Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali tells Church not to compromise; Gay marriage consultation was run like an election in a tinpot state- Evangelical Alliance; Catholic Group in General Synod addresses new Bishops Working Group; Angel of the North inspires school crib; Archbishop of Canterbury’s BBC Radio 2 ‘Pause for Thought’ message; Media Review – Time to end the Church of “No”
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali tells Church not to compromise
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali has issued a call to the Church in Britain to preserve its integrity and not capitulate to political and cultural pressures.
In a new article for Standpoint magazine, the former Bishop of Rochester addresses issues such as women bishops, establishment of the Church and the relevance of the Christian gospel for 21st Century Britain.
Bishop Nazir-Ali argues that individualism in Britain has led to alienation and a loss of social integration. If the Church is to address this situation, “It cannot do this by simply repackaging the nostrums of social science or by imitating the methods of secular therapies,” he says.
On the issue of women bishops, he stresses the importance of gender distinction: “Whatever the outcome of this debate, and whether women are ordained priest and bishop, we cannot have a monochrome pattern of ministry in which gender does not matter”.
On the topic of establishment, Bishop Nazir-Ali says: “It may be that establishment is gradually being eroded by atrophy and attrition. The Church of England will have to decide whether to struggle to maintain it or lose it gracefully”.
But if there is disestablishment, he maintains that Christian faith is vital for debate on policy and legislation. “It would be very unwise to lose such a rich heritage which has provided our worldview just because of the disappearance of an established church and when there is no other viable worldview in sight”.
Bishop Nazir-Ali also warns that the Church’s effectiveness “cannot be ‘bought’ by becoming trendy or simply reflecting contemporary values, as politicians want the Church to do, but by making sure that all of the gifts given to Christians are being exercised to make the Gospel helpful, intelligible and liveable in our age, our locality, our nation, our world.”
The article is published in the January/February 2013 print edition of Standpoint magazine yesterday (20 December). An online version is available on Bishop Michael’s website: http://michaelnazirali.com/articles/app/archive/12-2012/title/calling-all-christians-prepare-for-exile
Gay marriage consultation was run like an election in a tinpot state
The Evangelical Alliance’s director of advocacy, Dr David Landrum, responds to the government’s statement on its response to the same-sex marriage consultation.
“It is obvious that the government’s assurances about legal protections for religious groups are illusory. Cameron’s recent u-turn to allow a few very small, liberal religious groups to hold same-sex ceremonies was on the basis of legal advice and not benevolence. However, the change makes it far more likely that mainstream religions will be subject to manifold legal challenges if they dissent from a new social orthodoxy. More importantly, no protections at all have been offered for individual Christians and the wider public.
“The move to discount more than 500,000 submissions (made on the Coalition for Marriage website opposing same-sex marriage) from the consultation process demonstrates the political game being played with marriage and shows how disenfranchised people are from Government in the UK. The consultation was run like an election in a tinpot state. Despite a significant amount of public opinion against the redefining of marriage, despite the government not having any mandate for making the change, and despite growing unrest in the Conservative Party and the very real prospect of them losing many key seats at the next general election – despite all of this, the prime minister seems determined to press on with his elitist neo-liberal agenda.
http://www.eauk.org/current-affairs/media/press-releases/gay-marriage-consultation-was-run-like-an-election-in-a-tinpot-state.cfm
Catholic Group in General Synod addresses new Bishops Working Group
In a press statement, The Catholic Group in General Synod “reaffirms its commitment to engaging fully and positively in the process of achieving fresh legislation for women bishops.
“The House of Bishops has already stated that this will need to embrace “ a clear embodiment of the principle articulated by the 1998 Lambeth Conference ‘that those who dissent from, as well as those who assent to, the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate are both loyal Anglicans.’ ”
“The vital task, then, of the new House of Bishops Working Group is to build a big consensus so that there is no danger of legislation failing again at Final Approval.
“To this end, the legislation will need to inspire confidence among those who are opposed to women bishops as well as those who are in favour.”
Angel of the North inspires school crib
The giant Angel of the North sculpture is the inspiration for a special crib at the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas in Newcastle city centre
Archbishop of Canterbury’s BBC Radio 2 ‘Pause for Thought’ message
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has spoken on BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought programme about the positive effects that social media can offer to small initiatives by bringing them to a larger audience: “In the aftermath of the earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, one student, Sam Johnson, put out a call through Twitter for help in clearing up after the earthquake and doing some basic rescue work. Thousands of students from all the way across New Zealand turned up and spent weeks and months in Christchurch doing essential work and getting a community on its feet again.”
“When I visited Christchurch a few weeks ago, I met Sam and some of the others involved – and actually got to speak at a rock concert that had been laid on free of charge to celebrate all this achievement. Rock concerts and archbishops are at least as unlikely a combination as Twitter and the Pope, I realise. But what an occasion – a real witness to what small initiatives can turn into.”
“Well, Christmas is God’s small initiative – a single baby, whose destiny is to change the entire world.”
MEDIA REVIEW
Time to end the Church of “No”
This month the Church of England has suffered a one-two self-inflicted punch. First, the General Synod narrowly defeats women bishops, now the reaction to the proposal to marriage equality, which went from panic to stepping back from the ledge. This is not just an institutional battle. The preoccupation with women and sex may be driving people away from the Church. .
Jerome Taylor writes in The Independent:
New census data revealed this morning showed that just shy of 1,100 people in England and Wales ditch their Christian identity every day.
Meanwhile the only organisation that has a duty to marry British citizens will, the government announced this afternoon, be legally allowed to discriminate once more against gay men and women. Not a good day for the Church of England. If I were a Lords Spiritual right now, I’d be rather nervous about keeping my job. The established church has never looked so out of touch with the rest of Britain.
It must come as no surprise that the same decade which has resulted in four million fewer people calling themselves Christian has also been a period in which Christianity has been paralysed by polemical debates about genitals – mainly what type of genitals you have and what you do with them.
True, secularism has been consistently on the rise since the Second World War. But at times over the last ten years it has felt like Christianity – and the Church of England in particular – has rarely talked about anything other than sex in the form of women bishops and gays.
It leaves the Church of England facing a genuine crisis. The historical goodwill traditionally shown by the British public and political classes towards Anglicanism is beginning to run dry.
Thinking Anglicans points to an editorial in the Church Times which says that the time has come for the Church of England to stop being the “Church of No.”
However mollifying various sections of the Church have been in the past, Tuesday thus established the C of E as a gay-unfriendly institution: the Church that says “No.” Religion has been a key part of marriage for many, but this is not a given. The Church has the privilege of blessing the unions that people bring to it. Since the blessing it offers or withholds is God’s, it needs to be sure that its interpretation is sound and explicable. Many believe that it is not. The way of testing this in the C of E is through the amending of canons – a long and, on such a divisive issue, tortuous process. The Government proposes to leave Churches to make up their own minds. In the mean time, there are the twin concerns of public perception and mission. A greater enthusiasm for the blessing of same-sex partnerships in church would be one effective way of countering the negative impression given this week.
Independent – Andreas Whittam Smith writes that “the Church is being reborn in cafes and homes”. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-church-is-being-reborn-in-cafs-and-homes-8426003.html