Part 504. Matters have moved on.

 My April Fool's joke (post 497) deceived some of its recipients to the extent that not only did they think I was planning to be a candidate for the position of churchwarden, but also wished me well in my candidature.  A gentle letting down of expectation since then.

The upshot is that I intend to stand for election to the parochial church council and the deanery synod.  I'll keep you posted on developments.

However there is a potential fly in the ointment.  Last year I had two of my blog posts published in the parish magazine under a pseudonym.  A  third offering finished up on the editor's spike.  I have submitted a further article (post 495) under my own name.  Will this one be published?   The article is topical and concerns the Church of England.  Failure to publish will send a clear message to me and might persuade me to consider attending United Reformed Church services given the URC's stance on inclusion.  

Part 503. Biblical truth, an oxymoron?

Don't you just love an oxymoron: honest politician, deafening silence,  civil war, alone together, Microsoft Works, organised chaos, etc.

But what of biblical truth? There are those who believe the bible is the word of God, texts written by authors inspired by the divine. Thus theology, doctrine and dogma are determined by belief in God given scripture within a spectrum of interpretation ranging from rigid, literal, conservative understanding of words to fluid, symbolic, liberal conceptual approaches.  Underpinning all is a belief that the words of scripture are authoritative, not of human origin but of an omniscient, transcendent, metaphysical, anthropomorphic God: statements not to be the subject of rejection  by humans but capable of varied interpretation. Implausible? You be the judge.

Some contra opinions:

'The Christian story does not drop from heaven fully written. It grew and developed over a period of forty-two to seventy years. This is not what most Christians have been taught to think, but it is factual. Christianity has always been an evolving story. It was never, even in the New Testament, a finished story.'

JOHN SHELBY SPONG 

'I let go of the notion that the Bible is a divine product. I learned that it is a human cultural product, the product of two ancient communities, biblical Israel and early Christianity. As such, it contained their understandings and affirmations, statements not coming directly or somewhat directly from God.....I realised that whatever "divine revelation" and the "inspiration of the Bible" meant (if they meant anything), they did not mean that the Bible was a divine product with divine authority.'

MARCUS J BORG 

'Properly understood the Bible is a potential ally to the progressive Christian passion for transformation of ourselves and the world. It is our great heritage. Along with Jesus, to whom it is subordinate, it is our greatest treasure.'

MARCUS J BORG

'My point is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are not smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.'

JOHN DOMINIC CROSSAN 

'The Bible is based upon the construct of theism and anthropomorphism as its primary literary vehicle for expressing the reality of "God." Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. 

The ultimate authority of one's life is not the Bible. The highest truth is not confined between the covers of a book. It is not something written by men and frozen in time. It is not from a source outside oneself. One's ultimate authority is the voice of truth within one's own innermost being.'

JIM PALMER 

'The danger that a mythology understood too literally, and as taught by the Church, will suddenly be repudiated lock, stock and barrel is today greater than ever. Is it not time that the Christian mythology, instead of being wiped out, was understood symbolically?'

CARL JUNG 

I am firmly in the latter camp, much influenced by postmodernism and ideas developed by Jacques Derrida.

So, my opinion is that 'biblical truth' is an oxymoron.  At this juncture may I prevail upon you to turn to post 502 and the words of Colin Coward.   They are an antidote to fundamentalist, conservative evangelical theology, a breath of fresh air to counter stultifying narrow bible based theology, doctrine and dogma that loses sight of the concepts of inclusive love and care for all humanity as ascribed to Jesus by the authors of the synoptic gospels: concepts of humans, therefore subjective, not to be cloaked with the veneer of objective God given authority.  It is the dynamic of the concepts that matters, not the precise meaning of the words in ancient texts of human origin.  As Spong said Christianity is an 'evolving story', not a set of texts fixed in time.

Part 502. Away with literalist, fundamentalist, conservative evangelical bible interpretation!

Below are  quotations from an article by Colin Coward.  It encapsulates opinions I have expressed often in this blog

Reflecting on the Holy Week and Easter stories over the past weekend, I have done so not thinking or believing that the Gospels are verbatim accounts given by, let alone written by those who witnessed these events. They are edited and re-edited stories based on oral accounts that had been told and retold and embroidered by the Jesus-followers, the first witnesses, the early Christian gatherings, and those who subsequently joined the Jesus-centred communities. To the oral accounts that formed the basis of the Gospels were added stories told to and re-told and experienced and embroidered by Paul (with the help of Luke).

Belief is a dilemma for me because I do not believe in what is rehearsed in church every Sunday and maintained by the authority of the institution as adequately representing an adequate vision of the Jesus who transforms life and culture. The Gospels and Acts and the history books of the Hebrew scriptures are not accurate, historical accounts of the events and lives they describe. History never is accurate but always a personal view and interpretation. The contemporary “traditional, orthodox, Biblical” ways of our religious systems do not, for me, embrace the essence and heart of Jesus’ life and teachings. We live with ideas about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit that are human interpretations of Jesus’ teachings and essence. All knowledge is developed and communicated through the medium of human understanding. Any distortion or misunderstanding of the teachings of Jesus is the result of human failure to comprehend. Throughout my life I have been trying to disentangle the ingredients of distortion and error from healthier wisdom and truth, trying to be more aware of and recapture and synthesise the essence of a holy, sacred, incarnated transformational wisdom that helps us embrace the essence of life in all its fulness.

Whether we are aware or not, all of us are dealing with myths and the development of human interpretations and teachings and corruptions of the divine human we worship as Son of God.

We continue to have great difficulty in distinguishing the unhealthy divine attributions that are fundamental corruptions of Jesus’ life and teachings from the Jesus’ essence that is the catalyst for healthy, creative consciousness that make life in all its fulness into real presence.

Please follow the link below to read the article in full and also as a link to further posts by Colin Coward.

https://www.unadulteratedlove.net/blog/2026/4/10/incarnation-transfiguration-crucifixion-resurrection?

I have railed long and hard against fundamentalist interpretations of the bible used to support homophobia, misogyny, racism and self-centred individualism.  

Part 501. Opaqueness and lack of democratic control.

 

The link is to an article published in The Guardian considering the impact of private equity funding on a range of services/utilities essential to the life of individuals.  It points out with clarity the effect of the profit motive and the absence of effective democratic oversight and control.  The article notes that little information is in the public domain on the financial position of the companies engaged in private equity funding.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/07/capitalism-endgame-private-equity-captured-nurseries-care-homes

How is it possible to influence the decisions of such organisations that are beyond the clutch of public opinion/ opprobrium,  fulminating politicians and the voluntary sector, including faith groups?

What is required is for government to deliver systemic change to the financial and statutory framework within which private equity funders operate. I have seen little evidence of the major religious denominations arguing for change, but as the author of the article states cogently the present arrangements enable the funders to get richer at the expense of individuals, many of whom have difficult financial circumstances.  

Part 500. Disgraceful action: a shocker

 

Please read the article in The Guardian on  the government's decision - a Labour government for goodness sake - attacking financially individuals who will have the misfortune to become disabled.  It is a disgrace that a Labour government has seen fit to achieve financial savings by targeting some of the most vulnerable members of society.  The rich get richer and the poor poorer.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/02/labour-disability-cuts-universal-credit

The churches profess, well some do, to follow the social teaching of Jesus.  I have seen little, if any, concerted attempt by them to engage in an ongoing campaign to overturn the new policy regarding disability benefit.  They should be shouting their concern from the rooftops, calling the policy out for what it is: an attack on the vulnerable not in keeping with a fundamental principle of the teaching of Jesus, to care for the deprived, poor and vulnerable. 

Sifting through some old papers I can across the following published in 2010 by the Cabinet Office on behalf of HM Government - at that time the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition:

State of the nation report: poverty, worklessness and welfare dependency in the UK

The report has sections on:

Income poverty, inequality and social immobility

Worklessness: unemployment and inactivity

Welfare dependency

Poor health and educational disadvantage

Families and communities

Multiple disadvantage.

It is a depressing report, made even more so by the fact in the sixteen years following publication very little has been achieved in overcoming the causes of poverty and destitution.  It is political failure and one that should be of serious concern for individuals seeking to follow the teaching of Jesus.  For government the mantra is 'target the welfare budget' as a major element of economic recovery.  As the Taxation Against Poverty's  Nicolson Report: The Poverty Scandal makes clear this is a wrong-headed approach. (See Part 493 of this blog.)

Part 499. Quirky

This is the time of year when Church of England (CofE) parishes elect churchwardens.  Each parish should have two churchwardens.  The process of nomination and election is, in typical CoE fashion, set out in labyrinthine regulations. 

A prospective candidate has to be a baptised member of the CofE, on the church electoral roll of the parish, be aged 21 or over, a regular communicant and not disqualified on a number of grounds related to charity law and safeguarding.  A candidate has to be nominated by two persons either on the church electoral roll or on the electoral register of the local authority in the geographical area covered by the church parish.  Thus candidates for churchwarden may be nominated by non church members.

The election is held at the Annual Meeting of Parishioners (AMP).  It is possible that attendees who are on the civil register may outnumber individuals on the church electoral roll.  So in theory the parish could end up with two churchwardens nominated and elected by non church members!  A huge potential for mischief.  

However a procedure exists whereby the church minister may select one of the candidates to be a churchwarden and announce his decision to the AMP.  This person is withdrawn from the election process and the AMP then proceeds to elect the second churchwarden from the remaining candidates.  More scope for mischief.

Churchwardens are ex-officio members of the Parochial Church  Council (PCC).  Other PCC lay members are elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) limited to church members.

Should the CoE be disestablished then the rules governing the election of churchwardens may well change so that it becomes purely an internal matter for the church and the decisions on election taken solely by the APCM.  Disestablishment is very low on the political agenda.  Whilst bishops would lose their seats in the House of Lords should there be a move to a second chamber elected in its entirety, of itself it would not be disestablishment.

 

Part 498. A stain on society

The extent of poverty and destitution in the United Kingdom,  researched and documented by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation,  is a stain on society in general and the  political/administrative class responsible for strategic policy in particular.  The dead hand of the Civil Service, together with the cosy political consensus of the main political parties (apart from tinkering at the edges) - the Blob -  has ensured no systemic change to achieve social justice for the poor and destitute. The Brexit vote was a voter rebellion,  a shot across the bows of the affluent by the poorer regions.  The lessons have not been learned, hence the reduction in votes for the main parties and the rise of parties promising radical solutions to the systemic failure of the establishment.  

See: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/03/weeks-green-mp-politicians-clue-cost-living-labour

But what of the voluntary sector: secular and faith based organisations: charities and community interest companies?  The sector's  record of campaigning successfully for systemic change to achieve social justice is abysmal.  When was the last time your church contacted a councillor, MP, local authority, government department, quango or private sector organisation to challenge the  status quo and campaign for social justice?  I don't anticipate an avalanche of positive responses. 

From a Christian perspective, or more accurately the perspective of a follower of the teaching in the synoptic gospels attributed to Jesus, ameliorating the plight of the poor, destitute, deprived, sick, excluded, hungry, homeless, addicted, or marginalised is commanded by the call to love your neighbour.  But it is simply amelioration,  continuing  from generation to generation.  It does not challenge causes, only bandages symptoms.  It is an opiate, a palliative,  not a solution. The failure of society, through the state, to tackle the issues, has resulted in the voluntary sector bearing the burden of making provision and thereby masking the extent of the issues.  Why should the voluntary sector have to provide foodbanks, clothes banks, debt advice, hostels, warm areas, free lunches, community facilities to lessen the impact of policy decisions?  One reason is that it is convenient for government not to have to raise taxation to meet the cost of systemic change to achieve social justice, an  issue well articulated by JK  Galbraith in The Affluent Society,

At this juncture I post again the following from Taxpayers Against Poverty: (See Part 493.)

This report is written in the shadow — and the spirit — of the late Rev Paul Nicolson, the founder of Taxpayers Against Poverty.

Paul spent his life insisting on a simple, uncomfortable truth: that poverty in a wealthy country is not inevitable, and that allowing it to persist is a moral failure and an economic folly. He believed that public policy should be judged not by rhetoric or intent, but by its impact on the lives of the poorest. That conviction runs through every page of this report.

The Nicolson Report: The Poverty Scandal sets out the reality the UK now faces. Millions of people are living with unnecessary financial hardship. Families are pushed into insecurity not because resources are lacking, but because choices have been made — repeatedly — to tolerate a system that over-taxes work, under-taxes wealth, and under-invests in the public services and infrastructure that make prosperity possible.

This report is not about blame. It is about responsibility — and about evidence. Poverty benefits no one. It damages health, weakens productivity, increases pressure on public services and limits opportunity for the next generation. We all pay the price.

But the message of this report is also one of hope. Poverty is not inevitable. With a fairer and more modern tax system, and with sustained investment in education, health, social care and infrastructure, hardship can be reduced and prosperity shared more widely. Wealth in this country has been built on shared foundations. Those foundations now need renewing.

This report calls for bold and determined leadership — grounded in evidence, focused on outcomes, and willing to challenge comfortable assumptions. Ending the poverty scandal is not an act of charity. It is one of the most important economic choices the UK can make.

To readers of this report — policymakers, campaigners, taxpayers and citizens — the call to action is simple: do not accept poverty as inevitable. Question policies that deepen hardship. Demand fairness in how we raise and use public money. Support solutions that prevent poverty rather than manage its consequences.

Paul Nicolson believed that change begins when people refuse to look away.

This report asks you to do the same.

Tom Burgess

The voluntary sector has an interest in maintaining current systems.  Much human and financial capital has been invested in at- the- point- of -need provision and there is a big consultation, training, research and support sector to assist front line organisations.  There is a symbiosis between the voluntary sector and government, a  cosying up, well-encapsulated in the latest government wheeze: The Civil Society Council. (See Part 489.) One is reminded of the final paragraphs of George Orwell's Animal Farm. 

Today is Good Friday, the day we are told Jesus was crucified by the Roman Empire egged on by the Jewish establishment in Palestine.  He was perceived to be a dangerous revolutionary, a threat to the stability of the Roman occupation, to the political and economic ordering of civic society by his call for social justice, to the settled status of the Jewish religious and legal establishments within the Roman occupation.

The quest for systemic change in society to achieve social justice continues.  Read the ideas of inter alia John Kenneth Galbraith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jnr., Oscar Romeo,  Leonardo Boff,  Jurgen Moltmann, Gustavo Gutierrez, Desmond Tutu and Walter Bruegemann.  They articulate the economic, sociological,  political and theological concepts that underpin the call for systemic change, for social justice.  

In the Christian calendar Good Friday is followed by Easter Sunday, a day of grief followed by a day of joy, of resurrection. For many it is a factual account, for others it is symbolism or metaphore, of hope rising from the ashes of despair.  As followers of Jesus we are called to give hope to those in need,  the hope of a better future.

 

Part 497. A road ahead!

 I was somewhat depressed when I posted Part 496 at what I perceived to be rejection of my offers to volunteer within the Church of England.  However a new opportunity has presented itself: namely for the position of churchwarden in my parish.  A vacancy has occurred with the retirement of one of the two churchwardens.  I am minded to stand for election.