justice

Is Christianity losing its sense of morality or finding new vision?

Is Christianity losing its sense of morality or finding new vision?

Many in the Church of England are involved with movements and campaigns for justice and equality: for women, LGBTQIA+ people, black and ethnic minority people, those living in poverty, the abused, those denigrated and despised as unwelcome and unwanted immigrants. All these campaigns and movements are transforming our moral universe despite the resistance of many in the Church. Progress towards creating a healthy Church, working towards the full equality of all creation, rooted in the Jesus essence of life in all its fullness is the vision of the progressive, spiritual, prophetic, evolutionary movements working constructively together.

Jayne Ozanne and Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin speak passion and truth

Jayne Ozanne and Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin speak passion and truth

The Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, speaking at General Synod about LLF on Saturday, said: “It strikes me that all our children and grandchildren are having sex – they’re having sex. More than half the people who come to us for marriage are living together and they’re having sex, so what is it about homosexual sex that we’re reacting in such a visceral way? Can we make sure at the end of the day God’s love is on the table and that we do not allow people to feel less than human but instead made in the image of God?”

Has Lambeth 2022 blown fear of change out of the water?

Has Lambeth 2022 blown fear of change out of the water?

Has this Lambeth Conference successfully achieved a breakthrough leading to a successful outcome for the Living in Love and Faith project and a transformation of the status of LGBTQIA+ people leading to our radical new Christian inclusion? The failure of all but two Church of England bishops to sign the letter supporting LGBTQIA+ people is deeply distressing for us and our allies. Many are understandably very angry and feel betrayed.

Poll shows CofE majority support equal marriage for LGBTQIA+ people

Poll shows CofE majority support equal marriage for LGBTQIA+ people

A YouGov poll, commissioned by the Ozanne Foundation shows that a majority of members of the Church of England now support equal marriage for lesbian and gay couples despite the Church of England’s refusal to allow equal marriage or blessings in church. Changing Attitude England has been campaigning for the full equality of LGBTQIA+ people in the Church of England since 1995. The findings of the YouGov poll brings greater urgency to the need for equal marriage and ministry in the Church of England after more than four decades of exploration and study.

Collegiality and Tutufication

Collegiality and Tutufication

Canon Mark Oakley has coined a new word, saying “we need a brave Tutufication of the Church, allowing bishops more creativity, freedom of speech and honesty about what they believe, with a commitment to never let religion compromise justice.” I believe the entirety of the Church of England needs a far more radical ‘Tutufication’. For a start, the Church needs bishops who with the courage and independence of mind to individually Tutuficate themselves. Today’s House of Bishops is composed of men and women with none of the Christian conviction, courage, radicalism, independence of mind, freedom of heart and soul, playfulness and energy that fuelled Desmond Tutu and transformed people open enough to respond to his proclamation of God’s unconditional love, energy, truth and justice.

So-called conversion therapy, gender identity, and the dangers of coercion and consultation

So-called conversion therapy, gender identity, and the dangers of coercion and consultation

The Church of England’s General Synod Motion of 2017 was unequivocal in its call for a ban on so-called conversion therapy. The UK Government has not only delayed taking action but has recently begun to add the qualifying word ‘coercive’. Is a distinction being drawn between so-called conversion therapy that is coercive and other practices, such as prayer ministry, that are thought to be acceptable? Clarity about the meaning of coercive and non-coercive in this context is urgently needed. The Government seems to be consulting with those determined to protect harmful faith-based practices.

Refusing to play by House of Bishops’ rules

Refusing to play by House of Bishops’ rules

For seven decades the bishops have taken to themselves the right to decide who we are and what we are allowed to be and how we are allowed to function in the Church, lay or ordained. And still we play along with this, suppressing what we know about ourselves, playing the Church game according to Church rules. I have been edging my way towards saying “we refuse to conform to your rules any longer.” That is what re-launching Changing Attitude England is doing – refusing to play by House of Bishops’ rules.

Finding confidence in a radical vision of faith, sexuality and gender

Finding confidence in a radical vision of faith, sexuality and gender

We are faced with a number of challenging realities at the moment, spiritual, national and global, from the after effects of Brexit to the realities of the climate crisis and the Covid 19 pandemic. Dealing with LLF and the Church of England’s inability to allow LGBTIQ+ people to determine our own agenda and develop the space I, for one, expect the Church to create for us, adds to the emotional and psychological disturbance. John Pavlovitz’s account of his own transforming journey to recognise that LGBTIQ+ people also require equality in Church and Kingdom is a restorative stimulus to faith in my own radical vision.

Love, honesty, openness, courage and integrity please, bishops

Love, honesty, openness, courage and integrity please, bishops

The latest issue of Private Eye carries an article about bishops in the Church of England. It opens with comments about the recently published guidelines on heterosexual civil partnerships and moves on to comments about the Bishop of Birmingham, the Rt Revd David Urquhart. Private Eye says there are those in Birmingham diocese who question his own unusual domestic relationships. The guilty party in all of this is the bishops themselves, collectively, with one or two honourable exceptions. Some of them argue forcefully for what they claim are Biblical teachings that result in rank dishonesty and prejudice about LGBTI people in the Church of England. They are responsible for enforcing a closeted life on otherwise honourable, loving, deeply pastoral, and gifted people.