On homosexuality In 1994, Carey voted in the
House of Lords to defeat equality legislation that would have lowered the age of consent for homosexual men, from 21 years, to the same age as for heterosexuals (16 years) and again, in 1998, he voted against the equalisation of age of consent, at that time 18, to 16. Since his retirement, Carey has tolerated
same-sex partnerships in secular law but continues to oppose
same-sex marriage and church blessings of same-sex partnerships. In March 2006, he personally endorsed "with enthusiasm" a questionnaire to American bishops from what he described as "Lay
Episcopalians who wish their Church to remain faithful to Orthodox Christianity" in relation to the controversy in that church over the ordination of an openly gay bishop. For this, he was chided by
Frank Griswold, the Presiding Bishop of the
Episcopal Church in the United States, "for allowing himself to be used by others whose political ambition is to sow division". In late April 2006, Carey said in a televised interview that the ordination of Bishop
Gene Robinson of
New Hampshire, US, in 2003 verged on
heresy because Robinson is gay and lives in a long-term relationship. His association with Episcopalians Concerned agitated some, and his decision to confirm anti-gay dissidents who refused the ministry of the Bishop of Virginia puzzled the same people. Carey, who remembered the difficulties of the
13th Lambeth Conference that he had presided over in 1998, sought to avoid a major schism in the communion by refraining from further consecrations of gay people. In April 2010, Carey submitted a witness statement to an appeal court considering the
dismissal of a relationship counsellor who had refused to work with homosexuals, in which he suggested that intervention by senior clerics, including himself, was "indicative of a future civil unrest". In the same statement, he suggested that cases engaging religious rights should not be heard by any of the judges who had decided the previous cases, "as they have made clear their lack of knowledge about the Christian faith". and "deeply inimical to the public interest". Carey's position was widely criticised in the press. Andrew Brown, writing in
The Guardian, suggested that the effect of the judgment was to say that Carey was "a self-important and alarmist twit who has no idea what he is talking about". The
Church Times commented that "One might be forgiven for thinking that Lord Carey of Clifton has generated more column-inches since retiring as Archbishop of Canterbury than he did when in office. His latest foray into the nation's media is more than usually regrettable, as it strikes at the heart of the independence of the judiciary." However, his position was supported by his former colleague, the retired Bishop of Rochester,
Michael Nazir-Ali.
On Muslims As Archbishop of Canterbury, Carey was active in inter-faith work and worked for better relations with
Muslims, calling for "deeper dialogue" between the two faiths. On 25 March 2004, after his retirement, he made a speech lamenting the lack of democracy and innovation in
Muslim countries, suggesting a lack of
critical scholarship toward the
Qur'an and saying that moderate Muslims should "resist strongly" the take-over of Islam by extremists. He also criticised the majority of Muslims, who do not support extremists, for not denouncing them. Some viewed his speech as an outspoken attack on Islam; Carey responded: "Those who took the trouble to read my lecture will have noted that I was as critical of the West, of Christianity and, for that matter, also sharply critical of Israel's policy with respect to Palestine." In September 2006, Carey backed
Pope Benedict XVI in the
controversy over his comments on Islam and declared that "there will be no significant material and economic progress [in Muslim communities] until the Muslim mind is allowed to challenge the status quo of Muslim conventions and even their most cherished
shibboleths".
On matters of trade In February 2006, Carey attracted more controversy by declaring in a letter to
The Times that a General Synod motion supported by his successor,
Rowan Williams, in favour of
disinvestment in a company active in the occupied territories of Israel made him ashamed to be an Anglican. In September 2009, Carey provoked outrage among some Anglicans by making positive remarks about the arms trade. He was quickly condemned by a number of Christian activists, particularly since the
Lambeth Conferences in 1988 and 1998 had resolved to oppose the arms trade.
On Anglican unity In April 2006, when criticism of his post-retirement activism on a number of fronts had been voiced in an open letter by liberal laypersons in the church, he issued a public statement complaining that such comments were "mischievous and damaging to the Anglican Communion". In an interview for the BBC, on 23 April 2006, he said "I think this is a mischievous letter from Australia and I hope the authors will reflect and repent." In May 2006, Carey made a speech to the Virginia Theological Seminary, subsequently published on his personal website, which said "When I left office at the end of 2002 I felt the Anglican Communion was in good heart" but that, as a result of subsequent events "it is difficult to say in what way we are now a Communion." This was reported on 11 June 2006 in the
Sunday Telegraph and on 12 June 2006 in
The Guardian and
The Independent as an attack on his successor. An email from Carey on the day of publication was circulated in which he strongly denied this and said "I am hopping mad and will want a retraction from the
Sunday Telegraph, otherwise I will lodge a complaint." In November 2006, Carey was barred from delivering a
Church Mission Society lecture at
Bangor Cathedral by the
Dean of
Bangor, who viewed that Carey had become "a factor of disunity and of disloyalty to Rowan Williams, a divisive force."
On the British and migration As a founding member of the Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration, Carey wrote an opinion piece in
The Times in September 2008 in which he advocated for a migration policy based on the group's concept of balanced migration (i.e. the number of immigrants entering Britain would have to correspond to the number of emigrants leaving Britain), with this including a cap on the number of migrants allowed to become permanent residents of the United Kingdom; among other statements, he said "If this scale of immigration continues, with people of different faiths, cultures and traditions coming here, what will it mean to be British? [...] Immigration must be kept under control if we are to retain the essentials of British society that have been built up over the generations." The piece was written in response to an earlier one (also published in
The Times) by
David Aaronovitch, with Aaronovitch's characterisation of the Cross-Party Group as seeking to "chuck [immigrants] out" being rejected by Carey. Around the same time, Carey would appear on
BBC Radio 5 Live to call for British migration policy to be debated "without any rancour" he also warned that, if immigration was allowed to continue at its current rate, resentment "could build and is building up already" while "dangerous" social conditions such as disproportionate unemployment among ethnic minorities could also emerge.
On marriage In February 2012, speaking at the launch of the
advocacy group Coalition for Marriage, Carey voiced his opposition to the government's proposal to legalise
same-sex marriage, stating that he was "worried and disappointed" and calling the proposal "cultural vandalism". In March 2013, Carey spoke of being "very suspicious" that behind plans for gay marriage "there lurks an aggressive secularist and relativist approach towards an institution that has glued society". In May 2013, Carey claimed same-sex marriage could set a "dangerous precedent" which could lead to sibling marriage or
polygamy. Carey criticized the British government for seeking to change the definition of marriage to "a long-term commitment between two people of any sex, in which gender and procreation are irrelevant".
On religious freedom Carey was a leading advocate for the rights of Christians in advance of a case on religious freedom, begun on 4 September 2012 at the
European Court of Human Rights, regarding the case of two workers forced out of their jobs over the wearing of
crosses as a visible manifestation of their
faith.
On assisted suicide In July 2014 he announced that he had changed his view on
euthanasia in favour of the legalisation of assisted dying for terminally-ill patients.
On Syrian Christians On 18 July 2015, he lent his name and efforts to the
Barnabas Fund, a charity which aimed to place
Syrian Christians, whom
ISIS target as part of their Islamic supremacist doctrine, at the front of the UK refugee queue. He called on the government to "welcome Christian
refugees and give them priority as asylum seekers. Syrian and Iraqi Christians are being butchered, tortured and enslaved. We need the British Government to work with charities like the Barnabas Fund and others to evacuate those who are in desperate fear of their lives." He was joined by
Lord Weidenfeld and the Revd
Andrew White, Vicar of Baghdad, as well as many others, in his effort. ==Family==