As a general rule we would not comment on specifics of party manifestos in the midst of a General Election campaign, but as bishops and as Members of the House of Lords we are fully committed to engagement on this with parties, MPs and Peers when Parliament returns. The issue has in the past been a matter of individual conscience for MPs and Peers where the party whip is not usually applied, and we believe firmly that it should remain so.
Read moreStuttering through his response, the archbishop argued: "You could say they're doing the wrong thing, you could say they're doing the right thing, you can say it's their right, you can say that the baby has rights ... uh ..."
"The Church of England is very clear on this," he continued, but refused to go "into the detail of that, because we're running out of time, but the Church of England has a very clear view on that and had since the eighties."
Read more"It is difficult to comprehend how the Anglican leader can contradict himself so profoundly in his comments about "Censorship Zones". The position adopted by Archbishop Welby is shocking. Justin Welby speaks about love and compassion when he deliberately excludes the most vulnerable members of the human family -- the unborn.
Read more1. Well-funded lobbying organisations are being allowed to promote their propaganda in schools. Such political activity is illegal and needs investigation.
2. Much ideological material is being introduced top-down, without proper consultation and over-riding parental concerns.
Read moreIn light of the Church of England's own teaching that it is strongly opposed to abortion, that "the foetus is a human life with the potential to develop relationships, think, pray, choose and love", and that the Church "would like to see a drastic reduction in the number of abortions carried out and stricter interpretation of abortion law" (press statement of the Mission and Public Affairs Council for General Synod, 30 August 2011), we write, as members of the Church of England (and a small n
Read moreThe Chichester Cathedral guidebook had included a passage which reflected the Church of England's acceptance of the allegations of child abuse against Bishop George Bell, notwithstanding the conclusions of the two independent reports into the allegations by Lord Carlile and Timothy Briden, which each concluded that the evidential basis for such allegations was unsafe.
Read moreIt also marks the first time that the Church of England has made an authoritative statement on the subject of anti-Semitism.
The new "tool for teaching" on Christian-Jewish relations acknowledges that Christian theology played a part in the "stereotyping and persecution fo Jewish people which ultimately led to the Holocaust".
Read moreHe said: "Roughly 40m litres of oil wind up in the Niger Delta annually, eight times more than is spilled in America, the world's biggest producer and consumer."
Read moreLater, at the conference, Welby said he was taking anti-depressants daily and "on the whole [was] managing very well". He said he had found it "quite easy" to talk about his mental health challenges, but was concerned that many people would worry "because you don't know how your boss will respond".
He added: "Depression is interpreted by many employers as someone who ... is incapable of getting out of bed in the morning and isn't able to do their job properly."
Read more"Super excited!! We have to make the diocese different!! Make it more diverse and progressive!" Mr Chen added.
The Bishop of Dover is virtually the diocesan bishop of Canterbury in all but name since the Archbishop of Canterbury resides in Lambeth and oversees the worldwide Anglican Communion.
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