Single people should be valued as much as married couples and people in relationships, according to a new report released by the Church of England on Wednesday that laid out recommendations to support a diverse, evolving society.

In the report, “Love Matters,” the archbishops of Canterbury and York said “single people must be valued at the heart of our society” and noted that Jesus was single.

“Jesus’ own singleness should ensure that the Church of England celebrates singleness,” the report noted, reaffirming a traditional understanding that Jesus never married.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York — the Most Reverend Justin Welby and the Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell — established a commission in March 2021 to examine relationships and family, after recognizing that “family life in the 21st century is fluid and diverse”.

The commission’s report laid out five priorities for supporting families and households.

The report recommended that the church not regard singleness “as lesser than living in a couple of relationships, reflecting an evolving stance from the church, which has long emphasised the importance of heteronormative marriages and voted to allow divorced people to remarry only two decades ago.

It was the third report in a trilogy, after the church examined housing and social care, and comes not long after the church announced that it was considering using gender-neutral language to refer to God and apologised for its past treatment of LGBTQ people, but maintained it would still not allow same-sex marriages in church after years of debate.

The church of England is the original church in the global Anglican Communion, a gathering of churches that claims tens of millions of members in more than 160 countries.

New York Times News Service