Archbishops Rebuke Sam Margrave
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have issued a strong letter of rebuke to General Synod member Sam Margrave. The Bishop of Coventry had earlier called on the police to investigate Mr Margrave for comments made on Twitter.
In part the archiepiscopal letter said,
“We have read the comments. We have also both received correspondence about your comments, as have others in the Church. It is clear that the comments you have made have caused other members of the Church to feel intimidated, bullied and distressed and we are dismayed by this. Not only have the things you’ve said lacked nuance, they have failed to distinguish between serious allegations of criminal behaviour of specific individuals and the wider law-abiding LGBTQI+ community.
“We are writing as Archbishops to rebuke such behaviour and to ask that you:
• apologise publicly for your language and the offence it has caused;
• moderate your language in future on social media so that it remains within the spirit
of the Code of Conduct for Members of the General Synod;
- refrain from making generalised allegations of the behaviour of LGBTQI+ people.”
In response Margrave said,
“The Archbishops of Canterbury and York make no reference in their letter to the constant abuse and death threats I have received for speaking biblical truth and for standing for the Church of England’s own teaching on human sexuality. Due to the level of threats I have received, I have had to install CCTV at my house and a panic alarm on my phone.
“I am being thrown under the bus, excluded, and treated like a leper in the name of inclusivity. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are holding tight to their copy of Marx while leaving the Bible on a bookshelf.
“I will not apologise for speaking the truth. I do not believe I have done anything wrong. I have been honest, transparent and faithful.
“This letter is a thinly veiled and bullying threat for me to be silent or be removed from synod. I feel incredibly let down as serious accusations have been made without providing any evidence. This is a clear example of overreach from the very top of the Church of England’s hierarchy.
“Any conservative orthodox Christian beliefs are being pushed out of the Church of England. If it is me now, who will it be next? I am taking this stand because I do not want anyone else to be treated as I have.
“I believe the CofE has been politically infiltrated by Stonewall and others. The promotion of Queer Theory, the acceptance of Pride flags, and now reporting any vocal opposition to the police, bares all the hallmarks of Stonewall and a repressive regime that wants to silence biblical truth at any cost.
“I don’t hate anyone, this is not about hate, it has always been about truth and bringing positive change to the CofE.
“All I have wanted was to protect children and give a voice to parents by standing against the sexualisation and grooming of children, which was part of the manifesto I was elected to synod on.”
It is worth pointing out that the Archbishops have not taken the time to publicly rebuke the numerous occasions of public teaching that contraries the Bible, the Creeds, the Articles of Religion, the Ordinal, or the Canons of the Church of England.
