From The Guardian The Guardian view on religious education: teach humanism too
Letters in response Is religion really a toxic brand?
Andrew Lightbown Theore0 Talking of giving and withholding blessing
Church Times Retention, not just recruitment
Churches and charities ignore at their peril the views of volunteers, warns Stephanie Denning
James Woodward ViaMedia.News Is the Church of England Guilty of Ageism?
Alison Kings Fulcrum Anger: Not Such a Bad Thing
In the final paragraph of Andrew Lightbown'[s excellent article, he points to the inevitability of the Church of England’s movement towards the concept of ”unity in diversity’ – living with, and not fighting over, differences on the praxis concerning S.S.B.
This is why the panic-stricken flight of ‘Reform’ and others into the arms of the ‘Church Society’ – on the basis of their objections to the ABC’s eirenic proposal to ‘live with difference’ does nothing to relieve the suspicion of civil society that the C.of E. is still sexist and homophobic.
Thank you, indeed, to Alison Kings for her article. But I am not sure I agree with her and Alan Hargrave about his outburst to the platitudinous ordinand. It was only wrong if it was untrue, which it wasn’t. It might have been shocking, but too often nice church people are allowed to get away with all kinds of nonsense in the name of niceness. A few moments of discomfort in the face of Alan’s anguish might have led rather faster to some helpful reflection and rather more subtle theological thinking. Anger has work to do with the recipients of… Read more »
Rod Gillis seems to walk into exactly that trap of ageist assumptions that James Woodward challenges. For example why is an older demographic in the church a challenge with regard to technological connection with society? Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee are obvious but not especially rare examples of people in their 60s who are OK with technology. Economic reality the same – do you really think being older means you can’t understand economic reality both for yourself and for those of a different age with different responsibilities.