Sandi Toksvig writes open letter to Archbishop of Canterbury and reveals she’s had death threats from ‘evangelical Christians’
metro.co.ukSandi Toksvig has written an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, after some believed he ‘affirmed the validity’ of a 1998 declaration that gay sex is a sin.The writer and broadcaster, 64, shared her thoughts on Twitter after Welby told more than 650 bishops at the Lambeth conference, which happens once every decade, that for ‘a large majority’ of conservative Anglicans, questioning biblical teaching was ‘unthinkable’ and that in many countries changing tradition teaching could ‘challenges the very existence’ of the church.He added in a letter sent to bishops shortly before the discussion on sexuality, Welby said the 1998 resolution, Lambeth 1.10 which says ‘homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture’ and says same-sex unions should not be legitimised or blessed, was ‘not in doubt’, but indicated that he would not seek to discipline or exclude churches which conduct or bless same-sex marriage.In her lengthy post, Toksvig, who has been married to her wife for 16 years, hoped to persuade Welby he had ‘made a horrible mistake’ as she shared her own experience and that of others in the LGBT+ community.She wrote: ‘So, you and your other religious pals got together at the Lambeth Conference and the main take away seems to be that gay sex is a sin.
It was a sin in 1998 and you just wanted to make clear in 2022 that no one in your finely frocked gang has moved on from that.’Referencing a 2021 survey which showed that young LGBT+ people are twice as likely to contemplate suicide and three times more likely to self-harm, Toksvig added: ‘Do you know why?‘For many it’s because they don’t feel loved and love, Justin, is supposed to be at the core of what you do.
