See below for earlier reports.
Here is the publisher’s website description:
Moral, But No Compass
Government, Church and the Future of Welfare
In the heyday of Thatcherism the Church of England and the Conservative government of the day locked horns over the principles, policies, and strategic direction of the welfare state. The ensuing public debate, fraught with emotion, led to fundamental shifts in the political climate, not least with regard to the poorest members of UK society.
This new major study for the Church of England, drawing on hundreds of interviews and survey questionnaires, describes the modern setting in which the Labour Party’s welfare and related voluntary sector policies often are experienced as “discriminatory”, inadequately rooted in evidence and at risk of failing the faith communities. The government is “moral, with no compass” and needs to recover a principled approach to public service reform grounded in gift, covenant, advocacy and justice. Such an approach also demands a richer appreciation of the “civic value” added to the life, identity and health of the nation by Christian institutions in partnership with the whole realm of civil society. The Church too must adapt to the changing times, overcoming its (mistaken) perception that it is well understood by society. If the crisis of evidence and conversation can be repaired, the Church is in a position, should it so wish, to engage in even more extensive social entrepreneurship, community activism and public advocacy.
The report covers:
• Historical background of welfare;
• Critical assessment of the Labour and Conservative Party’s policy positions;
• The failures of third sector evidence and policy design in Government and at the Charity Commission;
• Analysis of the assets and membership of social voices, both secular and faith-based;
• New data on the capability and potential of Anglican dioceses as social incubators;
• Fresh insights into the role of cathedrals as civic actors and economic hubs;
• New information on the civic contribution of bishops.
• The Church’s view of principles needed by Government for ethical commissioning, as well as its reservations about the present funding regime.ISBN: 978-1-898366-91-1
And here is further comment by Simon Barrow in Church Caught In A Spin Over Welfare.
3 Comments…The initial reporting about Moral, But No Compass has been rather selective, “well spun” and based on what was either a leaked document or a deliberately placed one. In any event, the full report was originally embargoed until a press conference in London tomorrow at 11am and will still be unveiled in full then, though the tone of reception and response has already been established. The archbishops of Canterbury and York will apparently issue a statement.
There is much more to be said about this (I’m respecting the embargo, even if the rush to summary judgment has already begun), but my opening comment on behalf of Ekklesia was as follows: “We believe a more careful, calm and critical evaluation is needed of the role of faith groups in public service provision. It is particularly important that the needs of the vulnerable and the reasonable expectation of all people (whether religious or non-religious) for equal treatment from public services should not be subsumed too readily in a ‘contracting-out’ culture that can put the interests of providers – government, voluntary and private agencies – ahead of those they are supposed to be helping. Research and thought is badly needed, but a confused ‘debate’ fuelled by sensational headlines and half-truths will not help anybody.”
Updated Sunday
This is apparently (some variations exist in the reporting) the title of a report commissioned by the Church of England (180 pages) to be published on Monday. The Times already has seen it, and has published several articles about it:
Church attacks Labour for betraying Christians
The policies of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have helped to generate a spiritual, civic and economic crisis in Britain, according to an important Church of England report.
Labour is failing society and lacks the vision to restore a sense of British identity, the report says in the Church’s strongest attack on the Government for decades. It accuses the Government of “deep religious illiteracy” and of having “no convincing moral direction”.
The report, commissioned for the Church of England and to be published on Monday, accuses the Government of discriminating against the Christian Churches in favour of other faiths, including Islam. It calls for the appointment of a “Minister for Religion”, who would act as the Prime Minister’s personal “faith envoy” and who would recognise the contribution of faith communities to Britain across every government department…
Other Times articles:
Ignored and spurned, the Church has lost its faith – in government
Hunger to put faith into action is frustrated by secularist agenda Analysis by Ruth Gledhill
Times Leader: Church and State
Ruth Gledhill’s blog has substantial quotes from the report, at Church critiques Government’s ‘moral compass’
The Telegraph has also seen it, and published this:
Christianity ‘discriminated against by Gordon Brown’s Government’ by Jonathan Wynne-Jones
The Associated Press report includes:
The Church declined to release the report before a scheduled publication Monday and would not comment on specific recommendations.
Peter Crumpler, spokesman for the Church of England, said the institute was asked to prepare a report “that could assist our reflections and contribute to our conversations with government.”
“The hard-hitting report raises issues of considerable importance, the authors say, and makes recommendations that challenge the Government to recognize the Church’s involvement and potential in public service reform,” he said.
Lowe said the report has not yet been discussed, or endorsed, by senior members of the clergy.
“The report is not an attack on the government, but a call for greater understanding by all politicians of the role of the Church of England in the community life of this country,” Lowe said in a statement.
Update Sunday morning
The BBC Sunday radio programme has a 12 minute segment on this report. Listen here.
Or there is a podcast available here.
Government moral report
A report commissioned by the Church of England says that the UK’s Labour Government is moral, but it doesn’t have a moral compass. The report, released on Monday 9 June, also says that the Government discriminates against the Christian Churches in favour of other faiths, and is guilty of deep religious illiteracy.Roger spoke to one of the report’s authors, Francis Davis from the Von Hugel Institute at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. He was also joined by the Bishop who commissioned the report, Stephen Lowe, and by the Communities and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears.
BBC Ministers ignore us, says Church
Simon Barrow reports on Ekklesia that Row breaks out over report to Church on its welfare role:
22 CommentsA report looking at the role of the Church of England and other faith communities in welfare has been spun into an attack on government before it has even been published and properly digested, say the researchers involved in producing it.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Sunday’ programme this morning, co-author Francis Davis from the Von Hugel Institute in Cambridge, which was commissioned by the Church of England’s urban affairs bishop, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, but produced its work independently, urged people to “carefully read and study the report” when it is published tomorrow rather than “quoting selectively from it.”
Another of the report’s academic authors, Dr Andrew Bradstock, is also deeply unhappy about the way that a lengthy and detailed document, embargoed until 9 June, has been spun by journalists into an attack on government.
“The purpose of this document is to resource an ongoing conversation, not to leap to conclusions or start apportioning general blame”, Dr Bradstock told Ekklesia this morning.
He points out that while the research indicates that some government departments have a sketchy view and little hard data on the church’s grassroots voluntary work, it is not suggesting a lack of moral purpose in any quarter – though it is raising tough questions and the need for action to address the shortcoming of the current situation…
Zaki Cooper writes in the Guardian about the relationship between faith and food.
In The Times Jonathan Sacks says that Religion can help in the desert of the lonely crowd.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about being Blisterless on the road to Santiago.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times has When mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Andrea Useem has written an article asking Is Obama’s Real “Faith Asset” His Ability to Speak the Language of American Civil Religion?
Simon Barrow writes on Ekklesia about Moving religion from harm to healing.
0 CommentsThe document GS 1685A has been released, though not yet on the CofE website. This is the covering Note from the Presidents explaining what the House of Bishops has decided to do.
The full text of the document can be read here.
The text of the motion to be put is below, but do read this in the context of the whole document:
A member of the House of Bishops to move:
0 Comments‘That this Synod:
(a) reaffirm its wish for women to be admitted to the episcopate;
(b) affirm its view that special arrangements be available, within the existing structures of the Church of England, for those who as a matter of theological conviction will not be able to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests;
(c) affirm that these should be contained in a national code of practice to which all concerned would be required to have regard; and
(d) instruct the legislative drafting group, in consultation with the House of Bishops, to complete its work accordingly, including preparing the first draft of a code of practice, so that the Business Committee can include first consideration of the draft legislation in the agenda for the February 2009 group of sessions.’
The Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper both have stories about the Ministry Division report that was leaked to the Sunday Telegraph, as reported earlier here.
Bill Bowder wrote Bishops question the clergy’s ability to cope in the Church Times.
Toby Cohen wrote Church report questions the ability of the clergy. The text of that story is not yet on the web, but is reproduced, with permission of the CEN, below the fold here. Update Religious Intelligence now has the original here.
The Ministry Division issued this press statement:
“This paper, written for consideration by the House of Bishops, represents part of the ongoing work of the Ministry Division in supporting and developing clergy at all stages of their ministry. The initial research exercise sought views on how our current programme of training should be developed to fully meet the challenges facing the Church in the future. One insight not reported [in the Sunday Telegraph] was that more than eight in ten bishops expressed confidence that our newly ordained clergy have the gifts and abilities to meet such challenges and opportunities.”
The Church Times also had a leader: Criticising the clergy? It’s not all bad:
0 CommentsIT IS possible to say anything about the clergy and for it to be broadly correct. Say that they are not adequately trained to lead mixed teams of professionals and volunteers, and most clerics will probably agree. Say that they lack theological or pastoral or managerial experience, and there will be few gainsayers. Say that aspects of worship, welcome, pastoral provision, discipleship, etc. in their churches are not the best they could be, and suspicion would attach to a priest who demurred. It is not suprising, therefore, that a survey of bishops, circulated last December and leaked this week, should articulate the same concerns about the capacity of priests and the adequacy of their training. Bishops naturally spend their energies on pastoral emergencies, hard-to-fill parishes, and hard-to-place clerics. It is all too easy for them to lose sight of the scores of competent priests working quietly in their dioceses, causing their bishops no anxiety…
The Diocese of New Westminster has this report: Bishop tells Diocesan Synod that schism must not become normal:
Bishop Michael Ingham told Diocesan Synod that as bishop he has a responsibility to ensure that schism does not become normal or accepted in the Anglican Church of Canada.
In a report on May 30 to about 300 synod members, about a third clergy and the rest lay, the bishop insisted that the decision of four congregations to join the South American Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, was not simply “divorce” but “schism…the setting up of a unlawful authority” to challenge the rightful authority, which is Diocesan Synod.
“I am fully aware that nobody wishes to see the church diverted from its mission by theprospect of civil litigation over property,” he said.
“But schism cannot stand, for if it were allowed to stand it would undermine the mission of the church across this country.”
Chancellor George Cadman, the synod’s chief legal officer, reported that the clergy remaining in four parishes—St. John’s Shaughnessy, St. Matthew Abbotsford, and Good Shepherd and St. Matthias/St. Luke of Vancouver—have relinquished and abandoned ordained ministry within the Anglican Church of Canada, and by remaining in parish buildings they are now trespassing…
The full text of the bishop’s remarks is here as a PDF.
The view of these events from Sydney, NSW was this: Canada bishop threatens Short.
And there is an interview with Dr JI Packer here (PDF) or more conveniently as html here.
0 CommentsAn official statement from Archbishop Henry Orombi says:
107 Ugandan Anglicans going to Jerusalem
Thirty-four Bishops from the Church of Uganda and their wives will travel to Jerusalem later this month for the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). Also in the delegation, there will be thirty clergy and lay leaders from around the country with experience in different areas of ministry.
1,000 people from around the worldwide Anglican Communion, including more than 280 bishops, will participate in this Pilgrimage, and the Church of Uganda will be more than ten percent…
A news report in New Vision says Orombi wants pro-gay bishops to apologise. (Another copy here.) The full text of the news article is below the fold.
11 CommentsUpdated Friday
The Pittsburgh diocesan website has published the resolutions to be proposed to the diocesan convention: See this page here.
The resolutions are in a PDF file here.
They are reproduced in full below the fold.
Friday update
Episcopal Café draws attention to information originally at Preludium concerning the financial provisions being made by the senior staff of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Joan Gunderson writes:
“The situation in Pittsburgh is such that even if Bishop Duncan were to be deposed at a House of Bishops meeting in September, the Standing Committee would go forward with the vote at convention to eliminate the accession clause from the diocesan canons. In fact, the diocesan leadership decided at its spring leadership retreat to move the convention forward to the first weekend in October (usually first weekend in November) so that there would be less time between such a deposition and the convention.
Please note that Bishop Duncan has assured himself of a comfortable transition. He has built a retirement house on land owned by the diocese and he and his wife have been deeded (as of November 2007) a life interest estate (to the longest lived survivor) in that house. The diocese also loaned Bishop Duncan the money to build that house (terms not in the public record.) In addition we understand that he AND Bishop Scriven have signed consultant contracts with the diocese for two years at full pay which will go into effect SHOULD BISHOP DUNCAN BE DEPOSED.
The Standing Committee has an overwhelming majority that supports ‘realignment,’ but there is one member who signed a public letter saying he was not realigning. This person is working hard to encourage parishes to stay in TEC. Trying to bring members of the standing committee up on charges before ‘realignment’ would be useless because the group (‘The Array’) that would conduct any Title IV proceedings is itself packed with supporters of realignment. Furthermore, there is no provision for trying the 4 lay members of Standing Committee.
However, rest assured that there are people planning for the future of the EPISCOPAL diocese of Pittsburgh. The group doing the planning represents the full cross section of those who will still be Episcopalians AFTER convention. This includes clergy and parishes who until this year have voted for all the measures put forward by those now pushing ‘realignment.’ We are a larger group than you might think.”
Later on David Wilson, a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, President of that Standing Committee and a supporter of Bishop Duncan’s writes with this small correction to Joan’s words:
17 CommentsJust to set the record straight, the consultancy contracts are for one year not two and also include Canon Mary Hays as well as the two bishops.
Press release: Wider wedding welcome for couples as the Church of England names the day
The day is 1 October 2008.
Marriage Law Review & the Marriage Measure
Guidance from the House of Bishops (PDF – 37 pages)
Copy of the legislation via here (available as html or PDF).
Specimen “welcome form” (.doc – 5 pages) available here.
11 CommentsUpdated again Friday morning
Episcopal News Service reported first that Episcopal Church, San Joaquin diocese amend property dispute, and then later that Merrill Lynch freezes disputed San Joaquin diocesan accounts pending court ruling.
The Diocese of San Joaquin has a press release about it, Diocese of San Joaquin files amended lawsuit.
California newspapers are reporting it:
Stockton Record Rift deepens for dioceses in S.J. County
Modesto Bee Episcopal church: San Joaquin diocese bishop tried to transfer titles
Central Valley Business Times Episcopal Church diocese sues former bishop
Thursday evening update
A statement has been issued by the Southern Cone diocese, The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin has fully complied with California State Law. Another copy is here. It starts out:
The following facts are given to correct and clarify recently published misunderstandings and misstatements regarding legal claims against the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin
All actions taken by the Diocese of San Joaquin were authorized by its governing bodies, namely, its Standing Committee and its Diocesan Council, along with Bishop Schofield. These actions were done in complete compliance with California law and were done to secure the property until a California court can rule on the issue of ownership. One of these actions was to retitle accounts held at Merrill Lynch; assets were not moved from Merrill Lynch. The property in question is owned by the Diocese and its parishes and not the Episcopal Church. The Diocese expects a favorable ruling by the California court on the issues of property ownership.
The Diocese of San Joaquin is a California unincorporated association that is governed by the California Corporations Code and its own internal Constitution and Canons (akin to bylaws). The Diocese is a corporate person; a legal entity recognized by the civil courts. In California, an unincorporated association is governed by majority vote of its members. There is nothing in the governing documents of the Episcopal Church which forbade or limited the right of the Diocese of San Joaquin from withdrawing and taking its property with it…
The Bakersfield Californian reports Frozen assets won’t shut down Anglicans or Episcopalians.
5 CommentsThe Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday convened an ecumenical gathering to discuss ways in which Christian-Muslim engagement might be strengthened and deepened.
It brought together more than 40 participants from a broad range of geographical, cultural and denominational settings.
In his welcome to the participants the Archbishop expressed his gratitude that so many had taken the “opportunity for church leaders and scholars representing something of the geographical and confessional diversity of Christianity to discuss together the current experience of dialogue with Muslims – situating the significance of the open letter A Common Word within it, and determining what degree of consensus might be possible as we look forward.”
During the discussions church representatives from around the globe, including Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria, Malaysia – alongside those from Western countries where Christianity is the majority religion – shared their experience of engagement.
Dr Williams said, “It has been tremendously important to me personally … that we have heard such a range of perspectives. As well as deepening our shared understanding of the challenge before us it has, I think, renewed for us all the significance of the church’s work in this area of cooperation with other faiths for the sake of peace in our common home.”
Read the whole press release from Lambeth Palace Archbishop – Christian-Muslim engagement ‘for the sake of peace in our common home’.
See the website for A Common Word here.
3 CommentsSince the last report here, the Standing Committee of the diocese issued this statement:
Standing Committee Statement on Threatened Deposition
Editor’s Note: The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has released the following statement regarding the threatened deposition of Bishop Robert Duncan at the September 2008 meeting of The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops. Their statement has been faxed and mailed to the office of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.
The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is saddened to learn the Presiding Bishop and her chancellor will continue to press for the deposition of our Diocesan Bishop, Robert W. Duncan, Jr. for the Abandonment of Communion at the September 2008 House of Bishops Meeting. Although we recognize the authority of the Episcopal Church to discipline and remove its ministers for violations of its canons, we believe Canon IV.9, Sec.1 has been misapplied and Canon IV.9, Sec.2 has been misinterpreted in this instance.
Should our Diocesan Bishop be validly deposed pursuant to the requirements set forth in the canons, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is prepared to exercise its role as the Ecclesiastical Authority of this diocese.
Unanimously affirmed by the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, May 27, 2008.
And this weekend, a meeting was held at St Andrew’s Church Highland Park, which has been reported on in some detail by Lionel Deimel. Read the report at Resigned to Realignment.
25 CommentsOn Sunday, June 1, 2008, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, in the Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh, held a forum and panel discussion on Bishop Robert Duncan’s plan for “realignment.” Duncan, who has been determined to have already abandoned the communion of The Episcopal Church and is awaiting a vote by the church’s House of Bishops on his deposition, is attempting to change the constitution of the diocese and to transfer the entire diocese from The Episcopal Church to another Anglican Communion province, most likely South America’s province of the Southern Cone. The only bishop ever to have tried this ploy, John-David Schofield, late of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, was deposed shortly after doing so. It is unclear whether Episcopal bishops will, this time around, shut the barn door before the horse gets out…
In an earlier article, I linked to an article in the Church Times by Jonathan Clark explaining why The C of E is losing its own history.
More recently, Brian Crowe wrote in the Church of Ireland Gazette in response to that, the article was titled The embarrassment of history? Restoring proper confidence in our Anglican past.
That article can be read in full here.
1 CommentFor background to this matter, see the Church Times blog entry General Synod to debate evangelising other faiths.
Now, the Telegraph has a report by Martin Beckford headlined Church of England accused of censoring debate on Islam. Regardless of the headline, it appears definite that the item will not be debated in July.
A spokesman for the Church of England insisted the debate on the missionary role of clergy had only been dropped because the other Private Member’s Motion had more signatures.
He said: “Owing to time constraints, the Business Committee has been able to schedule only one such motion for July, on the subject of Church Tourism, which heads the list in terms of the number of signatures from members.”
This is indeed the case, see the list here.
4 CommentsWe reported earlier on the plan to publish guidelines on bullying in church contexts.
Last week, the Church Times had a news article by Ed Beavan Report urges Church to face up to its bullies.
The report is now available online and can be downloaded as a .doc file here. h/t Dave Walker who also had trouble finding it on the web.
5 CommentsUpdated Tuesday
The Provisional Bishop of San Joaquin has received an invitation to the Lambeth Conference.
According to Dan Martins writing about this today:
…In the meantime, “mum” seems to be the word from Fresno on Bishop Schofield’s travel plans post-GAFCON…
Tuesday update
The Living Church reports that Bishops Schofield, Lamb Both Attending Lambeth.
Meanwhile, Episcopal News Service reports in Episcopal Church, San Joaquin diocese amend property dispute that:
11 CommentsThe Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin on June 2 amended their complaint in a lawsuit seeking recovery of diocesan real estate and financial assets, adding Merrill Lynch and the “Anglican Diocese Holding Corporation” as defendants.
“The main reason for the amendment is that we have obtained information that John-David Schofield has actually been transferring both real property and investment accounts (the latter held by Merrill Lynch) to non-Episcopal entities, including specifically a new corporation known as the Anglican Diocese Holding Company,” said Heather Anderson, an attorney with the Goodwin Procter law firm based in Washington, D.C.
The San Joaquin diocese, along with TEC, sued Schofield and several Episcopal legal entities that he asserts the right to control on April 24 “to establish who is the true incumbent of Corporation Sole, which owns most of the real estate of the diocese and accounts such as the investment fund and trust fund” containing more than $4 million in cash, diocesan chancellor Michael Glass told a gathering in San Joaquin on May 31.
“We are just trying to set aside those transactions,” Glass told the “Day of Discernment” conference of about 80 people at Holy Family Church in Fresno on May 31. “We are not going after money or punitive damages, which we are entitled to. We simply want to undo the transactions and have the court declare that John-David Schofield has no more right or authority to purport to act on behalf of the diocese or Corp Sole and to stop doing so.”
Updated again Tuesday evening
Jonathan Wynne-Jones has a report in the Sunday Telegraph headlined ‘Poor quality’ of vicars alarms Church leaders.
This is based on a Ministry Division report entitled Quality and Quantity Issues in Ministry.
…It found that there are “serious concerns” at the top of the Church hierarchy over the quality of its clergy.
The internal report suggests that the standards of new clergy has dropped, because of the demands on the Church to fill vacant posts, while many vicars who have been in the job several years have lost their energy and enthusiasm.
To tackle the problems, the Church is to vet new applicants for ordination more vigorously and is considering changing the selection criteria and a pay review…
…The report, which was produced by the Ministry Division, the Church body responsible for staff issues, reveals deep anxiety amongst bishops over the competence of its paid ministers.
A survey of diocesan bishops found that one-third believe that more than half of current clergy – as many as 6,000 – are unable to cope with the demands of the job.
In addition, 90 per cent of the bishops believe that a third of the new intake of clergy do not have the necessary gifts and abilities…
Sunday evening update
Dave Walker has a roundup of responses on other blogs.
Tuesday evening update
Bishop Alan Wilson has written an informative article at Vicarage Allsorts: Clergy Supply. This shows that we have slightly more clergy than we did in 1950. One of the main reasons is that we now have far more “active retired” clergy than before, 4468 vs. 1262. (Click on the graphic in his article to get the numbers larger.)
And he has written a further article, Vicarage Allsorts: Clergy Quality.
Since Chaucer’s time there’s been public anxiety about this subject. 200 years ago Sidney Smith lamented the decline in the quality of clergy since the enforcement of residence was preventing gentlemen from desiring ordination. In the roaring 20’s, Hensley Henson bemoaned the decline in the quality of ordinands since the first world war. The document quoted in last week’s Sunday Telegraph, however, is barking up a very different tree. A more accurate headline than “poor quality of vicars alarms church leaders” would probably be “desperation to inject alarm into drab HR questionnaire twits journalist.”
As Dave Walker notes, Bishop Pete Broadbent also supplied further information here, i.e. in the comments below.
53 CommentsBonnie Anderson, who is president of the House of Deputies of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, has made a statement about the Lambeth Conference to a Conference for Religion Writers. You can read that statement in full at Rowan Williams and “the distinctive charism of bishops” on Daily Episcopalian.
Update: Episcopal News Service has now also published this text.
Here’s a snippet:
46 Comments…I think that the Archbishop has given up trying to get our bishops to take an independent stand on the future of the moratorium of same sex blessings for instance, and is now moving to “plan B” and turning his attention to encouraging our bishops to understand their “distinctive charism” as bishops, perhaps in a new way. I envision Archbishop Rowan pondering in, to use his word, “puzzlement” why these bishops of the Episcopal church don’t just stand up and exercise their authority as bishops like most of the rest of the bishops in the Communion do. Why would our bishops “bind themselves to future direction for the Convention?” Some of us in TEC in the past have thought that perhaps the Archbishop and others in the Anglican Communion do not understand the baptismal covenant that we hold foundational. Perhaps they just don’t “get” the way we choose to govern ourselves; the ministers of the church as the laity, clergy and the bishops, and that at the very core of our beliefs we believe in the God- given gifts of all God’s people, none more important than the other, just gifts differing. We believe that God speaks uniquely through laity, bishops, priests and deacons. This participatory structure in our church allows a fullness of revelation and insight that must not be lost in this important time of discernment. But I think our governance is clearly understood. I just don’t think the Archbishop has much use for it…
Joanna Collicutt asks in the Guardian Are we “hard-wired” to believe in God?
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about John Wesley’s polygamous brother-in-law.
In The Times Anil Bhanot presents A Hindu view on the challenge to the sanctity of life.
Simon Barrow writes about Globalisation for Ekklesia see Hearing hope through the babble.
Nick Spencer writes for Fulcrum about Neither Private nor Privileged:
the role of Christianity in Britain today.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Penalties of chaos in Chelsea.
The Church Times leader is about the Festival of the Visitation. See The song from the silence.
1 CommentThe Bishop of Rochester is attracting considerable attention in the UK media at present arising not only from his support for Paul Eddy’s private member’s motion, but also from an article he wrote for a new magazine, which you can now read in full: Breaking Faith With Britain.
BBC Robert Pigott Britain left with ‘moral vacuum’
Church Times Bill Bowder Christians have duty to witness to their faith, says Bishop Nazir-Ali
The Guardian has today published a profile by Riazat Butt Nazir-Ali is a prophet and prophets are rejected by their own, as Jesus was. He is a serious man for serious times and a Leader: Bishop’s move.
And Simon Barrow has written a thoughtful piece on Comment is free titled Blinkered bishop.
Over at the Telegraph Martin Beckford has written two pieces: Bishop of Rochester ‘doing the BNP’s work’ and Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali: Radical Islam is filling void left by collapse of Christianity in UK. And this comment piece by George Pitcher: Right or wrong, the Bishop of Rochester named our ills.
The Times has Radical Islam taking advantage of Christianity’s decline, says bishop by Hollye Blades.
Cartoon by Dave Walker.
22 Comments