General Synod – Human Trafficking
The final item of business on Wednesday evening was a Diocesan Synod motion from Newcastle on Human Trafficking.
The Revd Canon Michael Webb (Newcastle) moved:
That this Synod, in celebrating the centenary of the death of Josephine Butler, who is remembered in the Calendar on May 30th:
(a) recognize and deplore the continuing evil of human trafficking, especially of children and young people;
(b) urge the Church of England to support the work of those who seek to end the traffic and rescue those trapped in it; and
(c) support the vigorous implementation of the UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking and, in particular, call on HM Government to ensure that effective measures are in place to prevent sex workers being trafficked into Britain during the 2012 Olympics.
The following amendment was moved by Canon Ann Turner (Europe) and carried on a show of hands.
At the end insert as a new paragraph:
(..) request the Archbishops’ Council to explore the possibility of affiliating to the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre in order to combat this traffic as an urgent priority.”.
This made the Substantive motion into:
That this Synod, in celebrating the centenary of the death of Josephine Butler, who is remembered in the Calendar on May 30th:
(a) recognize and deplore the continuing evil of human trafficking, especially of children and young people;
(b) urge the Church of England to support the work of those who seek to end the traffic and rescue those trapped in it;
(c) support the vigorous implementation of the UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking and, in particular, call on HM Government to ensure that effective measures are in place to prevent sex workers being trafficked into Britain during the 2012 Olympics; and
(d) request the Archbishops’ Council to explore the possibility of affiliating to the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre in order to combat this traffic as an urgent priority.
The motion was carried on a show of hands.
There was a second proposed amendment, moved by the Revd Mark Sowerby (Ripon & Leeds).
After paragraph (a) insert as a new paragraph:
“(b) recognize and deplore the male abuse of women, which is the root cause of this evil trade;”.
It was defeated by 95 votes to 114 with 12 recorded abstentions.
Background papers
by the Dioceses of Newcastle and Winchester, and the Diocese in Europe (GS Misc 906A)
from the Mission and Public Affairs Division (GS Misc 906B)
General Synod – Uniqueness of Christ in Multi-Faith Britain
The second item of Wednesday afternoon was a private member’s motion on the uniqueness of Christ in multi-faith Britain.
Mr Paul Eddy (Winchester) moved:
That this Synod request the House of Bishops to report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.
The Revd Christopher Strain (Salisbury) moved as an amendment:
After “That this Synod” insert:
“warmly welcome Dr Martin Davie’s background paper ‘The witness of Scripture, the Fathers and the historic formularies to the uniqueness of Christ’ attached to GS Misc 905B and”.
This amendment was carried on a show of hands.
This made the substantive motion:
That this Synod warmly welcome Dr Martin Davie’s background paper ‘The witness of Scripture, the Fathers and the historic formularies to the uniqueness of Christ’ attached to GS Misc 905B and request the House of Bishops to report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.
The motion was carried by 283 votes to 8 with 10 recorded abstentions.
Background papers
background note from the Secretary General (GS Misc 905B) to which is attached a paper from Dr Martin Davie
A Church of England Approach to the Unique Significance of Jesus Christ A paper prepared by Dr Martin Davie for the Theological Group of the House of Bishops
During the debate the following two amendments were defeated.
The Revd Canon Simon Bessant (Sheffield) moved as an amendment:
Leave out all the words after “That this Synod” and insert:
“remembering its resolution of 6 July 2002, affirm:
(a) the process started by Presence & Engagement (GS 1577); and
(b) that all Christians should seek to witness faithfully to Christ and His Gospel to all, whilst also building strong friendships and partnerships with other faith communities in seeking peace, justice and the common good throughout society;
and ask that Ministry Division and the Mission & Public Affairs Division report on progress on this matter.”.
The 2002 resolution is copied below the fold. This amendment was lost on a show of hands.
The Revd Canon Andrew Dow (Gloucester) moved as an amendment:
Leave out all the words after “That this Synod” and insert:
“, recognising the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only Saviour as a foundational tenet of the Apostolic Christian Faith, request the House of Bishops to commission a report for Synod giving details of current Church of England based evangelistic ministry among those of other faiths, providing guidelines for this particular outreach, and highlighting examples of good practice.”.
This amendment was lost on a show of hands.
11 CommentsGeneral Synod – Church Water Bills
The first item of business this afternoon (Wednesday) was a private member’s motion about Church Water Bills.
Martin Dales (York) moved:
That this Synod, concerned about the effect on many parishes of sudden, massive rises in water charges for churches, request HM Government to remind OFWAT of its obligations to ensure that the water companies adhere to the clear guidance given by the Secretary of State for the Environment in 2000, which states that “there are many non-household users who are not businesses … including places of worship … and it would be inappropriate to charge all non-household customers as if they were businesses”.
The motion was carried by votes 282 to nil with three recorded abstentions.
The amendment below was proposed by Timothy Cox (Blackburn) but was defeated on a show of hands.
Leave out all the words after “concerned about the” and insert:
“devastating impact of massive rises in the sewerage charges for places of worship, charities, not-for-profit clubs and voluntary organisations, request HM Government to issue new guidance to OFWAT and the water companies to:
(a) treat not-for-profit organisations, charities, places of worship, community halls etc differently from businesses and provide concessionary rates for surface and foul water drainage for these bodies; and
(b) spread the cost of highways drainage solely upon for-profit organisations.”.
Background papers
from Martin Dales (GS Misc 904A)
by the Secretary General (GS Misc 904B)
General Synod – Women Bishops legislation
Updated Thursday at 13.00 GMT to include the Archbishop of Canterbury’s contribution to the debate
After a service of Holy Communion the Synod spent the rest of Wednesday morning debating the proposed legislation to permit the ordination of women as bishops.
The draft legislation was prepared on the basis of the motion passed at Synod in July 2008. (See the end of our July item here for the text of the motion.)
There were two motions before Synod, both proposed by the Bishop of Manchester (the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch):
That the Measure entitled “Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure” be considered for revision in committee.
This motion was carried by 281 votes to 114 with 13 recorded abstentions. A request for a vote by houses was unsuccessful as fewer than 25 members wanted this.
That the Amending Canon entitled “Amending Canon No 30” be considered for revision in committee.
This motion was also carried – by 309 votes to 79 with 14 recorded abstentions
Both votes were taken electronically and voting lists will be available later (and we will publish them).
Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech
These are the papers for the debates.
Women in the Episcopate (GS 1707)
Draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure (GS 1708)
Draft Amending Canon No. 30 (GS 1709)
Illustrative Code of Practice (GS 1710)
Explanatory Memorandum (GS 1708-10X)
The Bishop of Manchester addressing the Synod
9 CommentsGeneral Synod – reports on day three
Revised Thursday 00.30 GMT and 12.55 GMT
The official summary of the morning’s business is at General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Wednesday 11th February 2009 PM.
The official summary of the afternoon’s business is at General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Wednesday 11th February 2009 AM.
Ruth Gledhill and Alastair Cutting (or Justin Brett) and Peter Ould have been blogging during the morning debate.
General Synod Feb 09: Day Three
and
Women Bishops: Blogging It Live
and
Live Blogging Synod
Guardian Riazat Butt Church of England will not see first female bishops until 2014
BBC Women bishops pass first hurdle
Religious Intelligence Toby Cohen General Synod vote sees women bishops take a step closer
Dave Walker has a cartoon about it, here. He also posted this.
Matthew Davies ENS Church of England inches closer to approving women bishops
Reuters Avril Ormsby Synod avoids cataclysm over women bishops
Water Bills
The same three bloggers are here, here, and here.
Martin Beckford Church ‘raintax’ is crippling parishes, admits head of Ofwat
Not actually a report from synod, but relevant is this Guardian report, Minister orders water companies to review huge ‘rainwater tax’ bills by Jenny Percival.
Waste water cartoon by Dave Walker
Ruth Gledhill The Times Churches face closure over water bills
Uniqueness of Christ
Peter Ould blogged here.
Ruth Gledhill The Times Anglicans called on to convert non-Christian believers
Martin Beckford Telegraph Christianity in decline because of political correctness
Later reports:
Guardian Riazat Butt Church throws open female bishops dispute and a sidebar, Women in the church
Church Times blog Dave Walker Video and news links from General Synod Day 4
Martin Beckford A new anti-atheist bus slogan coined at General Synod
2 CommentsGeneral Synod: preparing for Wednesday morning
Judith Maltby has written for Comment is free Women bishops now.
The Church of England cannot justify continued discrimination against its female members…
…A number of cross-party parliamentarians in both houses are making it clear that they will not vote into the law any measure from General Synod which discriminates against women. Imagine: lawmakers who do not want discrimination against women enshrined in the law of the land. Who do these people think that they are? Where is their sense of right and wrong?
A recent Church of England report suggested that the Labour government was had lost its moral compass. Might one suggest that the moral compass of these parliamentarians is working rather better than the Church of England’s? Could it be time to take the plank out of our own eye?
Religious Intelligence has Church of England’s treatment of women “shameful”, General Synod is told by Judy West.
..The Rev Dr Threlfall-Holmes, General Synod member for Durham and Newcastle Universities, said: “It is shameful that the Church of England still treats women as a problem to be solved.
“The draft legislation coming before Synod on Wednesday was always going to be a compromise between gender equality and the desire in the church to ‘protect’ those who disagree with the ordination of women. So in that sense what we have before us is about what was to be expected.
“But we will need to be very careful not to be misled into setting up a separate ‘church within a church’ in a misguided attempt to secure unity.”
The Northumberland Gazette has Church ‘tone’ on women bishops criticised.
5 Comments…Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes criticised the “tone” of legislation on women bishops to be debated on Wednesday by the General Synod, the Church’s national assembly.
She said: “I think it is a shame that we continue to give more emphasis to the people who are a very vocal minority that disagree than to the huge majority who just want to get on with it.
“It is sending a very negative impression…
Open letter from Archbishop Akinola
The American Anglican Council has published An Open Letter from Archbishop Akinola to Archbishop Williams.
…In preparation for the meeting I asked The American Anglican Council to prepare the attached report on the continuing situation of The Episcopal Church to enable people in the wider Communion to have a fuller perspective of the circumstances in North America. I shared it with my colleagues in the Global South but did not release it more widely in the hope that we would receive assurances from the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada that they were willing to exercise genuine restraint towards those Anglicans in North America unwilling to embrace their several innovations.
Sadly that did not prove to be the case. Instead we were treated to presentations that sought to trivialize the situation and the consequences for those whose only offence is their determination to hold on doggedly and truthfully to the faith once delivered to the saints. In addition I have learned that even as we met together in Alexandria actions were taken that were in direct contradiction to the season of deeper communion and gracious restraint to which we all expressed agreement. For example, in the days leading up to our meeting, the Diocese of Virginia declared the “inherent integrity and blessedness” of same sex unions and initiated a process to provide for their “blessing”. While we were meeting, The Diocese of Toronto also announced that it will start same sex blessings within a year and The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia filed further costly legal action appealing the court’s decision in twenty cases favouring nine Virginia congregations. These and many further actions are documented within the report…
Associated with this letter are two documents prepared by the AAC, one about The Episcopal Church and another about the Anglican Church of Canada, both in PDF format. The former was prepared by the AAC, and the latter by ANiC.
28 CommentsGeneral Synod – Voice of the Church in Public Life
The last item of business this afternoon was a debate on a diocesan synod motion about the voice of the church in public life.
The Revd Canon David Felix (Chester) moved on behalf of the Chester Diocesan Synod:
That this Synod, mindful of the questions raised in public debate about the role of the Church in civic society, invite the Divisions of the Archbishops’ Council to report to the General Synod, before the end of the quinquennium, on their work:
(a) to foster clearer understanding of the Christian faith among the institutions and organisations of society; and
(b) to reinforce the claims of the Church to take its place in public life in Britain.
The Revd Canon Pete Spiers (Liverpool) moved as an amendment:
Leave out everything after “civic society” and insert:
“and believing that the most effective way to communicate the role of Christian faith in public life is through the witness and service of Christian men and women in their daily lives:
(a) affirm the work of the House of Bishops and the divisions of the Archbishops’ Council in fostering the understanding of the Christian faith among institutions and organisations in society;
(b) request the Business Committee to consider how the issues raised in Moral, But No Compass might best be debated; and
(c) urge the members of this Synod actively to promote public engagement in their dioceses and parishes to reinforce the values of the Christian faith.”.
This amendment was carried on a show of hands.
The substantive motion therefore became:
That this Synod, mindful of the questions raised in public debate about the role of the Church in civic society and believing that the most effective way to communicate the role of Christian faith in public life is through the witness and service of Christian men and women in their daily lives:
(a) affirm the work of the House of Bishops and the divisions of the Archbishops’ Council in fostering the understanding of the Christian faith among institutions and organisations in society;
(b) request the Business Committee to consider how the issues raised in Moral, But No Compass might best be debated; and
(c) urge the members of this Synod actively to promote public engagement in their dioceses and parishes to reinforce the values of the Christian faith.
The motion was carried overwhelmingly on a show of hands.
Canon Felix (left) and Canon Spiers (right) speaking during the debate
0 CommentsGeneral Synod – reports on day two
We will update this page as new reports appear.
The official summary of the morning’s business is at General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Tuesday 10th February 2009 AM.
The official summary of the afternoon’s business is at General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Tuesday 10th February 2009 PM.
We have already linked to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s presidential address and referred to the debate on BNP membership.
Riazat Butt in The Guardian Church of England votes to ban BNP clergy
BBC Synod votes in favour of BNP ban
Avril Ormsby at Reuters Church of England bans far-right party membership
Ruth Gledhill in the Times Credit crunch is ‘doomsday’ scenario says CoE finance chief
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph Church of England investment chief warns of financial crisis ‘doomsday machine’
Justin Brett Anatomy of a Debate: Part 1
Dave Walker General Synod Day 2
Ruth Gledhill General Synod Feb 09: Day Two and Britain heading for ‘doomsday’ says C of E finance chief
Colin Coward General Synod Day 2 – Archbishop of Canterbury Presidential Address
ENS Matthew Davies Archbishop of Canterbury spotlights challenges, priorities of ‘imperfect’ communion (includes link to video of the Presidential Address)
Daily Mail Steve Doughty Church of England votes to ban vicars from belonging to BNP
George Pitcher Church’s BNP ban is silly and pointless
Savi Hensman Choosing Christianity over racism
5 CommentsGeneral Synod: Membership of Organisations which contradict the duty to promote race equality
Updated Thursday to add the voting figures on one amendment.
This afternoon General Synod debated a private member’s motion about membership of organisations which contradict the duty to promote race equality. It was proposed by Ms Vasantha Gnanadoss of the diocese of Southwark. This is her motion:
That this Synod, noting that in 2004 the Association of Chief Police Officers adopted a policy whereby
“no member of the Police Service, whether police officer or police staff, may be a member of an organization whose constitution, aims, objectives or pronouncements contradict the general duty to promote race equality” and “this specifically includes the British National Party”,
request the House of Bishops to formulate and implement a comparable policy for the Church of England, to apply to clergy, ordinands, and such employed lay persons as have duties that require them to represent or speak on behalf of the Church.
The motion was carried by 322 votes to 13 with 20 recorded abstentions.
Background Papers
GS Misc 903A from Vasantha Gnanadoss
GS Misc 903B from the Secretary General
Ms Gnanadoss addressing the Synod
During the debate three amendments were moved but all were defeated.
Mr Justin Brett (Oxford) moved:
Leave out all the words after “That this Synod” and insert “affirm that membership of any organisation whose constitution, aims, objectives or pronouncements contradict the promotion of race equality is incompatible with the Apostolic Christian faith.”.
The Ven Norman Russell (Archdeacon of Berkshire) moved:
For the words “noting that in 2004” to “British National Party” substitute “recognising that every human being is made in the image of God”.
Leave out “comparable”; and
At the end insert “, which makes clear that racism has no place in the life of the Church.”.
Mr Tim Hind (Bath & Wells) moved:
Leave out “clergy, ordinands, and such employed lay persons as have duties that” and insert “persons whose duties”.
The voting on Tim Hind’s amendment was 166 in favour, 177 against and 11 recorded abstentions. The other two amendments were each defeated on a show of hands.
11 CommentsGeneral Synod – Archbishop of Canterbury's Presidential Address
The Archbishop of Canterbury gave his Presidential Address to General Synod this afternoon. Read it online here.
The Archbishop addressing the Synod
3 Commentsstill more on the primates meeting
Updated again Tuesday evening
Archbishop Peter Akinola has published A Wake Up Call to the People of God. It includes this:
…All through our gathering at the recently concluded Primates’ meeting I kept wondering whether we were the ones to whom John was writing. We have a glorious reputation – a worldwide communion of millions with a glorious history and beautiful heritage, fluid structures, grand cathedrals, “infallible” canons, historical ecclesiology and ‘flexible’ hermeneutics – but we are in danger of forgetting what we have received and heard and replacing it with the seemingly attractive gods and goddesses of our age. We are in danger of becoming the ‘living dead’ by giving the outward appearance of life but in reality we are no more than empty and ineffective vessels. In parts of our Communion some have merged the historical gospel message of Jesus the Christ with seductive ancient heresies and revisionist agendas, which have resulted in an adulterated and dangerous distortion of the gospel. The call to obedience and repentance is one that we must declare but we refuse and instead we replace it with a polite invitation to empty tolerance and endless conversation. Sometimes we think that we can replace the need for repentance with activities, programmes, endless meetings, conventions and communiqués —- we are wrong!
Bonnie Anderson President of the Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies, has released a statement on the communiqué from the recently-completed Primates Meeting and on the report of the Windsor Continuation Group, available here.
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada has published a letter to Canadians, see A Reflection by our Primate.
…My observation is that in those dioceses where resolutions have been passed requesting the authorizing of rites for blessing same-sex unions the Bishops have shown gracious restraint. They have called for continuing discernment in some cases through the drafting and testing of such rites in a limited manner and have advised the House accordingly. I am of the opinion that while our church struggles to honour the call for gracious restraint in blessing same-sex unions, those who are the proponents of cross-border interventions have and continue to show no restraint. I have endeavored to address this situation since the Lambeth Conference and I regret to say that to date a conversation with the pertinent parties has not been possible. I am disappointed and dismayed. My feelings are grounded in my care and concern for the Bishops and dioceses most adversely affected by these cross-border interventions…
However, I am encouraged by the call in the Windsor Continuation Report for the Archbishop of Canterbury to initiate professional mediated conversations in conflicted situations. In supporting this call, the Primates were unanimous. I personally assured the Archbishop of Canterbury of my commitment on behalf of our Church to this initiative and expressed my hope that all other parties would also come to the table in a spirit of “honest exchange and mutual challenge” for the sake of the unity of the Church.
Tuesday updates
Steve Waring at the Living Church has published Analysis: Primates Offer Support, Warnings to Both Sides.
Bishop Jack Iker Fort Worth Reflections on the Alexandria Communiqué (PDF)
9 CommentsGeneral Synod – reports on day one
Updated again Tuesday evening
The official summary is at General Synod – Summary of Business Conducted on Monday 9th February 2009 PM.
This includes links to audio recordings of all the sessions. (When I tried, only one of them was working properly. Dave Walker had a similar problem with the live feed.)
There is also a link to the text of the speech by Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor. The press release from his office about this speech is here.
The Questions session is pretty difficult to understand on the audio, as the Questions, which are submitted in advance, and are available to everybody on the floor as a printed document, are not read out. It’s unclear why this document is not routinely made available beforehand on the web. The prepared Answers, which are read out, are not available in written form to those on the floor, but are available to the Press Gallery!
As the summary linked above says
46 written questions were submitted by members of the Synod. The text of these questions, alongside the written responses, will be available here within the next week.
For more colourful reporting of the afternoon, try some of these:
Ruth Gledhill General Synod Feb 2009: Day One and Times Online Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor: All churches “impoverished” by Anglican divisions
Martin Beckford Telegraph General Synod Day 1: Key Church of England meeting starts with debate on Catholic church and Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor calls on Anglicans to work with Roman Catholics against secular society.
Also George Pitcher Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor: United we stand and Damian Thompson Cardinal’s General Synod speech uses the loaded phrase ‘Ecclesial Community’ – meaning ‘not a Church’
BBC Cardinal ‘regrets’ CofE divisions
Justin Brett So what do you actually do at Synod, then?
Andrew Brown Is the Church of England together enough to split?
Tuesday updates
Comment is free Giles Fraser A week of terrible headlines
Unfortunately, during this synod, the Christian spirit is likely to be overshadowed by infighting and obscurantism…
Guardian Riazat Butt Calls for ecclesial unity amid homosexuality row (scroll down for this)
The Diocese of Lichfield has reports of two items in Questions, here, and here.
5 CommentsGeneral Synod – Weekend advance press reports
General Synod opened at 3 pm today. The following reports appeared over the weekend and earlier today.
Jonathan Wynne-Jones in the Telegraph Historic plans to introduce women bishops rejected by key traditionalist leaders
BBC Synod to discuss women bishops
Trevor Timpson at the BBC Waiting for the women bishops
Ruth Gledhill and Sean O’Neill in The Times Bishops resist moves to outlaw BNP membership
Ekklesia has Bishop backs ban on Church racism
Also at Ekklesia Church of England Synod to tackle key economic and social issues
George Pitcher in his Telegraph blog writes Will the General Synod ban golliwogs?
and Anglicans at their best when they’re boring
The Times also has Four decades of rule: How the General Synod works
11 Commentskeeping in touch with General Synod
Updated Tuesday morning
Thinking Anglicans is not the only place on the internet for learning what happens this week at General Synod.
The official GS website pages start here.
The unofficial General Synod Blog can be found here.
Premier Christian Radio will have a live audio feed of sessions.
The Church Times Blog is here.
We will add to this list any other sources that we learn about during the week.
2 CommentsCofE website wants user feedback
The Church of England website wants feedback from users.
See the press release What are you surfing for?
The Church of England is increasingly using a range of new media in order to enhance its web presence. So, the webmasters of the national Church of England web-site, recognising the need to engage directly with visitors to the site, have launched an on-line survey to gather visitors’ views.
It is available now at http://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/cofe/cofeweb and will be there until the end of March…
The site was designed by ILRT Bristol and launched in 2004.
TA readers are strongly encouraged to respond to the survey.
5 Commentsopinions from the papers
George Pitcher wrote in his blog for the Telegraph on Why Pope Benedict is like Rowan Williams.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times that Growing up is a moral business. (For background links see here.)
And he also wrote at Comment is free that Atheists should get a life and leave our slot alone. Related to this, Jonathan Bartley at Ekklesia wrote The politics of Thought for the Day.
John Packer wrote in the Guardian about the upcoming General Synod debates on various public policy issues in Face to Faith. (We shall cover these in more detail during the week.)
Roderick Strange writes in The Times: Credo: Riveted by Mark’s Gospel, in one sitting.
Jonathan Bartley wrote in last week’s Church Times about An honest, vulnerable President.
19 CommentsLooking into the face of the enemy
Some years ago, some villagers in my parish, faced with the closure of their small church, rallied and organised themselves to see what could be done to make it viable. A retired civil servant listed the various tasks which he had arranged to be done, and he had achieved a great deal. He said that the practical tasks were within his ability but he couldn’t help with discussions about the nature of the universe or of God. I was taken aback by his view that our primary task was to conduct philosophical discussions, like early twentieth century French philosophers, and that anyone would want to join a church where this was being done!
The nature of God as a philosophical problem has never really engaged me, it belongs to the world of crosswords or sudoku. I appreciate the skill these things take, but I really don’t see the point. I can say that God has these qualities, say green eyes, and someone can say God has brown eyes. At the end of the day, so what? Who cares?
Now if I say that my green-eyed God revealed to my green-eyed people that the land you are standing on was given to us from the dawn of time, suddenly it matters. If I go on to say that you can remain on this land we’ve been given, but you won’t have the same employment opportunities, or your children won’t have the same life-chances as green-eyed people, it matters even more. You don’t have to go far with this idea before you begin to see resonances in nineteenth-century plantations in the deep south of the United States, twentieth-century unrest in Northern Ireland, and the ongoing wound which is Israel/Palestine. The list goes on and throughout history that engaging God in the cause of our tribal identity not only diminishes God, but gives us leave to commit all sorts of acts in the name of our tribal God.
If we believe we act in the name of the purposes of our God, then anything which opposes us is heresy. It might not make a difference if we have no power to act on what we believe other people to be. When Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, he described Jews as a disease, as germs. The idea remained for a few years, until he had the power to do what you do with disease or germs, which is eradicate them. If we feel our God is not acting quickly enough to eliminate those who believe heresy, or other religion, then if we have the power, we might help things along a bit and begin to try to eradicate these people. If the weapons we have are powerful enough, we may even eradicate ourselves in the process, but if we believe we are going to heaven, then we might go ahead anyway.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray ‘Our Father’, which implicitly identifies a shared God, a God of all. To see God in the face of your enemy is a much more difficult task than it is to simply write her/him off. To share God with your enemy means that you may have to acknowledge your kinship with someone whom you might find it easier to condemn. It may be that some of the evil characteristics your enemy has may also be in your own soul, but it is easier to put them out on someone else. To begin on the journey of understanding the God of everyone, we have to begin by seeing why we are compelled to make our enemy less human than us. This may be through fear of what lies within each of us. In other words, the path to reconciliation may begin with self-knowledge, of owning up to the darker characteristics of ourselves and our tribe.
Two months ago I was in a group of professionals involved in my community. I asked the question why our work hurt so much? It was the policeman who answered by saying that, to do his job properly, when he puts a prisoner in a cell, he has to understand that if his own life had been just slightly different, he could be that prisoner. He said he has to see himself in the face of the other. I had a similar experience a week or so later when I caught one of our heroin addicts trying to force a money box in church. I didn’t have to think for long to see how my life could have ended up like his.
So it matters very much what we believe God to be like. At worst, it can send us on holy war, whatever our religion; at best it can lead us into a path of self-discovery, with the possibility of learning that we all might be more alike than we are different, and all children of the same Spirit of Life.
8 CommentsFort Worth moves forward
Updated Sunday morning
The Convention of the Diocese of Fort Worth is due to hold a special meeting tomorrow.
The Presiding Bishop will attend tomorrow, and will preside and preach at the eucharist preceding the meeting, and again on Sunday morning. The meeting will elect a provisional bishop to replace Bishop Jack Iker.
The recommended candidate is Rt. Rev. Edwin F. “Ted” Gulick Jr., Bishop of Kentucky.
Earlier this week Bishop Jack Iker announced that he was relinquishing all claims on four of the parishes of the diocese. See this press release, Diocese Releases Four Parishes, and the associated supporting documents. See also this press release from The Steering Committee North Texas Episcopalians about it. There are several more parishes not affiliated with Bishop Iker.
The Dallas Morning News carried this front page report today: Episcopal divide in Fort Worth still wide open by Sam Hodges.
Sunday morning update
ENS reports: FORT WORTH: Gulick unanimously elected provisional bishop.
A pastoral letter from Bishop Gulick can be found here (PDF).
Local newspaper reports:
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Fort Worth-area Episcopalians elect provisional bishop and Reorganized Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth elects a new bishop.
Dallas Morning News Fort Worth congregations loyal to Episcopal Church reorganize.
Meanwhile, Bishop Iker announced 23 Clergy Released from Canonical Residency.
Katie Sherrod writes about it here.
6 CommentsWhat the British think about Darwin and Evolution
It’s not only Americans who don’t believe in evolution. Pat Ashworth writes in the Church Times about recent research on this. Rescue Darwin rows from extremes, says theology think tank.
ONLY 37 per cent of people in the UK believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution is “beyond reasonable doubt”, research by Theos, a public- theology think tank, suggests.
Of those questioned, 32 per cent think that Young Earth Creationism (YEC — “the belief that God created the world some time in the past 10,000 years”) is either “definitely or probably true”, and 51 per cent say the same of Intelligent Design (which Theos defines as “The idea that evolution alone is not enough to explain the complex structures of some living things, so the intervention of a designer is needed at key stages”). The report describes the term Intelligent Design (ID) as “slippery”.
The fact that these figures do not add up shows how confused and often contradictory the population is in its opinions, say the authors of the report Rescuing Darwin, Nick Spencer, director of studies at Theos, and Denis Alexander, director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. They describe it as “a sorry state of affairs”, in an age when the theory is now incontestable in scientific circles and when advances in genetics have strengthened it.
Theos has published a press release, Half of Britons sceptical about evolution, and the report Rescuing Darwin is available as a PDF, and the research tables are available as another PDF here. From the press release:
Only half of the UK population consistently choose evolution over creationism or Intelligent Design, according to a major report published today by Theos.
The report, entitled Rescuing Darwin, published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth (February 12), draws on extensive new research conducted by the polling agency, ComRes (see tables below).
It reveals that only 25% of British adults think that evolution is “definitely true”, with another quarter thinking it is “probably true”.
The remaining 50% are either strongly opposed or simply confused about the issue. Around 10% of people consistently choose (Young Earth) Creationism (the belief that God created the world some time in the last 10,000 years) over evolution, and about 12% consistently prefer Intelligent Design or “ID” (the idea that evolution alone is not enough to explain the complex structures of some living things). The remainder of the population, over 25%, are unsure and often mix evolution, ID and creationism together…
Whatever the exact numbers are, it seems pretty clear that most of the people in the UK who are “sceptical about evolution” are not active religious believers.
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