I am where those gather in my name….
So a bunch of gays meet somewhere and bingo…Xtian church.
Call yourselves something like…
Xtians for the gay Christ and apply for the tax breaks.
Who needs those other bigots anyway.
Of course this will make you all hippo-crites.
Cuz the buybull says ‘gays go to hell’
and jepus says you can’t be in his gang if you violate any of the bigotry of moses…or something like that.
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:11 am
Bduke said:
“Where the hell’s the question mark? and who the fuck cares?”
Well, certainly, no freethinker does. The whole question is beside any rational point. But, for one reason or another, some gays seem to want to possess a piece of the word “marriage” which is a religious institution, and others demand equal standing in churches that have condemned them for centuries. Not just gays, but, women, too. I guess they insanely reason that by convincing the church hierarchy, somehow they will convince god, too. Like that movie, “Dogma”.
Check this out, the Episcopalians:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/beli.....ights.html
I guess it’s no surprise that since homosexuality is a random genetic occurance, that some of the religious brainwashed never escape the trap. A sad two fold tragedy. One, being mistreated by unenlightened society, and two, rejected by their god. We keep telling them to open their eyes, but, first they need to embrace their mortality, and then the meaninglessness of their existence. Some people aren’t that aware.
Gay or straight, we’d love to live forever in good health, but then there’s reality.
NeoWolfe goddammit
July 2nd, 2010 at 3:46 am
I’ve always found that the most welcoming churches for gay people are the ones which have been converted into restaurants. Only reason I can think of to be in one.
July 2nd, 2010 at 8:53 am
So Gay friendly churches eh? They entice you in then try and “cure” you or make you guilty about being gay – all very sinister.
We’ve been over the “why would any gay person want to be xtian” many times on here, but in spite of the rabid homophobia of all religions, some gay people can’t shake off the shackles of belief.
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:57 am
It’s the business of religion to stick to stories supposedly written by holy men or con-men, so becoming gay- or female-friendly is impossible. If you want to worship, try becoming a Pastafarian or a Jedi and don’t stick to an organisation that doesn’t seem to be able to come to grips with its own tenets. If a holy book is supposed to be 100% the word of ‘god’, stick to it and say it out loud: we would like to want you to join us, but our god wants us to kill you. It might make it a lot easier for the doubters among us. I don’t see any blacks or jews trying to join the KKK, so why would a gay try to be a christian?
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:52 am
This sounds on a par to Ratzinger’s approach to “Noble Atheists” i.e. not Richard Dawkins but those who will be amenable to influence. Basically they are desperate to fill the pews.
I stay in Brighton very occasionally and it is one of my favourite places. I love the sea, bookshops, little cafes, walks on the Downs and it now has an excellent marathon which looks like going from success to success. I have never noticed the activities of the churches.
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:46 pm
The funniest thing about ‘effineffers’ (certainly the ones round here) is that they all seem to be mousey little blokes who married hulking great women with property and don’t look like they ever get a word in edgeways at home.
We should be quite clear that their love of male-only clubs, lacey costumes and strange rituals which involve a lot of fondling other blokes has nothing to do with this and they’re all very, very straight geezers who don’t go in for funny stuff.