Church chief backs ‘re-christenings’

LONDON: The Church of England in the UK yesterday suggested it would offer transgender Christians “re-christenings” with their new names.

Vicars could not re-baptise those who changed sex but could use existing “services of welcome” to announce a new name before God, the most senior official said.

The advice is likely to be endorsed next month by the church’s General Synod.

It will ease pressure on Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby from liberals who want to see the church’s conservative rules on sex and marriage swept away.

But it is likely to provoke a backlash among some traditionalists.

The Church of England’s most senior official, synod secretary-general William Nye, told members in a letter: “It is a fundamental belief that baptism can only be received once. There is therefore no possibility of the synod approving a form of service for the rebaptism of transgendered persons in their new gender who have been baptised.”

But the church could have no objection if they wanted to have an “affirmation of baptismal faith” service.

The move follows humiliation for Archbishop Welby in February when his attempt to secure a compromise in the church’s 30-year struggle over gay rights collapsed.

Last year a British parliamentary committee said rules that hindered people changing sex should be abolished. – Daily Mail