Religion in the United Kingdom
What scripture, churches and faith communities teach about sex outside marriage, and how that teaching has changed.
All topics · 10
What does the Church of England teach about sex outside marriage?
The Church of England's official teaching still places sexual intimacy within marriage. The House of Bishops' 2023 draft pastoral guidance restates this, and Lambeth Resolution I.10 (1998) holds that abstinence is right for those not called to marriage. In practice, churches routinely marry couples who already live together, and debate within the Church continues.
View the topic →Why the 1662 Prayer Book says marriage helps 'avoid fornication'
The marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer gives three reasons for matrimony: the procreation of children, a remedy against sin 'to avoid fornication' for those lacking the gift of continency, and mutual help and comfort. The wording already appears in the 1559 book and survives in the 1662 text, still published by the Church of England.
View the topic →Lambeth 1998: what Resolution I.10 says about sex and marriage
Adopted by Anglican bishops at the 1998 Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, Resolution I.10 upholds lifelong faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman and states that abstinence is right for those not called to marriage. Lambeth resolutions are not legally binding on member churches, including the Church of England, but I.10 remains a reference point in Anglican debates.
View the topic →How British Methodists came to accept couples living together
Yes. On 30 June 2021 the Methodist Conference in Britain confirmed a resolution to recognise, accept and celebrate the love and commitment of unmarried cohabiting couples, passed by 253 votes to 38. The same Conference approved same-sex weddings in Methodist churches by 254 votes to 46, making 2021 a turning point for British Methodism.
View the topic →Sex before marriage: how Britain's main churches differ
Britain's main churches differ. The Catholic Catechism calls fornication gravely contrary to human dignity, and Church of England teaching still places sexual intimacy within marriage, though parishes marry cohabiting couples. The Methodist Conference voted in 2021 to celebrate unmarried cohabiting couples, while the 1963 report Towards a Quaker View of Sex opened a freer debate among British Friends.
View the topic →Fornication in the King James Bible: key verses and how they are read
In the King James Version of 1611, long the standard Bible in Britain, 'fornication' appears in passages such as 1 Corinthians 6:18 ('Flee fornication'), Galatians 5:19, which lists it among the works of the flesh, and Matthew 5:32 on divorce. The underlying Greek word, porneia, is broader, and churches read these verses differently.
View the topic →The 1963 Quaker report that reopened Christian sexual ethics
Towards a Quaker View of Sex is a 1963 report by eleven British Quakers who began meeting in 1957. It is often described as the first report by a religious body to take a positive view of homosexuality. Its frank reconsideration of Christian sexual ethics fuelled wide public debate in Britain and beyond.
View the topic →Already living together? How British churches marry cohabiting couples
Yes. Living together is no bar to a church wedding in the UK. ONS data on marriages in England and Wales in 2021 and 2022 show that 83.7% of couples marrying in a religious ceremony had cohabited first. Since 2009 the Church of England has also offered a combined marriage and baptism service for couples who already have children.
View the topic →Living in Love and Faith: what the Church of England's review has changed
Living in Love and Faith is the Church of England's review of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. In February 2023 General Synod welcomed optional Prayers of Love and Faith for same-sex couples and new pastoral guidance to replace Issues in Human Sexuality, while endorsing no change to the doctrine of marriage, which still places sexual intimacy within marriage.
View the topic →What the Catholic Church teaches about sex before marriage
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 2353) defines fornication as sexual union between an unmarried man and woman, and calls it gravely contrary to human dignity and to the purpose of sexuality, which it links to marriage and children. Elsewhere the Catechism lists fornication among offences against chastity. Catholic dioceses in Britain teach from the same text.
View the topic →