The Church of England does not have a clear stance on the matter. While the Church had always been closely linked to Freemasonry, since the 1980s, some Anglican bishops and pastors have made negative judgements about Freemasons, for theological reasons. In July 1987, the General Synod endorsed a report which considered the compatibility of Freemasonry and Christianity. The report stated "The reflections of the Working Group itself reveal understandable differences of opinion between those who are Freemasons and those who are not. Whilst the former fully agree that the Report shows that there are clear difficulties to be faced by Christians who are Freemasons, the latter are of the mind that the Report points to a number of very fundamental reasons to question the compatibility of Freemasonry and Christianity."