Oh, sorry, it’s “poly” for polyamorous – what used to be called fornication. It would appear that it’s the next Big Thing, meaning that the poor old Anglican Church – in its never ending pursuit of trendy cultural decadence – has some catching up to do.

Terisa and Matt and Vera and Larry—along with Scott, who’s also at this dinner—are not swingers, per se; they aren’t pursuing casual sex. Nor are they polygamists of the sort portrayed on HBO’s Big Love; they aren’t religious, and they don’t have multiple wives. But they do believe in “ethical nonmonogamy,” or engaging in loving, intimate relationships with more than one person—based upon the knowledge and consent of everyone involved. They are polyamorous, to use the term of art applied to multiple-partner families like theirs, and they wouldn’t want to live any other way.

The idea of “ethical nonmonogamy,” or engaging in loving, intimate relationships with more than one person” is begging for liturgical enshrinement by heretical bishops like Michael Bird. I am looking forward to the inevitable densely impenetrable theological reflections that explain why being poly is not contrary to the machinations of contemporary biblical deconstructionism. Rowan Williams is half way there already:

Rowan Williams believes that gay sexual relationships can “reflect the love of God” in a way that is comparable to marriage, The Times has learnt. Gay partnerships pose the same ethical questions as those between men and women, and the key issue for Christians is that they are faithful and lifelong, he believes.

… “definitely come to the conclusion” that the Bible did not denounce faithful relationships between people who happened to be gay.

Substitute poly for gay and the Anglican church can take another confident step towards oblivion.