ANY practice which suggests that there is something “inherently wrong or sinful” in people who identify as anything other than heterosexual, or which pushes individuals to change their sexuality, is both abusive and traumatising, the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, said on Wednesday.
He was responding to a detailed question put to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales by the Revd Geraint John (Llandaff). Mr John wanted the bishops to support a more robust course of action to protect LGBT+ people from conversion therapy, including “properly defining therapy in a Christian context (which would include the concept of ‘praying the gay away’ under the guise of ‘healing ministry’).”
Previously, the Evangelical Fellowship of the Church in Wales had asked for clarification as to what the Bench of Bishops had meant when — in their response to the UK Parliament’s consideration of legislation — they had opposed conversion therapy “in all its forms”.
Bishop Cameron related what he had told the Fellowship at the time: “We believe this to be straightforward and plain. It is, in our opinion, abusive and should be banned. You ask whether ‘open discussion’ and ‘grace-filled prayer’ with someone who wants to explore biblical teaching on the issue of sexuality should, in the opinion of the bishops, fall under such a ban.
“Sadly, this positive-sounding phrase leaves far too much to individual interpretation. These seemingly innocuous words can be used to disguise practices in which pressure is brought upon vulnerable LGBTQIA persons to submit to efforts aimed at the conversion of their sexuality, including attempted exorcisms and worse.
“Such practices can be designed, consciously or unconsciously, to play on people’s sense of shame or anxiety, and signal that, unless they conform to heterosexual norms, they can neither be true disciples of Jesus nor accepted members of the congregation with which they wish to become associated.”
This, Bishop Cameron said, could arise out of “a toxic mixture of motivation to avoid embarrassment, to please a revered spiritual leader, or to assuage long-standing guilt or shame.”
The Church’s job was to offer welcome, acceptance, and friendship, and, if requested, prayer that God’s grace could be operative in the situation, he said.
The Bench was currently working with the safeguarding service of the Church in Wales and the Doctrinal Commission to explore, define, and respond to the issue of spiritual abuse within the Church, the Bishop confirmed. They were also seeking to update, for a contemporary context, the 2002 statement concerning the Church in Wales’ position on the matter of sexuality.
He concluded: “I’m reliably informed [that] the Welsh Government is putting its own work on hold in order to develop a joint Four Nations approach in conjunction with Westminster. The Bishops of the Church in Wales continue our support for such legislation.”