‘Church of England has lost its way’ Arlene Foster blasts clergy over Christianity ‘failing’

The survey, conducted by The Times, found a majority of priests want the church to start conducting same-sex weddings and ditch its opposition to premarital and gay sex.

Former DUP leader Foster says the fact that this is a widely shared opinion amongst clergy is cause for concern, warning that priests are pushing to change teachings that have “been around for 2000 years”.

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She told GB News: “This was a survey that was undertaken on frontline clergy, these are clergy that don’t see the UK as a Christian country.

“That raises a whole range of issues because you would imagine that people who are rectors, who are priests in their churches would be out trying to evangelise, would be out trying to bring people into their churches, but instead they’re sitting in the corner with their hands over their head saying, ‘oh, it’s all terrible’.

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“They’re saying, ‘what we need to do is change Christian teachings, which have been around for 2000 years, to satisfy those who aren’t Christians because they don’t like us and we don’t like being unpopular’.

“I think it’s an incredible situation.”

The survey also found high levels of stress among priests, with many feeling over-stretched.

It exposed a degree of concern among priests over the church’s potential “extinction”, saying its efforts to halt declining attendances will fail and could exacerbate the increasingly desperate situation.

It comes amid criticism for senior clergyman Justin Welby, who has repeatedly weighed in on political rows concerning Westminster.

Welby has been urged to “stay out” of debates, with the Government’s Rwanda migrant policy being a particular cause for concern for the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In a debate in the House of Lords in May the Archbishop described the Government’s flagship illegal migration bill as "morally unacceptable" and said it would "damage the UK’s interests and reputation at home and abroad".

The Church of England came in for fierce criticism by Foster, who claims they have failed to “evangelise”.

“I think the Church of England have lost their way in respect of their evangelising mission”, she said.

“The leadership of the Church of England has fallen away from the Anglican Church worldwide.

“If you speak to somebody in Africa who is a member of the Anglican Communion there, they look at England, they look at the UK and they say there needs to be a mission in the UK.

“Instead of missions going to Africa, they feel they need to be coming to the UK to evangelise us, which is quite an incredible situation.”