Category Archives: Church of England

The Church of England’s Lego Indaba

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Rowan Williams used Indaba groups to try and cure the divisions in the Church of England. That didn’t work so Justin Welby is trying something new by using Lego “to build 3D metaphors for the state of the church….”

If that doesn’t solve the problems in the Anglican Communion, nothing will.

From here:

The Church of England wants to build a new future… using Lego.

Vicars yesterday used the toy bricks at a bizarre problem-solving session where they were asked to build 3D metaphors for the state of the church and also to describe themselves.

The process apparently ‘liberates the creative imagination’ and helps explore how participants’ ‘ideas, identities, values and expectations might combine to solve problems or discover vision’.

But Anthony Kilmister, chairman of the Anglican Association, said: ‘This beggars belief when the Church is facing so many serious issues.

‘A little more proper conversation and action and a little less playing with Lego might achieve something more constructive.’

The session was held in the diocese of Canterbury, overseen by Archbishop Justin Welby, whose spokesman said: ‘He is always positive about anything that encourages creative thinking.’

Church of England unearths new Charism

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Church of England synods, in keeping with their North American counterparts whom they seem increasingly determined to emulate, seldom tire of justifying their decisions by rubber stamping them with the approval of the “Spirit”. It is only fitting, then, that, with all this attention given to the “Spirit”, the CofE has discovered one of His (or should that be Her?) hitherto unknown Charisms, buried under centuries of ecclesiastical rubble, finally to be unearthed, dusted off and appropriated by every right thinking cleric north of the equator.

What is it? It is the gift of Reality Evasion.

If you are wondering how it operates in practice, you need look no further than the fine example set by the new Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, among the first of what will probably be a long line of crusading Lady Bishops about to invade and feminise the Anglican Church in the UK.

Here, you can listen in full to her masterpiece of evasion, so deft it could only be supernaturally inspired, and below is an excerpt of her most notable wriggling:

MH: How would you vote when Synod debates blessings for same sex relationships?

SM: Well, at that point I won’t be in Synod, so I won’t have a vote. But what we have to remember is…

MH: How would you vote?

SM: What we have to remember is that this is about people, and, um, the church seeks to demonstrate love to all, because it reflects the God of love, who loves everybody, and obviously this issue isn’t just an issue for London, not just for us in the Church of England, but also the Anglican Community, um and at the moment the church is taking a period to reflect, there is work that is going on, er, and I’m involved in that, and, er, for me that is important that we take a time of reflection, whilst, you know, standing on the traditions of the Church of England…

MH: Would you bless a same sex marriage?

SM: At the moment there is no provision to do that

MH: Would you like there to be that provision?

SM: As I said there is a period of reflection that is going on at the moment, and I am part of that…

MH: Have you not decided how you feel about blessing a same sex marriage?

SM: I think that, what we have to recognize is a real diversity within the Church of England, and if we are going to take seriously the wish of the two Archbishops to take a period of reflection, then we need to allow that process to go ahead, and I have been very encouraged by those who wish to work with us on that. And at the same time we do have to recognize that this is a challenge for all people, and we do this as we have always done it in the past, we manage difference…

MH: [Interrupts] I recognize that this is difficult…a sensitive issue…[continues, then mentions] St Helen’s Bishopsgate where the vicar has said he is looking to the new Bishop to condemn homosexual relationships as sinful, otherwise there will be some kind of break. [Deep breath]. Do you think homosexual relationships are sinful?

SM: Er, well, the comment came across in the press, and one the things I’m doing is meeting those people that reflect the whole diversity across the Church of England. And in a sense it’s not avoiding the subject but it’s recognizing that there is a difference, that the Church of England, um, is taking a period of reflection, and recognizing that it does involve people, so there is a sense in which you have to compassionately, um, deal with these issues, and, er, I am forever encouraged that the church across London is undertaking a whole series of things in communities, to be, er, welcoming to that diversity. And one of the wonderful things yesterday was being out in Hackney, and seeing, er, a church that is welcoming people…

Interviewer interrupts and asks about the possibility of a female Archbishop in her lifetime.

SM replies about focusing on the job in hand.

Interview ends. Programme moves to the weather forecast.

Justin Welby and tiaras: the enduring struggle to appear ever more ridiculous

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The west has developed a degree of immunity to the truth of the Christian message. As St. Paul said 2000 years ago, ”the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing”, a diagnosis that is even more apposite today.

For those few secularists who are not deterred by the apparent foolishness of the cross, the Church of England, under the guidance of Justin Welby, has laboured tirelessly to come up with something contemporary to deter them, an idea that sets a new standard for objective stupidity, one so intrinsically daft that it will be centuries before the church manages to concoct  anything more ridiculous. Boys in tiaras and high heels.

From here:

Boys should be free to choose to wear a tutu, tiara or heels, and girls to wear toolbelts and superhero capes, the Church of England has said in new guidance issued to its schools.

The advice also calls on teachers to avoid using labels that might alienate children’s behaviour “just because it does not conform to gender stereotypes”.

The updated guidance for its 4,700 schools, titled Valuing All God’s Children [pdf], follows advice issued three years ago that covered homophobic bullying. It has now been expanded to include transphobic and biphobic bullying.

The church advises that nursery and primary school should be a time of “creative exploration”, and that pupils should feel free to “try out the many cloaks of identity” and “explore the possibilities of who they might be without judgment or derision”.

In the guidance, the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, warns that homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying causes “profound damage leading to higher levels of mental health disorders, self-harm, depression and suicide”.

The advice adds: “Pupils need to be able to play with the many cloaks of identity (sometimes quite literally with the dressing-up box). Children should be at liberty to explore the possibilities of who they might be without judgement or derision.

“For example, a child may choose the tutu, princess’s tiara and heels and/or the fireman’s helmet, toolbelt and superhero cloak without expectation or comment.”

Prancing in the Church of England

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Rev Richard Coles is a gay Church of England vicar who is making a name for himself by appearing on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. The impulse to take the church into the world is not a bad idea, although there may be limits beyond which one should not stray. I remember some years ago seeing an interview with a Christian stripper who, she claimed, “stripped for Jesus”. Coles is cha-chaing for Jesus; I suppose we must be thankful for small mercies.

Unfortunately, Coles is also doing the reverse by taking the dance floor into the church. You can see his latest sermon below. One can only assume he is convinced that this makes Christ more accessible, the congregation more with-it and the church more relevant.

Or it may leave the impression of a church that has forgotten how to do what it is supposed to do and resorts to a rather pathetic attempt to imitate what the world does instead.

Pagans want their buildings back

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From here:

A leader of some of Britain’s pagans is demanding the ‘return’ of two church buildings as compensation for property they claim was stolen from them during the conversion of England 1,300 years ago.

The Odinist Fellowship, representing more than 1,000 pagans, has written to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also demanding that the pagans be given a public apology.

What the Odinist Fellowship has failed to notice is that the buildings have already been returned to the pagans. It’s just that now they call themselves Anglicans.

There’ll always be an England but will there always be a Church of England?

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Possibly not, because the CofE, apparently unaware of the good advice enshrined in the aphorism those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, are following the lead of North American Anglicans by abandoning Christianity in favour of something less demanding.

A letter to be published tomorrow, signed by Gavin Ashendon and Michael Nazir-Ali among others:

For more:

Church of England wants to ban conversion therapy

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If a person with unwanted same-sex attraction approaches a Church of England vicar for help, he will be wasting his time because the CofE has made the definitive pronouncement – and it doesn’t make many these days – that once a person experiences same-sex attraction, he is not allowed to be rid of it.

As usual, the Church is behind the times which it is so desperate to be a part of: gender is now fluid. I can be a man, a woman, attracted to either, neither or both at will, therapy be damned. Get with it Justin Welby.

Ironically, in the same synod, a motion was passed by an overwhelming majority to affirm transgender people. People who have changed, among other things, the object of their sexual desire.

It all goes to show that a church obsessed with keeping up with the prevailing culture is, instead, going to make itself look tawdry and silly. Profoundly silly.

From here:

The Church of England has called on the government to ban conversion therapy and has condemned the practice, which aims to change sexual orientation, as unethical and potentially harmful.

At the end of an emotional debate in which two members of the C of E synod described their experiences as spiritual abuse, the church’s governing body overwhelmingly backed a motion saying the practice had “no place in the modern world”.

Conversion therapy is usually described as an attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Some churches in the C of E and other denominations have encouraged LGBT members to take part in prayer sessions and other activities to rid them of their “sin”.

Church of England delaying same-sex marriage; leaders accused of waffling

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The Church of England has delayed making any formal pronouncement about whether the Bible has been wrong all along about homosexuality until 2020 at the earliest. This is to allow for some more profound thought on the subject apparently, leading some to accuse CofE leaders of waffling.

What the accusers are finally starting to catch on to is that, in Western Anglicanism, profound thought and waffling are one and the same.

From here:

Synod members say creating new working groups fails to address issue as leaders accused of ‘waffle’.

Church of England bishops have been accused of kicking the issue of same-sex equality into the long grass by offloading the topic to a series of working groups that will not report until 2020 at the earliest.

The archbishops of Canterbury and York, the two most senior figures in the church, have established two main groups and four subgroups to advise on pastoral issues and produce a new teaching document on human sexuality.

Reporting to the C of E’s synod, meeting in York, Justin Welby said the processes “aim to take a reasonable time for profound thought by a large number of people across a wide range of views, and during that time provide pastoral guidance”.
The intention, he added, was to “map, to set out clearly where we agree and where we disagree, to help us understand better the issues and the points of conflict”.

53% of Britons are non-religious

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According to this:

The 34th annual British Social Attitudes Survey has shown that non-religious people represent a clear majority of British people in 2017, accounting for 53% of the population. This is a new high for the non-religious population, which was previously estimated at 51% in 2014.

That isn’t particularly surprising since a similar poll in 2002 found that 50% of Anglican clergy are also non-religious insofar as they don’t believe in the Virgin Birth or that Jesus is the only way to be saved. If Church of England clergy work really hard, I imagine they will be able to talk the remaining 47% of Britons out of their faith, too.

A third of Church of England clergy doubt or disbelieve in the physical Resurrection and only half are convinced of the truth of the Virgin birth, according to a new survey.

The poll of nearly 2,000 of the Church’s 10,000 clergy also found that only half believe that faith in Christ is the only route to salvation.

When will Evangelicals stop being shocked by the next obvious thing?

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Justin Welby has awarded a lesbian Christian singer, Vicky Beeching, an award for outstanding service to the church. Evangelicals are shocked. Why in heavens name would they be?

It has been transparently obvious for years that Justin Welby is working to normalise homosexual behaviour in the church. The Church of England is awash with active homosexual clergy and those sympathetic to them. There have been no effective “consequences” for TEC and the ACoC after they approved same-sex marriage in their synods. Western Anglicanism has capitulated to the zeitgeist. Evangelicals in the CofE: you have lost the battle – possibly the entire war. Stop being shocked.

From here:

An evangelical Christian group in the U.K. says it’s in “shock” that Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s “outstanding service to the church” award has been given to Christian lesbian singer Vicky Beeching.

“Vicky Beeching rejects Christian teaching on sexual ethics by advocating for same-sex marriage,” Colin Hart, director of The Christian Institute, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“I’m shocked that the archbishop should choose to honor someone so out-of-step with the biblical understanding of marriage and sexual morality,” he added.