Dr Gavin Ashenden says he is quitting the Church of England and converting to Catholicism
The Church of England has “swallowed political correctness wholesale”, the Queen’s former chaplain has said, as he announces that he is leaving the Anglican Church to convert to Catholicism.
Dr Gavin Ashenden, who served the Queen from 2008 to 2017, said that the Church was increasingly bowing to the “non-negotiable demands of secular culture”, and had remained “astonishingly silent” when it came to defending Christian values.
Dr Ashenden stepped down from his role in the Church after objecting to the Quran being read during an Anglican service. He has now chosen to convert to Catholicism because he believes it has the “courage, integrity and conviction to hold the Christian ground”.
“Freedom of speech is slowly being eroded; those who refuse to be ‘politically correct’ risk accusations of thought crime and Christians are being unfairly persecuted,” he wrote in The Mail on Sunday.
“And where is the Church of England in this crucial culture war? Is it on the front line? Not that I can see. If anything, it has switched sides.
“This isn’t just a shame, it’s a calamity. Too often, called upon to defend Christian values, it has remained astonishingly silent. Nowhere is this starker today than in the highly-charged debate over transgender rights, particularly regarding children and teenagers.”
Dr Ashenden criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for endorsing guidelines to primary schools in November 2017 that encouraged the use of gender neutral uniforms, which said that children “should be at liberty to explore the possibilities of who they might be without judgment or derision”.
“Rather than resist such political correctness, and offer a Christian critique, the Church of England has swallowed it wholesale,” Dr Ashenden wrote.
“In each generation, Christianity has a choice: convert its surroundings or be converted by it. Regrettably, I have come to believe that the Church of England has given up on the essentials of the faith at points where it really matters,” he added.
Izzy Lyons in The Daily Telegraph
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