Illiberal doubethink from Church of England

I'm not an expert on the Church of England's internal politics.

But I am passionate about LGBT rights. And, too often, the CofE has paid scant regards for the rights of LGBT people - not to mention its confused stance on women.

I was intrigued to read the headline on the BBC website "Church clears way for gay bishops". At first glance it appeared that the Church was making an overdue but welcome intervention to eradicate the instituional discrimination it has for so long been synonymous with.

Unfortunately not. Like the Church of Scotland's attempts to get to grips with a situation created by the ordination of a particular gay minister, the Church of England has found itself having to make a decision following the elevation to (and subsequent removal from) the Bishopric of Reading of the Rev Jeffrey John.

What the Church has decided to do - largely for legal reasons - is to remove the ban on Bishops who are in civil partnerships. This is to conform with the requirements of the Eqaulity Act which, as an employer, the church is duty bound to respect. However, under the Church's new rulings, people in same-sex civil partnerships can become bishops - but only if they remain celibate.

What? "Only if they remain celibate"? Why would anyone wish to enter a civil partnership to remain celibate?

This is not the great step forward for progressive attitudes that the BBC website would have us believe. It is, instead, an example of illiberal doubethink on the part of a church that can't reconcile its traditionally discriminatory theology with a more inclusive approach. The church clearly fails to appreciate either the illiberalism of its attitude towards LGBT people or the motivations of people calling for change. No-one's asking for the confused logic of ordaining those of LGBT persuasions to a life of celibacy. The church demonstrates its social irrelevance with its insistence on focusing on the purely legal and ceremonial rather than what is actually at the heart of the matter - a question of discrimination against those in loving same-sex relationships.

The Church of England can not grasp the fundamental human, personal dimension to the matter. It thinks by accepting those it has historically marginalised - on the condition that such people give up their offending "lifestyles" - it is promoting equality. It is doing nothing of the sort. It is still judging one form of sexual expression as morally and spiritually superior to others, and refuses to extend the logic by which it judges heterosexual relationships as whole to same-sex couples.

Presumably by the same confused egalitarian logic the Church will eventually recognise women bishops - so long as they denounce their femininity and change their title to "Mr".