American Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Anglican bishop

Church of England leaders are set to spark a fresh row over homosexuality by suggesting that gay vicars should no longer have to promise to abstain from sex.

The controversial proposal is expected to be included in a document being drawn up by the bishops to be discussed in the New Year by the Church’s ‘Parliament’, the General Synod.

Under current Church rules, gay clergy wanting to enter into civil partnerships are required to assure their bishops they will remain celibate – in line with traditional Church teaching that sex is only permitted within heterosexual marriage.

Such clergy also have to make similar official assurances to their archbishop before they can be promoted to the rank of bishop.

But sources said the bishops could now call for the rule to be scrapped so that clerics living with same-sex partners would no longer have to make a solemn vow.

They would still be expected to remain celibate.

Sources said many bishops now felt it was unfair for one group of clerics to face intrusive questioning about their sex lives while heterosexuals did not, and that all clergy should be trusted equally to conform to the Church’s moral guidelines.

The proposed reform would represent a softening of the bishops’ official stance on gay clergy, although critics claim that a number of homosexual clerics already breach the celibacy rules and bishops turn a blind eye.

One senior conservative said: ‘This is a slippery slope. It will mean that gay clergy will have even less incentive to remain celibate than they do now.

'I fear the next step will be gay marriage.’

But the rule change is unlikely to appease liberals as the consultative document is not expected to make any other concessions to the gay Christian lobby.

While it is expected to emphasise that gay Christians must be fully welcomed into the life of the Church, it is not likely to support an end to the Church’s ban on formal blessings of civil partnerships or same-sex marriage.

The consultation document is being drawn up following a series of meetings of the bishops in recent months.

The current rules were introduced in 2005 when the Church decided that gay clergy could enter civil partnerships as the legal arrangements were seen as distinct from marriage and did not imply a sexual relationship,

The row was triggered by the 2003 consecration in America of Gene Robinson (pictured) as the first openly gay Anglican bishop

In a statement at the time, the bishops said clerics wanting to enter such partnerships must be ‘willing to give assurances to his or her bishop that the relationship is consistent’ with Church teaching.

But calls for reform were first made in a 2013 report on sexuality, commissioned by the bishops, chaired by the former senior civil servant Sir Joseph Pilling.

The new document from the House of Bishops, which will be released next month, follows more than a decade of bitter divisions within the Church of England and worldwide Anglicanism over homosexuality.

The row was triggered by the 2003 consecration in America of Gene Robinson as the first openly gay Anglican bishop, and the liberal American Church has now also approved gay marriage.