[21.1] DIVISION AND HOPE

Many church websites are almost as dire as their noticeboards. A happy exception is that of St Peter with All Saints, Nottingham. This includes a Claves Regni newsletter page, which contains articles and thought pieces. I was particularly struck by Andrew Deuchar's sermon on "Facing Up To Division In Faith", based around Romans 14. 1-17. The full text is here. Deuchar formerly worked for Archbishop George Carey, but his own thinking on this subject is rather more capacious, as this extract indicates:

"For a long time we have been content to walk together through the darkness and the light. It has been uncomfortable and untidy - perhaps even at times apparently incoherent. But it has not been wrong. Until recently we have rejoiced in our diversity. We have recognised, as my former boss used to say quite regularly, that we are still becoming a communion, and therefore we are in the realms of provisionality. We believe that we belong together, we want to learn from one another, and we resist either a pulling apart into independence or a chaining together under some centralised authority. We have been willing to take risks in our search for the truth of Christ.

"Risk-taking calls for humility, a readiness to listen and learn, to embrace disagreement and debate. But today, seduced by the opportunity for renewed power in the world, we are being drawn away from faith towards the arrogance of certainty, and the demand for compliance with a set of values and beliefs that are being arbitrarily drawn up according to a particular way of interpreting scripture. And with the arrogance of certainty goes the death of mystery, and with the death of mystery goes the possibility that God can work change in us.

If we are to begin to face the mystery of God - a mystery which can encompass the vastness of the universes, the depths of wickedness, the burning intimacies and promises of love and persons, then we must share in the risks of God - risks which include the possibilities of suffering, sin, and getting things wrong. The power of love is not having everything cut and dried, with reserve force to push the divine plan through. Such power could leave no room for the freedom which true love requires.

"So wrote Bishop David Jenkins, a prophetic voice of our times whose words seem to become more and more perceptive as the years have passed."

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[20.1] STRUGGLING WITH THE CAUSES OF WAR

A thoughtful piece by Charles Moore (not the ex-editor of the Daily Telegraph in Britain, I imagine!) from Bruderhof.com on the roots of war. This excerpt was offered as their daily reflection yesterday:

"It's hard to live consistently, but it is essential if we are to make our world a less violent place. If we're honest, most of us aren't very willing to give up the good life we enjoy. Consequently, we keep on fueling the very fires of war we wish to extinguish. We want to own what we have, enjoy our creature comforts, maintain our autonomy and modes of mobility, and make sure our bottom line is secure, even when the rest of the world suffers because of it." (c) Bruderhof Communities.

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[19.2] FOOD FOR SILENCE

James Alison's extraordinary new book, 'On Being Liked' (DLT, 2003) is launched at Waterstone's bookshop in London's Oxford Circus this evening. The sequel to 'Faith Beyond Resentment', it proposes a re-imagination of the central axis of the Christian faith as a transposition from the question 'how does God deal with sin?' to 'how do we take up God's invitation to share the act of creation?'

This is not a sentimental reduction of the Gospel's tough wrestling with human shortcomings and wrongdoings, but a re-focusing on the life of God as constitutive of the kind of re-ordered desire-in-community that can give us the resources to face such things. Its focus is on what makes for personal and social well-being, and the discovery of reasoning faith that the answer is thoroughly theological.

Ihar Ivanou writes: "James Alison is an excellent storyteller. His writings are always somehow inspired by his own experience that brings a heart-touching aroma to the written. At the same time, his reflections on Biblical passages are amazingly insightful."

Here is an excerpt from 'Faith Beyond Resentment'.

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[19.1] DOMINATED BY DEITIES

The media has given much attention to the court victory by a Muslim in Italy who objected to the presence of a crucifix ("a little man between two sticks," as he described it) in his son's school classroom. Minority religious communities and secularists have long objected to the state's imposition of Catholic symbolism on public spaces. John Bell of the Iona Community presented a powerful BBC Radio 4 Thought For The Day on the issue this morning. The full text is here. These are Bell's concluding observations:

"[I]rrespective of Christian, Islamic, or Hindu beliefs, Western societies are dominated by deities. But unlike in ancient Rome, worship of them is more subtle.

"We don't have shrines to Mars, the god of war, but we do encourage a huge armaments industry at whose behest children in Angola and Mozambique still lose limbs through tramping on hidden landmines.

"We don't have shrines to Mammon, the god of insatiable consumption, but the logos of multi-national junk food giants are foisted in the face of the world's poorest, with the expectation of instant devotion.

"We don't have shrines to Bacchus and Aphrodite, the deities associated with excess and gratification, but we do have a whole fashion industry committed to exploiting the variable tastes of children and teenagers who don't have the money to pay the dues which the brand names demand and so pester their parents.

"By all means take down the Cross and the Crescent and the Star of David, but only if you also take down the insignia of ...of the multinationals I cannot name on radio.

"Or else leave the symbols of religious faith in their place, allowing - in the case of the cross - for the self-importance of earthly gods to be set against the seeming naivete of the Creator of the Universe who saves the world through suffering love."

I appreciate Bell's final sentiment. But it misses three points. First, the image of the cross in the public realm has been corrupted by its Constantinian associations ("With this sign we conquer"), so that its sanctioning by the state can perhaps never be innocent. Second, its ubiquity and generalization may cheapen the Christian commitment that it be a symbol of God's willingness to suffer rather than to inflict suffering. Thirdly, the idea of a God who suffers and who identifies with humanity at its most degraded is incomprehensible and offensive to Muslims: the meaning of God's presence in Christ crucified is something that needs to be offered and discussed with sensitivity, not with power.

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[18.2] RENEWING EUROPE'S ECCLESIA FROM THE BASE

St Colm's International House in Edinburgh was the meeting place for a weekend gathering of European base ecclesial communities (24-27 October 2003). Some 25 persons from 12 countries / people groups were present to share stories and experiences and plan for the future.

Many people are aware of the existence and impact of CEBs in Latin America and South-East Asia (for example), but a similar phenomenon in Europe is less familiar. In some countries, such as Spain and Euskadi, the communities are very well-organized. In others (most notably England) they are few and fragmentary. Their characteristics include an orientation to those at the base of society, contextual reading of the Bible, socio-political engagement, prayer and celebration, and a critical position in relation to institutional church. Many are Catholic, some Protestant, and all stress ecumenism.

Few CEBs are what would be called 'intentional' communities in the sense of living together on a daily basis, but all have features of communal intentionality, including the sharing of resources and money. In Scotland Bert and the Iona Community home groups are among those linked in to the European network, which has been in existence for 20 years. In Ireland, the Crumlin Road community are involved.

In England there is a Contact Group which has been galvanised over the years by Jeanne Hinton. Simon Barrow has been part of this initiative, along with David Cowling (formerly of Grassroots) and Ruth Harvey (when she was with the Living Spirituality Network) and the late Derek Hanscombe of USPG.

The English group plans to meet again in December 2003. St Margaret with St Mary in Liverpool is one parish developing a distinct CEBs model here.

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[18.1] ON NOT LETTING IT ALL GET YOU DOWN...

A thought from Archbishop Rowan Williams. This was actually penned in 1998, and is even more true today...

"Living in the Christian institution isn't particularly easy. It is, generally, these days, an anxious, inefficient, pompous, evasive body. If you hold office in it, you become more and more conscious of what it's doing to your soul. Think of what Coca-Cola does to your teeth. Why bother?

"Well, because of the unwelcome conviction that it somehow tells the welcome truth about God, above all in its worship and sacraments. I don't think I could put up with it for five minutes if I didn't believe this."

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[17.1] DIFFICULT CATHOLIC CHOICES

Last week the Rt Rev Vincent Nichols, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, complained strongly about what he described as anti-Catholic bias in BBC programming and reporting. The BBC denied this. So did most commentators, though a number acknowledged that a wider distrust of organised religion and religious authority among those holding comspolitan values can certainly be discerned. Then again, is it not up to the churches to engage such widespread viewpoints openly rather than simply to condemn them?

One of the programmes that stimulated Nichols' ire was 'Sex And The Holy City', an episode of the well-respected Panorama documentrary series (broadcast on Sunday 12 October) which looks at the way the Vatican has been promoting anti-contraception and anti-reproductive health care messages throughout the third world. Reporter Steve Bradshaw, while not disguising his amazement at factually inaccurate claims in a global Catholic health manual that claims the latex in condoms permits the HIV virus to transmit (something explicitly denied by scientists and the WHO), allowed both sides of this life-or-death argument to be put. He praised the dedication and care of Catholic nurses and health workers in Kenya, Nicaragua and the Philippines (where the mayor of Manila has declared a 'pro-life city'). But at the same time he did not disguise the consequences of the ban on contraception, which has been to aid the spread of deadly infection in many of the most vulnerable communities on earth.

The argument that contraception is anti-life because it breaks the organic link between sex and fertility holds no theological water in the twenty-first century. It is based upon a naturalistic fallacy in ethical reasoning which conflates an 'is' with an 'ought' and attributes this to the will of God. No-one can deny that the moral issues surrounding the creation and nurturing of life are complex and demanding. But to reduce them to a one-stop policy (in both senses of the term) is dangerously reductive in a world where intentions and consequences cannot be ordered by magesterial demand, and where poverty, lack of education and the constraints of culture and community are potent factors in influencing the choices individuals have to make in less-than-ideal situations. Indeed the evidence of public education campaigns points in a very different direction.

Gospel communities can and should promote positive alternatives to the commodification of sexuality and the powerlessness which forces women, in particular, into dangerous and damaging situations. But it certainly cannot do this by pushing these problems onto the backs of their victims. To do so is, in the words of one Latin American theologian, 'anti-evangelical'.

Catholics for a Free Choice is a worldwide organisation promoting alternative perspectives on the issues of contraception, reproduction, fertility, abortion and respect for life. Its site includes a good selection of articles and publications. Many of those involved are lay people and health workers / eductors. Founder Frances Kissling is interviewed here. It is important to realise that faithful Catholics can hold views on these matters which suggest a devlopment of the tradition in a quite different direction to the weight of the current magisterium, though I am sorry that the theological basis upon which CFaFC operates seems to be fairly reductive. Back in 1980 TheOtherSide showed how it doesn't have to be that way.

Hopefully a wider range of theological ethicists linking the making of choice with the promotion of life will become involved in this crucial debate as it (inevitably) develops. For this is not a matter of abstract reasoning; it is a question of human survival and flourishing.

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[16.1] DISCERNING THE RIGHT STUFF

Today's Observer newspaper contains a brief report on the activities of Howard F. Ahmanson Jr, a Californian millionaire (see, it's not just Arnie who's got a screw loose) long involved in funding right-wing religious causes. At the moment he is helping to bankroll the anti-gay backlash against Bishop Gene Robinson and others in ECUSA. But his network also operates through The Claremont Institute, and his other 'concerns' include anti-evolutionism and odd 'pro-caucasian' statements from friends such as NRA-ally Charlton Heston.

Back in the 1980s I was involved in some investigations into the Christian Right, especially when it was tied up with unsavoury pro-apartheid initiatives. Sadly many CR protagonists seem well beyond the reach of reasonable discourse, and though people such as Christian Aid's former research Derrick Knight did a good job of exposing their political ploys (which included smears against Christian NGOs), it is all too easy to get caught up in an unhelpful world of conspiracy and counter-conspiracy. This, after all, is the currency of paranoia that the religious right trades in. Better, I think to promote healthy, reasoning faith than to be too caught up in contending decay and defamation, which has its own damaging ecology...

Still, it is good that there are people out there willing to respond creatively, trenchantly and positively to the flow of ideas from the CR quarter. One such is the author of The Right Christians, a weblog on issues involving Christianity and politics which is updated around five times a week. The Rev Allen H. Brill is an ordained Lutheran minister educated at Concordia Seminary in St Louis, MO. He is also a member of the South Carolina Bar with a degree in Government from Harvard College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School.

Brill has some good guest contributors and a fine set of links. And he writes additionally for Open Source Politics. I found his link on Religious Liberal blog. See RL's fecund articles page, too. My own vision of an open, engaged and radical Christianity would find far more roots and routes in the tradition than the likes of John Dewey (say). But at a time when the scope for debate in church circles is getting narrower and meaner, alternative voices are vital: and the liberal tradition is a necessary and honourable one, even if (as will be clear elsewhere in FaithInSociety) I would want to argue with some of its premises, prognoses and procedures.

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[15.1] CHURCHES CALLED TO SUPPORT MID-EAST CHRISTIANS

The Middle East Forum of CTBI's Churches' Commission on Mission has circulated the following to the British and Irish church media in the light of the unfolding tragedy in Israel/Palestine:

"These are difficult times in the Middle East, with political instability, economic hardship, the continued recourse to weapons of war and violence, and deep suspicion of the motives of Western governments, not least with regard to Israel and Palestine. The indigenous Christian communities in the region share these difficulties, and are put at risk by the mistaken but common identification of Christianity with the actions of the US and UK governments.

"These communities have from the beginning formed an integral part of the life and culture of the region, but Christians have been emigrating, feeling that there is no future for them in the land of their birth. If Christianity were to die out in its very place of origin, it would be a tragedy for the whole Church as well as for the hopes for peace.

"In the days before the latest Iraq War many in our Churches were associated with the widespread protests and with criticism of the United Kingdom government. This was well reported in the Middle East and did much to lessen the belief that this was a war between Christianity and Islam. Whatever the mix of good and evil that is now resulting from the war, the danger of a “clash of civilizations” has not receded and Christian communities remain highly vulnerable.

"The Middle East Forum of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’s Commission on Mission asks that we continue to remember Middle East Christians in our prayers, words and actions. For example the material prepared for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2004 (see www.ctbi.org.uk) originates from the Syrian Church with its history of promoting good relations between Christians and Muslims. That week will provide a great opportunity for us to hear the voice of our Christian brothers and sisters there and to grow in understanding of and solidarity with them.

"It remains possible to visit the region and the Churches there; we can invite Middle East Christians to British and Irish Churches; we can establish partnerships; we can advocate clearly; we can support those agencies and individuals working with the churches in their witness and service; and we can hold all who suffer in our prayers.

"This is a critical time for them and for the world. What we do can make a crucial difference to what the future holds."

On behalf of the Middle East Forum (which is the meeting of Middle East specialists of CTBI member Churches and agencies):
The Revd Colin Morton and Dr Aziz Noor.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
Inter-Church House
35-41 Lower Marsh
London SE1 7SA Contact phone number 07939 139881

[This letter was picked up in the UK by The Church Times and The Baptist Times. ]

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[14.1] CITY LIGHTS

St Matthews-in-the-City is "a progressive Anglican church with a heart for the city and an eye to the world" located in Auckland, New Zealand. They produce an excellent, topical weekly e-zine with articles, news, comment, prayers and other relevant gobbits of interest to those with a broad and faith-ful perspective on the world. 'Social justice remains firmly on St Matthew's agenda. The congregation helped organize and host the Auckland City stopover of the Hikoi of Hope in 1998 and a lecture series on Apec to coincide with the Auckland summit of Apec leaders in 1999. This year, the social justice group is focusing on the theme of "healthy communities".'

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[13.1] ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE

Arundhati Roy, quoted this morning by the radical Anabaptist Bruderhof.com:

"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen...with our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our sheer relentlessness—and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe...Remember this: We are many and they are few. They need us more than we need them. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

From a specifically Christian perspective they also quote their founder, Eberhard Arnold.

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[12.1] THINKING ALLOWED

Thinking Anglicans is an excellent new(ish) website which has a rootblog RSS feed, too. A sane persepective on the intense debates going on within worldwide Anglicanism. As they say: "TA proclaims a tolerant, progressive and compassionate Christian spirituality, in which justice is central to the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God. Our spirituality must engage with the world, and be consistent with the scientific and philosophical understanding on which our modern world is based. It must address the changes which science and technology have brought into our lives."

Also worth checking out, if you haven't already (surely you have by now?), is the InclusiveChurch.Net initiative, which now has more than 5,000 signatories.

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[11.1] STOP MAKING SENSE

Broadsheet reading religious adherents would probably have been tempted to dismiss Andrew Anthony's diatribe against the irrationality of faith ('Religion Is A Class-A Drug') in The Guardian recently. They would be wrong to do so. He articulates very accurately the deep anger that many western liberals feel about the subject right now.

Of course it is breathtakingly daft to claim, as Anthony does, that: "[r]eligion - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism etc, etc - is by definition irrational and, more than that, it is an irrationality that lays claim to the complete truth." This is rhetoric shaped by precisely the kind of generalised demonisation that it claims to be against. A classic example of being inhabited by the spirit of 'the enemy', and one that cheers only those occupying the rigid extremes of discourse.

But elsewhere there are palpable hits: "[T]here is plenty of ammunition in the New Testament for anti-semites. But only if you ignore the logic, such as there is, of the Bible. Correct me if I am wrong, but the whole point of the gospels is that Christ died for "our" sins. Thus someone had to finger him - whether it was the Jews or the Romans - and whoever did should then surely be congratulated by Christians for arranging the set-piece that gave birth to their religion. Except that God must have arranged his son's death because He arranges everything. Or does He? Who knows? What we can be sure of is that while it is perfectly acceptable to denounce [Mel] Gibson's film as anti-semitic, few critics will go so far as to call it anti-sense."

This is, of course, a travesty of the Gospel narratives and of the task of interpretation. But it is a travesty which sadly bears the marks of some versions of Christian believing. I don't know if Anthony reads his fellow-columnists, but Giles Fraser (vicar of Putney, lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College Oxford and instigator of InclusiveChurch.Net) dealt with the fraught question of atonement very effectively not so long ago ('Easter's Hawks and Doves'). Curious that, these days, you get this kind of debate in the broadsheets, but rarely in the church media -- much of which long ceased trying to talk to anyone else.

See Giles Fraser's other columns here.

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[10.1] MAN IN BLACK

Not being an aficionado of country music, I had given Johnny Cash very little thought until he died, I'm afraid -- and specifically until I saw this reflection from Nathan Decker on 'The Daily Dig'. The lyric below is reprinted from www.bruderhof.com.


Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side (c) Johnny Cash estate

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[9.1] LOST IN THE POST?

Distinguished literary critic Terry Eagleton has, in the past, more than dallied with radical Catholicism -- as well as with Marxism. He was, if I recall correctly, one of the authors of The Slant Manifesto, a key tract in the history of the Anglican-Catholic Left from the 1960s. Eagleton's profitable musings have taken him in different directions since then, but he remains a trenchant critic of the conceits of the nihilistic end of post-modernism. This from his recent essay, Living In A Material World:

"Cultural theory as we have it promises to grapple with some fundamental problems, but on the whole fails to deliver. It has been shamefaced about morality and metaphysics, embarrassed about love, biology, religion and revolution, largely silent about evil, reticent about death and suffering, dogmatic about essences, universals and foundations, and superficial about truth, objectivity and disinterestedness. This, on any estimate, is rather a large slice of human existence to fall down on. It is also rather an awkward moment in history to find oneself with little or nothing to say about such fundamental questions. [...]

"Postmodernism is obsessed by the body and terrified of biology. The body is a wildly popular topic in US cultural studies - but this is the plastic, remouldable, socially constructed body, not the piece of matter that sickens and dies. The creature who emerges from postmodern thought is centreless, hedonistic, self-inventing, ceaselessly adaptive. He sounds more like a Los Angeles media executive than an Indonesian fisherman. Postmodernists oppose universality, and well they might: nothing is more parochial than the kind of human being they admire.

"[T]he bracing scepticism of such postmodern thought is hard to distinguish from its aversion to engaging with fundamentalism at the kind of deep moral or metaphysical level where it needs to be confronted. Indeed, this might serve as a summary of the dilemma in which cultural theory is now caught. Postmodernism has an allergy to depth, as indeed did the later Wittgenstein."

I'm not sure I agree on Wittgenstein. And postmodern critique has much to offer in deconstructing modernist hubris. But Eagleton demonstrates that distinguishing theory from fashion (or, as Mark C Taylor once put it, "a matter of thought from a matter of mere scholarship") is vital for our moral, political and spiritual welfare.

Terry Eagleton's latest book, After Theory, is published this month.

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[8.1] THE FACE OF TERROR

Another superb article in The Guardian by Karen Armstrong - a first-rank academic in the area of interreligious studies and theology, a former nun, and (as if that wasn't enough) one of the best commentators working in the journalistic medium. She will not let us off the hook:

"How do we account for the rise of this religious violence in the post-Enlightenment world? Ever since 9/11, President Bush has repeatedly condemned Islamist terror as an atavistic rejection of American freedom, while Tony Blair recently called it a virus, as though, like Aids, its origins are inexplicable. They are wrong, on both counts. The terrorists' methods are appalling, but they regard themselves as freedom fighters, and there is nothing mysterious about the source of these extremist groups: to a significant degree, they are the result of our own policies. [...]

"Ironically, we tend to become like our enemies. In describing his war against terror as a battle between good and evil, President Bush has unwittingly reproduced the rhetoric of Bin Laden, who subscribes to a form of Sunni fundamentalism that divides the world into two diametrically opposed camps in just the same way. The last thing the Israelis intended was to create "Palestinian Zionism", and yet in the early days Israel aided and abetted Hamas, which virulently opposed the secularist ideology of the PLO, in order to undermine Arafat. They should have learned from the tragic fate of Egypt's Anwar Sadat, who, at the beginning of his presidency, sought to create an independent power base by courting the Islamists who eventually killed him.

"The west has also cultivated its future enemies, by arming Bin Laden and other Arab mujahedin in Afghanistan during the cold war and by giving initial support to the Taliban. These exploitative policies reflect a thinly veiled contempt; the religious ideas of these groups were dismissed as beneath serious consideration. Yet to those who had studied these movements it was clear long before 9/11 that fundamentalists all over the world were expressing fears and anxieties that no government could safely ignore." (From: 'Our Role In The Terror')

See also Karen's fine book, The Battle for God: a History of Fundamentalism.

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[7.1] SPACE FOR GRACE

'Room to be people' was the title of a superbly open and engaging little book on the meaning of the Christian faith by Jose Miguez Bonino, Argentinian Methodist liberation theologian and a vice-president of the World Council of Churches. It's a phrase which often comes to mind when I think of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. I went there on a visit to the US west coast some six or seven years ago, and Canon Mark Stanger hosted me very... well, graciously. The Cathedral is an extraordinary place to pray, to worship and to experience the sheer spaciousness of God in the human spirit. The website was one I chanced across again on Sunday evening. Well worth a look for resources, music, meditations and more.

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[6.1] THERE BE DRAGONS

The BBC Radio 4 'Sunday' programme had a slightly more up-beat update from NEAC (see 5.2. below) . The great majority greeted Rowan Williams very warmly, it reported. And 'Fulcrum' got it's first media plug and friendly bishop -- Tom Wright of Durham, to be precise. Meanwhile the Archbishop told his audience wryly that he had been tempted to preach on the AV translation of Psalm 71: "I am become, as it were, a monster unto many." Instead, in a seven-minute address and prayers, he encouraged them (and us all) to listen more carefully for God. It is remarkable (and no coincidence) that the Church of England at its most disturbed and dysfunctional has a leader who is so centred, thoughtful, good-humoured and spiritual. Not to mention a first-rate scholar and poet (thanks to David Fielden for that link). Dr Williams needs all the support he can get.

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[5.2] HOW THESE CHRISTIANS LIBEL ONE ANOTHER

Stephen Bates, The Guardian's religious affairs correspondent, has a revealing (if slightly depressing) article about the National Evangelical Anglican Congress (NEAC) in Blackpool ... and the refusal of some delegates even to pray in the same room with the Archbishop of Canterbury, with whom they disagree over homosexuality.

The piece refers, inter alia, to Roy Clements, the outstanding preacher and Christian leader whose outing effectively ended his public ministry as a Baptist pastor and leader within the Evangelical Alliance. Roy's excellent website is a source of essays and information from the alternative evangelical conscience on questions of sexuality, rooted in careful reflection, prayer and tough personal experience.

The number of evangelicals in and outside the Church of England who refuse to tow the line of the vociferous, wealthy and extremely well-organized conservative lobby is much higher than is often realized -- not least because of the climate of vituperation which surrounds them. Christina Rees speaks out in Bates' article. Jonathan Bartley of Ekklesia has written of his experience. And Jeremy Marks of Courage is interviewed on Clements' site, which also contains a very good summary of responses to what is going on from outside the evangelical camp. Other dissident voices include Anne Townsend (the missionary author, now psychotherapist and Anglican priest), US theologian Tony Campolo, and Dave Tomlinson (of 'post-evangelical' fame).

The point of mentioning this is not to 'fan the flames' of argument (to adopt the ironic title of this year's NEAC), but instead to point towards the true diversity that exists within the evangelical world. My own interests in this are three-fold. First, it is part of my own inheritance. I attended NEAC in Nottingham in 1977 as a young student Christian. Second, a close member of my own family was gay, and suffered enormously from the tension between his own experience and the repression of the religious culture that had nurtured his faith. That was part of what occasioned my 1999 pamphlet, Toward Communion. Third, though my own theology has moved into significantly different trajectories over the years, I still value the faith and vitality of evangelical colleagues. Their commitment to taking Jesus Christ, the Bible and mission seriously is crucial: though in many respects what 'evangelical orthodoxy' believes about such things is, in my experience, severely lacking.

A friend of mine who teaches theology in Scotland put it well. Speaking of his students, he observed a frustration with many of the self-styled 'liberals' who were afraid of conviction lest it offend anyone. The evanglicals, on the other hand, had conviction by the spadeful but needed, he said, to think much harder about what they believed. His judgement? 'They could be the future of the church - but they really need to get their theology sorted out!'

From a very different angle, Alison Webster, social responsibility adviser in the Anglican Diocese of Oxford, writes today's Face to Faith column on the sexuality argument.

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[5.1] SCIENCE-RELIGION DIALOGUE

From 3-5 October 2003 the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences will hold a conference on The Past and Future of the Science-Religion Dialogue: Celebrating the Work of Ian G. Barbour.

The conference sessions deal with methodology; God and nature; theology and physics; theology and biology; ethics, technology and the environment; and perspectives from process theology, Roman Catholic theology and Buddhist thought. Presenters will explore a variety of theological visions of the field's wider dimensions and its frontier challenges. Each speaker will assess what has been accomplished in the past and help us envision what lies ahead as we look toward the coming decades in the light of the legacy of Ian G. Barbour.

Barbour earned a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago, where he was a teaching assistant to Enrico Fermi, designer of the world's first atomic reactor. After teaching physics in Michigan Barbour embarked on a Ford Fellowship to study theology and ethics at Yale Divinity School. Moving to Carleton College in 1955, he created what is now the department of religion while teaching half time in the physics department. He began a lifetime of research and writing on science and religion, starting with the fundamental methodological issue: how do we relate fields as divergent as the natural sciences and religious thought?

He went on to explore the theological implications of physics, cosmology, evolution, anthropology and the neurosciences, as well as ethical issues concerning technology, human need and the environment. In 1999, Ian Barbour was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in recognition of his wide-reaching efforts to further the dialogue between science and religion. (c) CTNS

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