Majority of Christians now accept gay couples

Views on abortion and same-sex marriage ‘have moved with times’

CHURCHGOERS are starting to accept gay relationships with more than half of Anglicans viewing same-sex relationships as acceptable, a study has indicated.

The British Social Attitudes survey shows Christian views on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and homosexuality have eased in the past decade.

The proportion of Anglicans who say sex before marriage is acceptable is now almost the same as the proportion of the general population, at 73 per cent. Four years ago, 54 per cent of people agreed and in 1985 a third did so.

For the first time, more than half of the Anglicans surveyed said same-sex relationships were acceptable – 55 per cent held this view, up from 31 per cent in 2012.

The Anglican Church is deeply divided over samesex relationships, with those who want the church to introduce same-sex marriage at odds with Christians who say that the Bible condemns homosexuality. Last week, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York said a planned teaching document on sexuality, the first for almost 30 years, will not appear until 2020. The church’s split over sexuality would only be resolved by the “work of the Holy Spirit”, they said.

The survey found that the majority of Catholics are in conflict with the teachings of their church on abortion.

Attitudes are more liberal than ever, with 61 per cent of Catholics surveyed saying a woman should be allowed to abort a child she does not want, almost as many as the general public, among whom 70 per cent say abortion is acceptable for this reason. The official position of the Catholic Church is to oppose abortion in all forms.

Roger Harding, the head of public attitudes at the National Centre for Social Research, which produced the report, said the results suggested religious people no longer look to churches for moral guidance. “It suggests people are taking their moral views from elsewhere,” he said.

♦ Young people are less likely to be bullied because of their sexual orientation than 10 years ago, according to the Stonewall School Report, which was published yesterday. The proportion facing bullying in Britain’s schools and colleges has dropped by almost a third.