The Church of England has launched a diversity drive that is specifically encouraging gay, lesbian and transgender people to take “roles of leadership and service in the local church”. This move is being greatly applauded by the LGBT community and is being very strongly criticized by conservatives. At one time such action by the Church of England would have been unthinkable, but today this news is hardly being noticed. The Church of England has worked very hard to be welcoming to the LGBT community in recent years, and this has created some very significant rifts within the denomination. Other major Christian denominations are going through similar struggles, and ultimately we may be seeing the largest shift in Protestant thinking since the days of the Reformation. (Read More...)