Tomorrow the House of Commons begins debating the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, an updated version of the current legislation which became law in 1990.
See Embryology Bill: the key points at the BBC.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has written in the Mail on Sunday about the issues involved, see We condemn torture, rape – anything that uses another’s body for our own purpose – Shouldn’t we show embryos similar respect?
Update The same Daily Mail text is now on the Lambeth Palace site as well.
Here is the earlier TA report on what was said when the House of Lords considered this bill.
Rather surprisingly, the Medical Research Council is discouraging scientists from attending Parliament, see BBC Scientists’ protest discouraged.
29 CommentsUpdated again Friday evening
A body called Christian Research has made a number of claims that have been reported by newspapers:
The Times Ruth Gledhill Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour and also commentary at God-shaped hole will lead to loss of national sense of identity.
Daily Telegraph George Pitcher Practising Muslims ‘will outnumber Christians by 2035’
Daily Mail Ben Clerkin ‘More practising Muslims than Christians in Britain by 2035’
But are these claims true? And why are quotation marks used in the headlines?
The Church of England issued a statement Latest Religious Trends publication ‘flawed and dangerously misleading’. This says:
…Across Christian denominations and other faiths, the research does not compare like with like. The number of active Muslims, for example, is an estimated projection based on halving the number of people who said they were Muslim at the last national government census in 2001. The same process for those who said they were Christian at the last census would yield about 20 million active Christians of whom around 14 million are active Anglicans (based on recent national surveys).
Instead, this research estimates Christian ‘membership’ using, for example, the number of adults on the Church of England’s local parish based formal voting lists as the sole measure of its active ‘members’. Huge numbers of people worshipping every week and involved in their churches in all sorts of other ways are consequently missed…
David Keen has a blog post Why Christian Research is Wrong and Dave Walker has more at Is the church in decline?
Update Thursday evening
Andrew Brown has published an article on Comment is free titled Prayers for the fearful in which he criticises this research:
…These extrapolations are all based on present trends continuing, which tells us that they are certainly wrong. It is an absolutely safe bet that society will have changed drastically in the next 40 years and in ways that we can’t foresee. Present trends will not continue. They may get worse, of course, for Christianity, but I doubt it.
The real lesson of these figures is not that the Church of England may cease to exist, or even that Islam is on the rise. It is that religion does not exist as a distinct mode of thought or existence. Religious allegiance is not a matter of theology; it’s not even, really, a matter of spirituality.
What really drives it is its function of ritualising and dramatising moral values and stories about society. This means that any church, any mosque, and so on, serves as a focus for a particular community and is embedded with all sort of extra-religious cultural assumptions and practices. If the community disappears, so does the church. The community will disappear when it no longer has an economic or political function and when the cost of membership seems to exceed the benefits…
And now, the author of the original research is disputing the Ruth Gledhill article:
The Times has ran a double page feature from Ruth Gledhill on declining church attendance, and compares it to the rising number of Muslims and Hindus attending worship. Benita Hewitt is the new director of Christian Research Association, whose Religious Trends have been quoted, describes the article as very misleading. Church attendance once a week is compared to mosque attendance once a year, and no allowance has been made for once a month, once a year, midweek and FX church attendance…
Update Friday morning
David Keen has drawn attention in the comments to this sample article featured in the March 2008 issue of Quadrant, which contains data that doesn’t match the newspaper reports. See David’s own blog article about this here.
Update Friday evening
Ruth Gledhill has posted Latest religious trends which includes two tables taken from the report (click on the tables to enlarge them). See also the comments to this blog article for more information.
Letters to The Times can be found here.
Dave Walker has obtained more comment from Benita Hewitt which is available here.
29 CommentsLast week, the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a lecture at the London School of Economics. The title was Religious faith and human rights.
You can read the full text of the lecture here.
Natalie Hanman has written at Comment is free about this lecture. Her article is titled Cross purposes. In the article she asks which comes first: gender equality before the law, or religious liberty?
This article also explains about the current UK legislation imposing a “public sector equality duty” and the proposals to extend this duty into more areas.
15 CommentsTheo Hobson wrote on Comment is free that
Church reformers must come to terms with the fact that it is a fundamentally reactionary institution…
Read O thou great irredeemable.
Andrew Brown wrote on helmintholog a piece unhelpfully titled Anglican Anorak post. It is in fact a discussion of the Manchester report including this:
5 CommentsThe real story is that the ordination of women priests was bought on credit, and the church can’t ever pay down more than the interest on the bill. When women priests were ordained, the Church of England was only held together, to the extent that it was, by both sides making solemn promises that they didn’t believe they would ever be called on and had no real intention of delivering. In particular, the supporters of women priests solemnly promised that there would always be an honoured place for their opponents within the church, even though they thought of the arrangements as entirely transitional; in return the opponents solemnly declared that women priests were legally and validly priests, even though they did not believe this could possibly be true. They still don’t.
Two articles by Pat Ashworth in today’s Church Times set out to explain what the Manchester report really says. See
Women bishops: choose path you want, says group
Manchester report: the conclusions summarised
8 CommentsUpdated again Friday evening
The Lead has published Williams won’t allow Robinson to function as priest in England in which it is said that:
…the Archbishop of Canterbury has refused to grant Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the right to preach or preside at the eucharist in England. Robinson received the news in an email yesterday morning.
Sources familiar with the email say Williams cites the Windsor Report and recent statements from the Primates Meeting in refusing to grant Robinson permission to exercise his priestly functions during his current trip to England, or during the trip he plans during the Lambeth Conference in July and August…
In the Church of England, the legal position on preaching is not the same as the position on “exercising priestly functions” and it appears that an overseas bishop would not necessarily need permission from anybody but the incumbent of the parish in order to simply preach there.
Nevertheless Bishop Robinson is respecting the wishes of the archbishop and is declining all invitations to preach in England.
Such respect is not to be found everywhere. The Lead continues:
Sources familiar with the email, which came to Robinson through a Lambeth official, say Williams believes that giving Robinson permission to preach and preside at the Eucharist would be construed as an acceptance of the ministry of a controversial figure within the Communion.
Williams has not denied permission to preach and preside to Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who gave his support to a failed legislative attempt to limit the rights of Nigerian gays and their supporters to speak, assemble and worship God collectively. Akinola has yet to respond to an Atlantic magazine article which suggests he may have had prior knowledge of plans for retributive violence against Muslims in his country that resulted in the massacre of more than 650 people in Yelwa, Nigeria.
Williams has not denied permission to preach and preside to Bishop Bernard Malango, the retired primate of Central Africa and one of the authors of the Windsor Report. Malango dismissed without reason the ecclesiastical court convened to try pro-Mugabe Bishop Nolbert Kunonga for incitement to murder and other charges.
Williams has not denied permission to preach and preside to Bishop Gregory Venables, primate of the Southern Cone, who has now claimed as his own, churches in three others provinces in the Anglican Communion (Brazil, Canada and the United States). Nor has he denied permission to preach and preside to Archbishops Henry Orombi of Uganda, Emanuel Kolini of Rwanda, or Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, all of whom have ignored the Windsor Report’s plea not to claim churches within other provinces of the Communion.
Ruth Gledhill has elaborated on the “banning” question in Bishop Gene ‘banned’.
The Living Church has an article about this also, No Pulpit Ban for Bishop Robinson by George Conger.
Episcopal Café has a quibble about this.
The Guardian had an item about it also, see here.
56 CommentsThe Bishop of New Hampshire is currently in England for the UK launch of his book, In the Eye of the Storm.
There has been extensive press and broadcast coverage:
BBC Williams criticised by gay bishop
The Hardtalk interview can be viewed here but only for a week after transmission date.
He was also interviewed on the Sunday radio programme:
Gene Robinson
The issue of homosexuality continues to tear the Anglican Communion apart in the build-up to the 2008 Lambeth Conference. In June the conservatives who oppose the ordination of gay priests will meet in Jerusalem, in what some see as an alternative conference. Many of these will refuse to go on to Canterbury for the main meeting in July.Meanwhile the gay Bishop, Gene Robinson, whose consecration brought this dispute to a head, shows no sign of backing out of the limelight. His latest book In the Eye of the Storm is published this week by the Canterbury Press. He explained why he wrote it.
Listen here (7 minutes).
Guardian Riazat Butt Williams disappoints God in not taking a stand, says gay bishop
The Times Gay rites; New Hampshire’s Bishop Gene Robinson is about to enter into a civil union
Daily Telegraph Gene Robinson: ‘It is a sin to treat me this way’
And the Church Times blog is following the story, here, and again in Can Lambeth bar Gene Robinson from preaching in England?
Bishop Robinson did speak in London, in a church, in 2005. It caused a fuss then, see here. And was reported fully in the Church Times as shown here.
About the book:
Read the preface by Desmond Tutu here.
Read three quotes printed on the back cover here.
5 CommentsIn the Daily Telegraph George Pitcher has written an article headlined Rowan Williams will not be driven out of office which is in fact about the Manchester report. It also rather debunks most earlier reports. (And it is not written by the newly appointed religion specialist.)
…As ever, the truth is somewhat different. Deeply considered (and, I might say, deeply boring) documentation has been published at Church House, morsels are torn from its body and partially digested, and those with corners to fight duly back into them, barking.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, as chair of the numbingly named Legislative Drafting Group, has offered up a typically chewy tome.
In it, far from proposing a church like a Victorian playground, with gates marked in stone for Boys and Girls, he offers three approaches to the introduction of women bishops: a simple change in the law with no alternative arrangements for those who demur; legislation that would make some special arrangements for those “unable to receive the ministry of women bishops”; and, finally, legislation that would create structures for these conscientious objectors.
The group is at pains to say that it’s not offering a recommendation, but analysing the pros and cons of each approach.
To infer from this that the church is set to split itself along gender lines is, at best, ambitious. But what is important is the difference between what is said in this report, which is dull, and what is perceived to have been said…
The Times has some letters.
1 CommentUpdated again on 25 May
The Report of the Women Bishops Legislative Drafting Group is now available online.
Unfortunately, it is provided only as a series of separate, mostly .doc files. Perhaps the situation will improve later.
Update on this
An html copy of Chapters 1 to 6 can now be found here.
And Annex G the spreadsheet containing the January 2008 count of “Resolutions parishes” can be found here.
Additional html files now available:
Annex B, Measure 1 – Draft Bishops (Consecration of Women) Measure (No.1)
Annex D – Illustration of ‘Statutory Code of Practice’ option
Annex D, Measure 2 – Draft Bishops (Consecration of Women) Measure (No 2)
There is a press release which summarises the report, which can be found at Women in the Episcopate – Manchester Report published.
First reaction to this from Forward in Faith UK is here. Second reaction is here.
First reaction from WATCH is here.
First press reports:
Press Association Church faces ‘serious decisions’ on women bishops
Associated Press Church of England panel calls for decision on structures for including women as bishops
Daily Mail Church of England delays consecration of first woman bishop by four years
The Times Report sets out roadmap for women bishops and later ‘Gender havens’ to avert split in Church
Daily Telegraph Church plans ‘men only’ breakaway dioceses
60 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Today before giving a speech in the House of Lords.
The Lambeth Palace website has:
Interview with Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme on credit, debt & inequality including a full transcript and an audio recording of the interview with John Humphrys.
Archbishop – Protect the Poorest From the Effects of Economic Downturn a press release about the House of Lords speech.
1 CommentTwo items on this today in the Church Times, both by Pat Ashworth:
A detailed report of the Trumpington case is headlined Ambrose caused parish breakdown, says tribunal.
And there is a preview of the guidelines on bullying that are to be published soon by the Archbishops’ Council, Parish guidelines aim to end bullying.
Elsewhere Alan Wilson has written a highly informative article on his blog at Bully pulpit — On baiting of the Clergy. (The comments there are also interesting.)
19 CommentsLord Harries of Pentregarth, aka Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford had a discussion with Simon Jenkins in the Guardian last weekend, see Atheist versus Bishop.
6 CommentsAs religious objections to the embryology bill mark the latest skirmish between faith and reason, Simon Jenkins and Richard Harries confront their differences head-on.
Several press reports from North-East England about this:
Northern Echo Bishop’s warning over threat of BNP
Newcastle Journal Bishop joins fight against nationalists
Sunderland Echo Bishop warns people ‘giving up hope’ by voting BNP
Northumberland Gazette BNP voters disaffected with main parties – Bishop
Here is the full text of the email that Tom Wright sent to his clergy:
41 Comments13 April 2008
Subject: Local elections and BNP from Bishop TomDear Friends
With local elections coming up, we face again the unwelcome news of the BNP making potential inroads in our region. Splendid work has been done to counter this by several clergy working with local community leaders, for instance in distributing the pamphlet, ‘Hope Not Hate’. I want to urge all of you to get involved in this effort in whatever local sphere you can.
However, we should also be aware that the reason the BNP can even gain a foothold in people’s affections is because many people in our region feel so disaffected after the last thirty years of national politics that they are in danger of giving up hope in our regular main parties. This isn’t anybody’s fault in particular. But when a party like the BNP seems to be gaining ground we should all ask the question, Why is there a vacuum there that the other parties aren’t filling? What frustrations are there that the BNP are exploiting, and what are the wise ways of reacting to, or even meeting, those needs?
It is one thing to point out, as many have already done, the neo-Nazi tendencies of the BNP, and to warn with a shudder against our society even taking a small step in any such direction. It is another to say, How can we drain the swamp so that this kind of ideology won’t breed again?
None of us (in other words) can be complacent. Opposing the BNP isn’t simply a matter of saying ‘the status quo is working fine, so please reject these idiots’. It should be a matter of saying, What does a healthy society look like and how can we make it clear to our whole population that we are working in the best ways towards that goal? Part of the calling of the churches, following Jesus in his work of bringing God’s kingdom, must be to help communities ask that question and to work with them towards finding robust and positive answers.
Warm greetings and good wishes,
Bishop TomThe Bishop of Durham, Auckland Castle.
The BBC Radio 4 Sunday programme carried an item with this title.
Parish bullies
Earlier this week the Rev Tom Ambrose, Vicar of St Mary and St Michael Church at Trumpington, was ordered to leave his post by the Bishop of Ely. The Bishop wrote “I am astonished and dismayed that there are two recorded occasions on which it is said that Dr Ambrose spat at parishioners, allegations which were not challenged in cross examination”.But, according to the General Secretary of the trade union Unite, Rachel Maskell, it is often clergy who are being victimised by their parishioners, and she claims that the church, its structures and its Bishops don’t help their priests. Rachel Maskell joined Sunday along with one of those Bishops, John Packer, Bishop of Leeds and Ripon, who chairs the committee of the Archbishops’ Council which deals with clergy conditions of service.
See also these media reports:
BBC Clergy ‘bullied by parishioners’
Religious Intelligence Trade Union claims parishioners are bullying clergy
Independent Union accuses bishops of failing to help bullied vicars and a leading article: Unholy rows
Cambridge Evening News Vicar backs attack on ‘disloyal’ bishops
Here are some links to earlier articles on this topic:
December 2006 Ruth Gledhill Evil-minded parishioners making life hell for clergy
February 2007 Rachel Harden What price priesthood?
May 2007 Ruth Gledhill The parishioners who won’t spend a penny
1 CommentThe Cambridge Evening News reported this week:
Vicar of Trumpington ordered to leave parish and
I’ll see you in court, axed vicar tells bishop and
Opponents of ‘spitting vicar’ glad he’s going.
The Diocese of Ely published the following items:
Press Release 9 April The Parish of Trumpington
Report of the Tribunal (PDF) December 2007
Reasons for the Decision of the Bishop (PDF) April 2008
In June 2007 the Bishop of Ely had made this statement to the Diocesan Synod.
And this press release was issued in January 2008: Trumpington Tribunal.
7 CommentsAffirming Catholicism has issued this press release:
10/04/08 – for immediate release
Vote on women bishops in Church in Wales exposes a key issue for the Church of England too.
Affirming Catholicism shares the disappointment of most members of the Church in Wales that the move to ordain women as bishops did not receive a large enough majority to be passed. We regret that the God-given gifts that women have to offer as bishops for the Church in Wales continue to be refused.
Hendrik Haye, convenor of Affirming Catholicism South Wales, said: ‘Although we are saddened by the result, we are glad that there was no compromise on the principle that women bishops must be accepted on exactly the same terms as men’.
Rev’d Jonathan Clark, a member of the General Synod of the Church of England and of Affirming Catholicism’s Board, said: ‘We believe that the church can and should include, as it does now, people who disagree about this issue. But the debate in the Church in Wales has highlighted the problem also facing the Church of England: some members don’t believe their own church has the right to make decisions about who will be ordained. The issue was fudged when women were ordained as priests: now it has come out into the open.’
The Church of England’s General Synod is expected to debate the ordination of women as bishops at its meeting in July.
• Affirming Catholicism is ‘a movement of inspiration and hope in the Anglican Communion, seeking to bring together and strengthen lay and ordained people who recognize the positive, inclusive and joyful currents in the Catholic tradition of Christianity.’
8 CommentsSimon Barrow wrote this article for the Wardman Wire: Flexing the Faith Muscle: Thinking Aloud. In it he looks at the style and tenor of church engagement with public life and the realm of politics – arguing that flexing the faith muscle in an overbearing way ends up being profoundly counter-productive.
Mary Warnock who among other things is a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s advisory group on medical ethics, wrote an article for the New Statesman which has been titled The politics of religion. In this she argues that religious belief is no basis for law-making.
7 CommentsThe New Statesman carries a major article by Sholto Byrnes which has been given this title: ”Jesus will appear again as judge of the world and the dead will be raised”. The magazine introduces the article this way:
Tom Wright’s literal belief in the Resurrection makes him a hero to conservative Christians worldwide. Here he declares war on militant atheists and liberals, and explains why heaven is not the end of the world.
Accompanying this is a background article on Christianity in Britain by Stephen Bates and published under the title Fundamental change:
12 CommentsBoth politically and theologically, conservative Christianity is now a militant and rapidly growing force, in Britain and globally.
A previous article linked to a page which linked to the transcripts of three lectures given by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey.
The Lambeth Palace website has now also published transcripts of the Question and Answer sessions which followed each lecture.
Faith and Science Questions & Answers Session
Faith & Politics Questions & Answers Session
Faith and History Questions & Answers Session
9 CommentsCanterbury Press cordially invite friends and supporters of Thinking Anglicans to ‘An Evening with Bishop Gene Robinson’
To celebrate publication of: ‘IN THE EYE OF THE STORM’ By Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire
on Tuesday 29th April 2008 at 7 p.m. prompt
at: St Mary’s Church, Putney High Street, London SW15 1SN
(next to the river at the southern end of Putney Bridge)
RSVP by Wednesday 16th April 2008 to
Michael Addison, Canterbury Press: Michael@scm-canterburypress.co.uk
Telephone 0207 776 7551.
Please note: If you wish to attend this reception it is essential that you reply so that your name may be placed on the guest list. Admission will be restricted to named individuals on the list.
Copies of the book will be on sale on the night and there will be an opportunity for signing.
If you are unable to attend, the book is available from all good bookshops or direct from the publisher on 01603 612914 or visit www.canterburypress.co.uk priced £12.99.
4 Comments