GRASSROOTS members of the Church of England are being urged to pretend to be gay to help them to better understand homosexuality.

Bishops are urging worshippers to “walk in the moccasins” of those they disagree with by taking part in role-play in parish groups.

The move is part of a plea by Church of England bishops for a “more flexible understanding of human sexuality” as the Anglican Communion faces schism over the gay issue.

In a 358-page study guide to the gay debate, the bishops call for homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people to be treated with compassion and as equal Christians.

A smaller companion booklet, to help worshippers to reflect on the issues, says that groups should be set up after individuals have had time to reflect individually on the debate over homosexuality.

It advises: “Give as many of the group as would like the opportunity to take turns to ‘walk in the moccasins’ of those they disagreed with.”

The booklet continues: “The aim is . . . to demonstrate our engagement with others’ theological perceptions.”

Some Issues in Human Sexuality, a study guide to the 1991 document Issues in Human Sexuality, was published yesterday, 48 hours after the consecration of the Church’s first openly gay bishop, Canon Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire in the US.

The report, which has taken four years to compile, was produced by a House of Bishops working party chaired by the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, who nominated the abstinent gay Canon Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading.

The report takes no definitive stance on the issue, reinforcing the line of the 1991 document that ruled out gay relationships for clergy but not for laity. But it goes into the arguments on both sides in detail, in an attempt to equip parishes with the information they need to make up their minds.

The report examines the teachings and rituals of the early and medieval Church. It notes that homoerotic imagery and same-sex rituals, adelphopoeisis, were in use and asks whether this points to “an acceptance of same-sex sexuality that was subsequently lost”.

The report also cites lesbian theologians who argue that, far from homosexuality being sinful, the opposite is the case. These theologians say that it is denying one’s “God-given sexuality” under the pressure to conform that is the sin.

The report concedes, however, that the same-sex rituals of the early Church might have been friendship-based and not have had a sexual element. It also acknowledges that language used in the medieval Church that appears now to be homoerotic, might then have had a spiritual meaning.

The report pleads for compassion for the plight of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in the Church. It says: “They live the painful reality of the paradoxes of their position, can be subjected to homophobia — violence, unkindness and exclusion based on prejudice.”

The report suggests that individual parish priests might be allowed “in particular circumstances” to bless or offer prayers for the relationships of same-sex couples. It says: “It would give individual parish priests the flexibility to take appropriate action in particular circumstances without committing the Church as a whole. It would also work towards a more genuinely loving and inclusive Church.”

In the end, the bishops come down against changing policy, which rules out same-sex blessings, because, they say, this reflects the scholarly consensus, allows homosexual people to be cared for pastorally and helps to maintain unity.

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