Episcopal Church Removes Terms Husband & Wife To Be More Gay-Friendly

The American Episcopal Church has continued its process of radical liberalization by altering the standardized version of the marriage vows to remove any use of the terms "husband" and "wife" so as not to offend same-sex couples they marry. 

Any references to procreation will also be removed in an effort to appease homosexual couples whose unions cannot produce children. Since the change is being adopted as a church-wide policy, its effect won't be restricted only to the same-sex couples that are wed by the Episcopal Church, but will, instead, extend to all new couples.

The response to this move away from Biblical teachings and towards radical inclusiveness was met with a sharp response from the Church of England in October when the Secretary General William Nye wrote to the American church, asking them to re-evaluate their position or risk the Church of England cutting ties with the American church. 

Now the church, in its efforts to appease gender activists, risks a further schism if it goes ahead with this proposed change to the wording in the Book of Common Prayer.

The U.K. newspaper, The Telegraph, reported, "The new service removes the phrase 'the union of husband and wife' and replaces it with 'the union of two people'. It also replaces the section which talks about part of God's intention for marriage being 'for the procreation of children', with the phrase 'for the gift of children', to make it more relevant for same-sex couples who may wish to adopt."

Yet the Church of England is far from united in support of Biblical theology either, as 30 of the 483 members of the Anglican Church's synod, including the Bishop of Buckingham, have declared themselves in support of the pro-homosexual changes in the Episcopal Church's common prayer. 

The opinions of these church officials are now in opposition to the Anglican Church's official position, along with an Anglican LGBT advocacy group known as One Body One Faith.

One Body One Faith went so far as to write an open letter to Secretary Nye. In their letter, they condemn Nye for his traditional stance on Biblical teachings and call the pro-homosexuality policies of the American church "courageous, just and Christ-like." 

It refers to the Church of England's support for traditional views on sexuality a "refusal to listen" and the "single biggest missional disaster of our generation," and even goes so far as to refer to the Anglican church leadership as a "group of Christians who profess the love of Christ but seem incapable of recognizing it in the loving, committed, relationships of two people."

The American Episcopal Church, loosely under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican Church, has come under increased pressure from LGBT 'Christians' who claim that various aspects of doctrine and church tradition are offensive or discriminatory. 

From openly LGBT priests serving in the church to fully embracing homosexual marriage, the Episcopal Church has quite rapidly shifted its stance on homosexuality from that of the Bible and Christian tradition to embracing a secular agenda of moral relativism. 

With the rewriting of the church-wide marriage vows, this accommodation will be felt not just by LGBT members of the church, but by all who will now be reminded that references to wives, husbands and procreation are considered too Godly and too Biblical for the postmodern Episcopalian Church to tolerate.