The Anglican Communion continued to address questions regarding the Christian doctrine of marriage in last week’s Pastoral Guidance on Same-Sex Marriage, issued from the Church of England’s House of Bishops. The guidance states that “the Christian understanding and doctrine of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman remains unchanged”, and it reaffirms an Anglican commitment to “model a distinctive and generous witness to Jesus Christ.”
At First Things, Michael Hannon presents an interesting juxtaposition to this news by arguing that the idea of sexual orientation is artificial; indeed, that it inhibits Christian witness as the Church attempts to navigate such questions. Hannon writes:
Over the course of several centuries, the West had progressively abandoned Christianity’s marital architecture for human sexuality. Then, about one hundred and fifty years ago, it began to replace that longstanding teleological tradition with a brand new creation: the absolutist but absurd taxonomy of sexual orientations. Heterosexuality was made to serve as this fanciful framework’s regulating ideal, preserving the social prohibitions against sodomy and other sexual debaucheries without requiring recourse to the procreative nature of human sexuality.
Read the entire article, “Against Heterosexuality”, here.