Towards a Permissive and Secular Society?

This chapter sheds new light on existing assumptions about historical processes of British secularisation and permissiveness by re-examining the church’s role in shaping post-war discussions about family planning, marital sexuality, and ethical decision-making. The origins and development of more permissive Anglican approaches towards heterosexuality can be traced via ongoing, internal discussions about contraception and the purposes of sex within marriage that rumbled on after 1930, leading up to the 1958 Lambeth Conference pronouncements on responsible parenthood. In light of this, the chapter questions assumptions about the sudden arrival of radical Anglican approaches towards the “new morality” in the 1960s and situates this development as part of a shared feeling among a broad spectrum of Anglicans, who perceived that Britain was moving in new directions but could not agree on how the church should respond.