The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has accused the charity Christian Aid of damaging their relationship by promoting LGBT material that the Church says contradicts its values.
The criticism centres on a 2023 document recently brought to light, which outlines the charity’s stance on “LGBT issues” and has prompted a formal complaint from Church leaders.
The PCI’s incoming moderator, the Rev Dr. Trevor Gribben, alleged it
had caused significant and potentially lasting damage to the relationship PCI has with Christian Aid [and] … a loss of confidence both in the judgement of some staff in Christian Aid and in the governance/management systems of the organisation as a whole.
Since 2018, the PCI has ruled that anyone in a same-sex relationship could not be a full member of the PCI, which supported Christian Aid as one of its two main charities.
According to Gribben, the PCI’s council had also expressed “deep concern and regret” that Christian Aid published Queering the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, which has since disappeared from the charity’s official website.
Christian Aid, established in 1945, replied that it did not adopt “any policy or agenda on issues of gender identity and human sexuality.” The document contained advice on identifying “vulnerabilities and needs of people who may experience additional risk in situations of conflict for reasons of gender and sexuality.”
