Updated Tuesday evening and Wednesday
Tim Wyatt Church Times House of Bishops calls for a new politics ahead of election
Esther Addley The Guardian Church of England calls for ‘fresh moral vision’ in British politics
BBC News Church of England urges ‘fresh moral vision’ from politicians
Church of England: Public should ‘ask the big questions’
Ruth Gledhill Christian Today Church of England calls for a ‘new direction’ in British Politics
John Bingham The Telegraph Bishops vow to take on ‘sex appeal’ of Russell Brand’s ‘don’t vote’ message
John Bingham and Ben Riley-Smith The Telegraph Thatcherism is finished – declares Church of England
Nigel Morris The Independent Russell Brand’s ‘sex appeal’ will deter voters, the Church of England says
David Pocklington Law & Religion UK Bishops’ Pastoral Statement: 2015 General Election
Nick Baines Bishops and politics
Malcolm Brown (Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Church of England) blogs: Who is my Neighbour?
Update
Aisha Gani The Guardian Church of England bishops’ pastoral letter: key points
The Guardian editorial The Guardian view on the church and the election: talking sense
Kiran Stacey and Barney Thompson Financial Times Church of England rebukes political parties for lack of vision
Anoosh Chakelian New Statesman How the Church wants you to vote
James Kirkup and Tim Stanley The Telegraph Does the Church have a place in politics?
Symon Hill Ekklesia The bishops’ election letter is mild, not radical
Further update
Isabel Hardman The Spectator Tories and the Church: the 30-year war continues
Archbishop Cranmer “Tory Fury” over Church of England letter is a confected Tory tantrum
Peter Dominiczak The Telegraph Church of England campaigning for EU integration
Giles Fraser The Guardian The bishops have a point: our politics is stale and unambitious
Michael White The Guardian C of E’s naive intervention in politics prompts fierce storm in a teacup
Steven Swinford The Telegraph Iain Duncan Smith mocks Church of England’s ‘dwindling relevence’
Nick Spencer Theos Burning bishops’ fingers
Jonathan Chaplin KLICE ‘Who is my neighbour?’ – the Church of England finds a new political voice (also republished on Fulcrum)
I had not read the House of Bishops’ pastoral letters before I wrote: ‘I refuse to be silent about the awful realities being brushed aside, and I see no way in which anyone who cares about those millions of destroyed lives would wish to join a Church which seems to have forgotten that we must love our neighbours…’ in the follow up discussions on the Green debacle. It is thus particularly ironic that the Bishops have demonstrated, once again, their studious refusal to face up to the awful realities which they do not even mention, much less condemn, whilst urging… Read more »
Read the Times Leader today on the Bishops Report.It is excellent. A pity it is behind a pay barrier
Not everything is wrong with the Church of England. The Ash Wednesday evening Eucharist at Durham Cathedral was wonderfully moving and sobering.
Irrespective of the political leanings of the opinions expressed in the document, I do look forward to a 54p long government critique of the way the national church is led by its current episcopate, but then our bishops would shout blue murder. I’m not saying Christians have no place in public debate, but the constant, negative commenting of bishops pretending to speak in the name of a synodically (one l or two?) governed church is beginning to grate. Are we so much better an organisation than the world we constantly bash?
And bishops should have the humility to acknowledge that they are not elected before they lecture democracies, or at least be ready to look at their appointment system, clouded in much greater mystery than parliamentary proceedings.
John – Ash Wednesday liturgy at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham likewise: there are some very good things about the Church of England but I don’t count that ‘pastoral letter’ as one of them.
I have just read Who is my Neighbour and it is excellent. Really hope people will find time to read it – it is 120 short paragraphs and the print is quite large! Or if you can’t do that there is a text box on each page with a summary. Other people have also produced useful summaries. I haven’t yet had a chance to read any of the commentary on the report. The report is genuinely not party political although it obviously cannot pretend that all political parties believe and say the same thing. It is very well written –… Read more »
In what way, Jane Charman, is the government lavishly resourcing a few top people?
I too found it good, as others say elsewhere it is missing a profound human rights approach, but then its institutional life is so corrupted by its power structures, attachment to priveledge, preference for the rich, promoting inequality with titles and pay grades and of course it’s discrimination against the poor, ill educated, disabled, women yet alone its racism and open hatred towards lgbti people would make this difficult. I have little praise however for the information policy and management of the CofE. Lately, and despite more aparant professionalism, there has been disaster after disaster in delivery of the message.… Read more »
And Archbishop Cranmer revelation that No 10 leaked it to the Telegraph and his analyses of their coverage, even weaving in HSBC is good copy!
Sometimes His Grace is very good.
I fully agree with you Jane. There is a connection here and I too find it disturbing. In this respect the Green Report is a symptom not a solution. There is a more careful diagnosis needed – and this is not normally done by those needing the examination in the first place and who then resist seeking second (or third) opinions.
While the Church of England leadership has many flaws, the letter is a response to a situation which many find deeply alarming. Statistics may seem dry, e.g. half a million people turning to food banks for help in the six months from April-September 2014, the number of people in paid work who need housing benefit soaring from 650,561 in May 2010 to 1.03 million by the end of 2013, the proportion of people aged 65 and over receiving social care falling from 15.3% in 2005/6 to just 9.1% this year, while the UK’s richest 1,000 people have doubled their wealth… Read more »