Bishop Colin Johnson has sent a letter to the clergy of the Diocese of Toronto explaining his decision to allow the blessing of same-sex unions in his diocese.

It contains the expected boilerplate, including this section which exhorts its readers to exercise Christian charity towards one another:

Not all will welcome this development: some because it goes too far, some because it is not nearly enough. You will note that there are strong affirmations in these guidelines assuring a continued and honoured place in all aspects of diocesan life for those who do not agree with this response.

All of us need to extend to each the most generous Christian charity that our Redeemer calls us to exercise as we, together, seek to discern and live out God’s will.

Charity – or agape love –  is explained by St. Paul in 1 Cor 13. It includes this:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

And here we have the problem: charity “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth”. What Johnson means by charity is not what St. Paul meant: charity does not require compromise on revealed truth. How can clergy who oppose same-sex blessings, out of charity, “rejoice in the truth” when they are being compelled to be an accessory to the lie that man can bless something that God has forbidden?

What Johnson means by “charity” is a mushy mealy-mouthed liberal feel-good moral relativism that wants us all to grin and nod inanely at one another as we  sink together into a morass of antinomian depravity. That isn’t charity.