Part 401. Finale

Well, I have had a good run. Four hundred posts on my blog since November 2022.  All available on Facebook at: 

John Hopkinson Personal Theology Blog

My Facebook group: Theology and Social Justice,

and

my Facebook page:  Progressive and Deconstructivist Theology 

have become an imposition on my time and energy. Time to retire methinks, so goodbye dear friends. 

Part 400. Simple, not simplistic

 When I started my blog in November 2022 the title of my first post was: A simple faith or a simplistic theology?  By 'simple faith' I sought to convey the idea that faith can be described in simple terms, without using theological jargon.  Simplistic theology was a reference to the  'it's in the bible so it must be correct' genre so beloved by bible literalists and fundamentalists.

In the intervening time I replaced faith, first with belief and now with opinion. I hold now to the simple or straightforward opinion that it is our duty to love our neighbour.  This equates to loving all humanity and caring for the environment, leading us to campaign for social justice and protection of the environment. In other words, activism.

My blog posts have referred on a number of occasions to the point that we should not consider issues in a vacuum or adopt a silo mentality. Our world, our understanding of the world, is a consequence of many factors interacting with each other. We should seek to understand the relationships between politics, economics,  law, religion, science, history, geography, etc. The interplay of these factor has shaped the world, our communities, our lives, our identity, our fears, our hopes, our expectations.  It is a matrix.

Do we understand the fluidity and ever-changing landscape we are part of?  How do we react?

Part 399. Theology and social justice.

 As I deconstructed my beliefs it became clear to me that what really mattered was how we treat humanity and the environment.  I was drawn to the teaching attributed to Jesus to love your neighbour.  Alongside that I concluded that the kingdom of god on earth required a commitment to promoting ideas of social justice. It is this that kindled my support for the concepts of liberation theology and  ideas to be found in feminist and black theology.  It led me to campaign also on poverty issues and issues creating and sustaining areas of multiple deprivation.

 It became obvious to me that Christianity has no claim to uniqueness in its concern for such matters. Other faiths, and those with no religious belief, hold similar concerns close to their hearts.  We journey together, our different starting points an irrelevancy.  Thus my Facebook Page: Theology and Social Justice, contains posts from purely secular organisations campaigning for social justice.  I admit to a paucity of posts from faiths other than Christianity.  It is not a deliberate choice: it is a reflection of the starting point of my journey.

Part 398. It's as easy as A, B, C (+D) isn't it?

 The concept of community development has been around for many years.  In the UK, to assist the process of making it a reality, there was published Achieving Better Community Development, a handbook setting out a framework for evaluating community development.  A stablemate is a framework  called Asset Based Community Development.  (Tons of material on the net.)

Faith groups should be encouraged to study the documents as they set out a blueprint for community engagement.  A word of caution.  What appears in plans, blueprints etc may not be reflected on the ground.  Long lasting sustainable community development requires very hard work, is beset by setbacks, and the whims of participating individuals and organisations.  However there is is no excuse for not seeking to empower individuals to improve their communities and lives.  Small gains are to be celebrated and setbacks a driver to do better.  

For faith groups, to follow the injunction of Jesus to love your neighbour should leave no doubt concerning the necessity for community engagement, both in seeking resolution of problems and building for a better future. Get out into the community, seek participation by individuals outside the faith group, identify issues and aspirations, but above all do something.   Build relationships and trust with individuals and public and voluntary organisations.  Go with the flow, do not seek to dominate or control.  

Above all, seek to engage in small projects with a reasonable chance of success.  It helps build street-cred no end.

Part 397. Distract and divert

Public bodies are required to consult the public, including voluntary organisations, on a range of issues. The consultations most often are on-line.  The presentation of the issue and the accompanying questionnaire may well be loaded.  A consultation is just that.  It is not binding and responses may be ignored.  It is often a cosmetic exercise to satisfy a legislative requirement.  

Some voluntary organisations spend money and effort in raising petitions to statutory bodies.  Again, they can be and are ignored: or simply receive condescending  responses from the organisations to whom they are addressed.

Sometimes aggrieved consultees and petition originators seek judicial review should they believe the public body concerned has failed to give sufficient weight to representations. However judicial review is very expensive and whilst it may be successful, the eventual outcome is usually simply to delay matters rather than overturn the decision of the public body.

A favourite wheeze is to set up a consultative body meeting on an on-going basis to consider issues.  Such bodies usually are talking shops  and have little effect on the eventual decision making process.  However churches waste, time, energy and resources in participating in such farces. 

A few examples from personal experience.

Connexions. 

PACT. Partners and Communities Together. In some areas known as Police and Communities Together.

CLSP. Community Legal Service Partnership

CP. Strategic community plans.

Compact.

Surf the internet for more information on these bodies. They all have in common the pretence of participation is the decision making process, of having significant influence on decision makers. At best they provide a safety valve for individuals and voluntary organisations to let off steam.

However there are two important beneficial aspects to such consultative arrangements. 

1. Networking and making contact with potential allies

2. Identifying key players in the organisations making decisions. 

This post may give the impression that I am a cynic.  Spot on, I have the scars to show from involvement in such bodies.  The conclusion I drew then is that for a church to  promote and campaign for change requires determination to secure allies and then to communicate directly and forcefully with the decision makers in an organisation.

On a different tack, I doubt the effectiveness of demonstrations as having any long-term major influence.  I marched on the huge anti Iraq war demonstrations in London that had nil effect on  the determination of the government to invade Iraq.  Direct action such as blocking roads, disrupting sporting events may well be counter-productive.

Part 396. Be pragmatic.

Following a long process of deconstruction my position is that I choose to follow the guidance ascribed to Jesus, namely: to love your neighbour. I choose to regard all people as equal, regardless of sex, race, political beliefs, wealth, status etc.  However, for society to achieve social justice systemic change is essential.

Others, with the objective of campaigning for social justice, may seek inspiration and guidance from other sources including political, faith, social and economic philosophies, or be firm adherents of mysticism, socialism, communism, capitalism, a faith and so forth.  Whatever route is adopted it is of human origin,  a consequence of the influence of ideas, perceptions, experience.

I do not hold the opinion. that the end justifies the means.  There are many different routes to achieve social justice but to my mind it is important to follow the principle of love.

There are no self-evident truths to impose on others.  I refuse to be controlled by any 'ism'.

Part 395. Parish woes and blessings

I have posted before on my dismay that the vicar and governors of our Church of England primary school resigned and ceded control to an outside agency, thereby breaking an important connection between the church and community. I write as a former governor of the infant aided and junior controlled schools that merged to create the primary school.

I note the parish is having difficulty filling the position of treasurer, a problem for many voluntary organisations.  Furthermore it would appear the parish has lost one of the churchwardens (no explanation in the parish magazine). The remaining warden took on the role, having retired previously, when her successor resigned.

There is some good news.  The choir continues to perform magnificently.  In May a parishioner will  receive his lay minister license from the diocesan bishop.  

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting should be interesting.

Part 394. Who needs scripture?

Who needs scripture?  Certainly those who believe the bible in the inerrant, infallible word of god.  They hang on every word.  One could go so far as to say that such individuals are more interested in the words of a book than living out the message of Jesus.   

I choose to follow the underlying message of the bible as summarised by Jesus: to love my neighbour. I read the bible as an aid to understanding, not as an instruction manual. Loving neighbours is not restricted to the Christian faith.  People of other faiths, or of no religious conviction,  act is similar fashion seeking to assist others and campaign for social justice.  

Love is expressed in the here and now.  It seeks to improve life on earth, not by waiting for some cosmic event to occur in the future, but by working for it now, by tackling concrete issues.  Love is not engaging in attempting to secure a place in the hereafter so beloved by the scripture fundamentalists.