Part 161. Uganda

A man has been arrested in Uganda on a charge of aggravated homosexuality. In the event of a guilty verdict he could be executed. The legislation permitting such punishment is being challenged in the courts as unconstitutional. Uganda has not carried out death sentences since 2005.

Anti gay sentiment is encouraged by those Christians who claim homosexuality is a sin. Such a opinion is held by literalist fundamentalists reading the bible wrongly.  Organisations such as GAFCON have helped fuel anti gay feeling.  It is not a biblical truth that homosexuality is a sin. It is not despite the fulminations of GAFCON, fundamentalist theologians, fundamentalist churches etc.

Part 160. A snippet

The application of our faith in our lives is determined by how we react to our experience and understanding of the world as it is and our hope for what it should be.

Part 159. An opinion

Marcus J Borg:

The bible is a human product: it tells us how our religious ancestors saw things, not how God sees things.

Whilst one might think this is a statement of the obvious,  it is anathema to those who believe the bible is inspired by and from a metaphysical entity or worse still it is the inerrant word of God to be read literally. 

It is my opinion that the bible is an attempt by individuals at particular times and places to record the history and life of their people and set it in the context of religious beliefs of the time.  We  seek to understand scripture through the lens and perspective of its authors. Of course it is open to us to seek to understand faith in the context of present times and we may discern beliefs today held in common with the original authors.

It is one of the great joys of a living faith that we are in a position to draw on the wisdom of the past, but we are not hostages to the past. We renew our understanding of God's love shaped by our own context,  not that of our predecessors.  

Part 158. Is it lack of confidence?

As our starting point here are four èxamples of the theology of social justice.

Thomas Horrocks:

Loving our neighbours means dismantling the systems that oppress them.

Leonardo Boff:

The eternal destiny of human beings will be measured by how much or how little solidarity we have displayed with the hungry, the thirsty,  the naked and the oppressed. In the end we judged in terms of love.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we have to drive a spike into the wheel itself.

Gustavo Gutierrez:

The poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order.

We could add statements by Oscar Romero, Pope Francis,  Martin Luther King Jnr, Desmond Tutu and many more.  The message is clear: Christians are to seek to change society to raise up the poor, the deprived, the repressed, the marginalised,  the discriminated against.  

Desmond Tutu:

There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river.  We need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in.

I have lost count of the number of reports, research projects, discussion papers  conferences and seminars setting out facts and proposing solutions. It is an industry producing copious volumes of good intentions but to little effect. Sometimes there is short term amelioration in a particular instance but sadly the initiatives come to an end when enthusiasm wanes or funding is pulled.

We know why people are falling into the river but still we are pulling them out. As a society we are failing to make the structural changes to stop them falling in. That requires costly long term investment.  Instead we provide bandages and rely on voluntary secular and faith organisations to provide relief.

Christians are failing to campaign in any meaningful or sustained way for the changes needed. A few letters and sermons will not influence the policy decision makers. Sustained campaigning, mobilising church members  is imperative. Why is this not happening? Do churches lack the confidence or skills to challenge policy makers? 

Part 157. Progressive

I have become a strong supporter of the concepts of progressive Christian theology. This will not surprise followers of my Facebook page John Hopkinson Theology Page.  Nor will it be news to followers of the Facebook group I administer Theology of Social Justice.

Part 156. On objective truth

The author (unknown) of Hebrews tells us at 11.1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Our faith is a state of mind based on an opinion formed from a variety of factors. Faith does not reveal God as an objective truth. It is the belief that our opinions are correct. A person may hold to the opinion that scripture is God inspired but it is an opinion, not an objective fact. To claim otherwise is to perpetuate the fallacy/fantasy articulated by biblical literalists and evangelical fundamentalists that the bible is objective truth from God revealed to a few individuals.

Our faith can be strong and does not need the crutch of support of outlandish claims to scripture inerrancy. Scripture is a record of humanity's struggle to understand  its surroundings.  It is an ongoing process, not something fixed in time and unchangeable.  Our faith is a living belief not something limited by ancient texts.

Part 155. The Salvation Army at work.

There is much to commend TSA in the United Kingdom for its work in the community and in particular the support it gives to the disadvantaged, the marginalised and those living in poverty. It is engaged in many of its settings (locations) supporting individuals in need. The work is not only taking place in its buildings but out in the community.  Nor is the Army insular, increasingly there are examples of collaborative and partnership working.  However the Army is not good at publicising its work, particularly at local level. It could and should be doing a lot more to raise its profile.

TSA does campaign on policy issues and comes forward with proposals for change as well as opposing current policies.  Its campaigning and policy proposals are at national level. There is little engagement at local authority level with a few notable exceptions. TSA should mobilise its soldiers, adherents and supporters. It must do more to develop the Social Justice Champion role it has established.

Part 154. Look to the future: don't dwell on the past.

The two Great Commandents, love God and love your neighbour, are calls to action as we seek to follow Jesus. We are to follow the way of Jesus, to follow and apply the principles of love and social justice he expounded.

We do not need to dwell on the Old Testament, we have moved on to the new dispensation and the fulfilment of the Law and Prophets by the Great Commandments. Nor do we need to dwell on the Pauline texts and those attributed to him. We do not need any elaboration of the word of Jesus attested to in the synoptic gospels. 

As we seek to obey the unchanging call of Jesus we should understand that we have to interpret how that call is applied. Thus Paul tells us to treat slaves well but does not condemn slavery. Today our thinking is different. Love has moved from kindness to freedom. In other words context matters. Ignore the literalist fundamentalists dwelling in the past. Be progressive.

Part 153. First day at the office.

The new General of The Salvation Army takes up the reigns of office today. I wish him well as he faces the issue of full inclusion regardless of sexual orientation. Another issue is how to stop and then reverse the loss of members in some territories. He needs our prayers as he tackles these matters. What would be disastrous is mudge and fudge. Strong decisive leadership has to be shown.

Part 152. Beware the silo.

For some years I was a senior lecturer in jurisprudence, the only compulsory subject in the final year of the law degree course. Part of the syllabus was dedicated to consideration of the relationship between law, religion, economics and politics et al both at philosophical and practical levels.

The purpose of the subject is to draw students away from a narrow study of legal principles and invite them to think about the context in which the law operates.

The bible should not be read as the inerrant word of God. That is to place it in a narrow silo.  The bible tells us a great deal about politics, law, economics and society during the period it was written. The religious nature of the bible has to be read in context for its meaning to be discerned. So, we need to understand how our faith relates to present day contexts. Faith's application is shaped by context, by the demand of Jesus to follow him and to love our neighbours

Part 151. My theological viewpoint.

Harold Macmillan, a former UK Prime Minister,  has the following quotation attributed to him.

Political argument is rarely inhibited by ignorance.

The same may be said of social media argument. Look at Facebook sites containing theological matters and you will read, for the most part, entrenched views carried forward by groupthink with little discussion or debate. There are exceptions but rarely informed debate, more likely than not salvos of entrenched opinions being exchanged.

My Facebook theology page is clearly supportive of the tenets of progressive theology.  I read posts on fundamentalist pages but refrain from comment. 

As I have stated before this blog expresses my opinions and I make no claim to academic rigour or research.  My few readers doubtless come to their own conclusions concerning the import of my musings.