Almost three years on from same-sex marriage becoming legal in Australia, the issue is threatening to break up the Anglican Church in this country.
This is the gravest threat to the church’s unity in its more than 200-year history. For the three million-plus Australians who identify as Anglican, it could mean at the least sharp disagreement and at worst, damaging disunity.
Long-simmering tensions within the church have come to a head with a recent judgement that supports the right of clergy to bless civil marriages, regardless of sexual orientation.
Last year, the dioceses of Wangaratta and Newcastle approved services for marriage blessings. Wangaratta diocese, once conservative, has become more progressive, while Newcastle has long had a progressive stance.
Their new services are just for blessings of couples married in civil ceremonies, not actual church marriages.
Nevertheless, the services sparked fierce opposition from the fundamentalist Diocese of Sydney. During the same-sex marriage debate in 2017, Sydney Diocese gave $1 million to the “No” campaign, because Sydney and its conservative allies condemn same-sex relationships as sinful and bound for hell-fire.
