Part 363. Final numbered post

 Part 1 was published on 11th November 2022.  From now on posts will not be numbered and will be more varied topic wise.  

Part 362. A theological journey.

Over two years ago I started my blog and set off on a journey that has taken me into the realms of liberal, progressive, radical, deconstructivist and reconstructionivist theology. Underpinning my journey has been a commitment to promoting social justice by deed and thought.

My blog has never asked, expected or encouraged individuals to agree with my opinions. I have aimed to write straightforward expositions free of theological jargon. Simple, not I hope simplistic.

I think I might find a home in the Society of Friends. However I have a great affection for the services of Matins and Evening Prayer (Evensong) in the Church of England  according to the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). Choral Evensong is a particular joy. Though I do not subscribe to the theology and doctrine of the BCP, nor to the Articles of Religion, I appreciate Choral Evensong in much the same way one may enjoy an opera performed in a foreign language. The libretto of an opera may be nonsense: the performance sublime. i enjoy also listening to The Salvation Army's brass bands,  but that is a different story.

Part 361. Love your neighbour is all the theology you need.

The sentiment expressed in the statement 'the moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members'  has been uttered by many.  For followers of Jesus it is an expression couched in social justice language of the injunction to love your neighbour. A long line of theologians and Christian activists has espoused the social gospel including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jurgen Moltmann, Martin Luther King Jnr, Leonardo Boff, Oscar Romeo, Gustavo Gutierrez and Desmond Tutu.  Doubtless dear reader you can name others.

It simply is not enough to assist vulnerable individuals at point of need, vital though this is. It is essental to discern the causes of vulnerability, propose solutions and then campaign for change. In other words to achieve social justice through systemic change. I have assisted and campaigned for over thirty years in the course of which I have met many people committed to helping others in whatever way they can. There are many battles fought and many still to be won.

Understanding, assisting and campaigning to help our neighbour is more important to me than discussing bible inerrancy, the nature of god, the existence of heaven or hell, or the need for salvation to protect us after death.  For me what is important is how we make the concept of heaven on earth a reality.

Part 360. Musical Chairs

 Next week the Territorial Appointments Conference of the United Kingdom and Ireland Territory of The Salvation Army meets to decide on the disposition of commissioned officers and territorial envoys in 2025/26.  There will be played out an odd game of musical chairs as there will be more seats that participants. Last year some corps became unofficered.  Closures and mergers have happened. Will this trend continue?

The Salvationist this week published an article by a participant in the process of appointments:

"Divisional leaders have been asked to look where appointed leadership will have the most impact.  I discern a greater sense of collaboration where corps and centres are in geographical proximity and are building on each other's strengths in a shared understanding of mission.   Sometimes this is in a cluster and at other times within a local authority borough, so that the Army can speak into local issues with greater clarity and share resources."

I thought integration was a major policy decision anyway.  Talk of collaboration, shared understanding and clusters is for me management-speak for more shared officers, mergers and closures.  It is managed decline.

But is the cavalry riding to the rescue in the form of employed spiritual leaders?  Such individuals will have contracts of employment and could be made redundant.  Commissioned officers are not employed by the Army and cannot be made redundant, although they are subject to dismissal if they run foul of the Army's regulations.  The iron fist in the iron glove.   How these two classes of leaders will interact should prove interesting.

It looks as though there will be an increased emphasis placed on the role of local corps leaders who have been described in the Salvationist as having "stepped up" to take on more significant roles.

In the Church of England the resignation  of the Archbishop of Canterbury has led to his work being undertaken mostly by the Archbishop of York and to a lesser degree the Bishop of London.  The replacement will not be voted on until the latter end of 2025 and it is not a forgone conclusion that a decision will be made.  The successful candidate must command a two thirds majority and given the current strife within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion a stalemate is a distinct possibility, particularly as a stalemate exists currently in the appointment of two diocesan bishops.

Part 359. Experiences of churches.

 Many year ago I attended a theology course organised by the Church of England.  The CofE is diverse, not only in its theology, but in the nature of its services.  Course members were invited to visit CofE churches with different theology and churchmanship from the one we attended.  We were asked to visit also churches of other denominations.

 Thus it was that I stepped out one Sunday morning and attended a service at my local Salvation Army Corps' Citadel.  The people were friendly, nearly all wore uniforms.  We were regaled with singing by the choir (known as Songsters) and a piece by the brass band.  The sermon was conservative evangelical in content.  Hymns, choruses and prayers as well.  Overall it was a typical evangelical hymn sandwich service, but not happy-clappy.

The following Sunday I ventured to the meeting room of the local Society of Friends.  Basically an hour of silence; no music, no singing, no prayer.  Time for contemplation.  At the end of the hour two individuals shook hands to signify the termination of the proceedings.  Tea and biscuits and polite conversation followed. A pleasant group of Quakers.

On the third Sunday I presented myself at the local Anglo-Catholic Church of England Mass.  Greeted with a number of pieces of paper from which one was left to one's own devices to navigate the service content.  Billowing incense and ringing bells as I expected.  The priest's apparel was exotic.  I half expected  him to speak in Latin. It was different certainly to my experience of Prayer Book Holy Communion.   The people were friendly but very few were from the immediate locality.

Some years later I began attending The Salvation Army meetings on a regular basis as I was impressed by the social work the Army engages in, although its evangelical stance grated somewhat.  However more recently, as I went through a period of deconstruction and also dismay at the lack of inclusivity on sexual orientation matters, I decided to leave.

Where to go now?  I dislike being isolated and seek fellowship with like-minded people.  Possibly the Quakers are my best option?

Part 358. Fellow travellers on the deconstruction road.

 I am lucky.  When I left my religious fellowship I retained my friendship with many of my former colleagues, but we do not discuss theological matters.  I was fortunate to meet up with a local group, Radical Pilgrims, that is part of Progressive Christian Network Britain.  The group meets monthly, is eclectic - and that is good for discussions on a variety of topics.

I find the Facebook Group The Lasting Supper most helpful in keeping me engaged with fellow deconstructionists.

I am at the stage where I  have given up attempting to understand 'god'.  My interest is in loving neighbours whether by helping at point of need or campaigning for social justice. Indeed I have pursued this path for many years, but now I am free of the shackles of bible inerrancy, doctrine, dogma and regulation.  It is so liberating, yet there are times when I feel isolated and lonely and almost wish I could undo my deconstruction.   Perhaps I am  seeking comfort over challenge. 

Part 357. More interesting articles.

I commend the following short articles.

--‐-----         ‐-------      -------     --------

You say you're a Christian.

That Christianity is where it's at.

That your Bible is real, and your Gospel is life.

You want me to trust your faith.

You want me to believe and act as you do.

You say it's the only thing that will bring true joy, meaning, and peace to my life. You say it's the only path that will solve all my problems and give purpose to all my sufferings.

Yet, with all due love and respect, based on what you actually do and not just on what you say, if I'm to believe that your Christianity knows the truth, has the truth, and shares the truth like no other religion or belief can, then in all honesty, the one and only thing you've convinced me of is that your truth is not Jesus, and it's certainly not love.

Because, until you start acting as Jesus and living as love, your words, your worship, your buildings, your bumper stickers, and your bloviating are but clanging shrieking cymbals out of beat in a cult parade bannered with filthy rags.

Jesus once told me, “by their fruits you will know them.”

I do know.

I do see. 

You.

That's why I resist.

Chris Kratzer

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CONSERVATIVE IN A TIME OF INJUSTICE?

I am used to people implying that, as a liberal, I am not a good Christian. 

It no longer bothers me to be called a heretic just because I believe religion should not be a shackle to the loving heart nor to the honest mind. But, I also know that some of you are just now stepping out of toxic Christianity and are enduring the charge of being second rate Christians or worse. I would like to say several thoughts to you.

First of all, I want to thank you for your courage. It is not easy to step out of the institutional bullying that holds abusive sectarian religion in place. I hope you are giving yourself credit for the enormous bravery it took just to get out of the metaphysical prison into which you were born.

Second of all, I want to congratulate you. The life of love is a much more joyful and truthful of a path than that of dogmatism, ritualism, or moralism. You have chosen the Sermon on the Mount, and more importantly, you have chosen love as the heart of your path. You will not be sorry but you will have much to endure. 

"Liberal" or "conservative" are not ethical categories. We all seek a balance between what needs to be liberated and what needs to be conserved. But liberalism can disguise a superficiality in our values and conservatism can disguise an unwillingness to change systems that are unfair.

Obery Hendricks Jr. is a wonderful religious scholar who has tried to show how extremist forms of right wing Christianity can get stuck defending the indefensible. People can end up defending "God, Guns and the Flag" in a way that shows no commitment to the religion of love and justice. What some people of think as "apolitical" is often a defense of the status quo for power and wealth. Here are three of Hendricks' sayings you may find encouraging as you endure criticism: 

“First, the good professor tells us how to spot false prophets. He says there are two telltale criteria: 

“(1) they are silent about issues of social justice, and (2) they function as uncritical supporters of rulers and politicians, rather than as their moral conscience and dedicated arbiters of biblical justice.”

Secondly, he warns us: 

“Right-wing evangelicals have evolved what might be called a “Jesus personality cult” that is obsessed with the person of Jesus as spiritual savior rather than with the principles for justly living in the world that he taught and died for.”

Finally, Hendricks points out that, in scripture, prophets are never called to conserve unfair systems of power and wealth. Almost by definition Prophets are calling us to change. 

He says:

“In our time, when many seem to think that Christianity goes hand in hand with right-wing visions of the world. It is important to remember that there has never been a conservative prophet. Prophets have never been called to conserve social orders that have stratified inequities of power and privilege and wealth; prophets have always been called to change them so all can have access to the fullest fruits of life. In fact, it was the conservative forces—those who wanted to keep things as they were—that in every instance were the most bitter opponents of the prophets and their missions for justice.” 

Again, thank you for having the courage to choose the awkward and unpopular path of universal love over the popular status quo of bullying in the name of sectarian religion and narcissistic patriotism.  

Jim Rigby

Self care is the seed from which love, compassion, generosity, humility, and kindness grows. 

Self care is not selfish, it is the hard, painful, and sacred work of learning to love ourselves so that love can flow from us, as us, and through us onto others. 

True love is a release of self from self to another. It has action, but is not action or an act alone. It is the self given to another because the self has first loved itself and can therefore fully love another.

Self care is the first, and foremost act of loving others. 

Self care is the cross that leads to the resurrection of self for the giving of life to others.Self care is the seed from which love, compassion, generosity, humility, and kindness grows. 

Self care is not selfish, it is the hard, painful, and sacred work of learning to love ourselves so that love can flow from us, as us, and through us onto others. 

True love is a release of self from self to another. It has action, but is not action or an act alone. It is the self given to another because the self has first loved itself and can therefore fully love another.

Self care is the first, and foremost act of loving others. 

Self care is the cross that leads to the resurrection of self for the giving of life to others.

Chris Kratzer

One of the most dangerous things in all the world is a Christian who reads the Bible in front of them who hasn't first learned to read the mind of Christ within them.

Nothing has freed my heart and soul more than the moment I realized that listening to the mind of Christ within me is far more important and trustworthy than reading the Bible ever could be. 

From that point on, I committed myself to seeking guidance from the Light within me, far more than the opinions around me.

Game changer.  

Chris Kratzer

A few thoughts about the Jesus story in the gospels: 

1. The gospels were written 70-90 years after the death of Jesus, and based upon oral traditions passed along over that period. The gospel writers used these oral traditions as the foundation of their texts. It’s likely they used the most common oral traditions as a starting point. 

2. There is scholarly debate about whether the gospel writers knew Jesus personally during his lifetime or the nature of their knowledge or relationship with Jesus. For example, there is debate if the Gospel of Matthew was written by the Matthew named as a disciple of Jesus. Overall, while it’s possible that some gospel writers had direct contact with Jesus, the exact nature of their relationship with him remains a subject of debate. 

3. The gospel writers were editors. They had to sift through a mountain of oral traditions and decide which stories to use and which ones to leave out. The gospel writers chose a limited number of Jesus stories and teachings so as to make the work manageable and of reasonable length. They also chose stories and teachings they felt most honored the legend, message and significance of Jesus (influenced by how they understood it), and conversely left out stories they felt were unbecoming to their idea of Jesus or teachings they didn’t understand. For example, if the gospel writers believed Jesus was the one and only God in the flesh, they would have edited and rewrote oral traditions accordingly. The gospels are barely a Cliff Notes version of the life of Jesus, and leave out the childhood, teen and young adult years of Jesus. 

4. It makes sense that the gospel writers would have not included the following possible stories in their work, either because they were not conveyed in the oral traditions or because the gospel writers felt these stories were not favorable to the story of Jesus they wanted to tell: 

- Jesus romantic interests or intimate relationships 

- Jesus taking part in everyday life, which includes parties and drinking a too much wine 

- Jesus becoming unhinged, pissed, or doing and saying things that would have raised eyebrows

- Jesus’ early years and all the things a normal teenager at that time/place would think, do, say or act 

- Jesus’ twisted humor and bad language 

Why we fault the gospel writers for this, I don’t understand. If I told the Cliff Notes version of your story to honor your memory, I wouldn’t include your two nightmare divorces, that trip to Vegas, or that time you went off on the cashier at Target. Right? 

For me, if Jesus had intimate relationships, got hammered at a wedding party, or cussed out a disciple for being stupid, I wouldn’t care. None of that would impact how or why I find meaning in the legend and story written about Jesus. Though I understand why, It’s odd to me that Jesus claimed to be divine and human, but the gospel writers left out the human part. It could simply be that they couldn’t figure out how to properly reconcile and integrate the two, and were conflicted about it. That’s fair, right? 2,000 years we are still trying to figure it out. Unfortunately ever since, we have had the idea that being human is a bad, which basically dominated Paul’s thinking about everything. 

I hold space for Jesus in my heart, not because he was more than human but because he sparked a tuneless conversation about what it could mean to be human. Of course Jesus was divine, but in the same way that we all are being rooted in the same, one and only ground of being. The real challenge Jesus left the world is not about why we can’t be as divine as he is, because we are. The real question is, why we can’t be as human as he was. 

Jim Palmer

One of the most pivotal things I have discovered in my spiritual journey is that if you believe in Love all the way, eventually so much of “church” becomes not only unnecessary and irrelevant, but a spiritual shackle restraining the soul.

Where so much of “church” is designed for us to land our faith and comply our lives, the universe is determined that our spirit forever flies and our faith continually evolves.

Everything one needs in order to be whole, holy, approved, and faithful to the Divine is already within them, no church or Christianity required. Period.

That's why for me, the earth is my sanctuary, humanity is my community, wholeness is my Gospel, and love is my worship.

Game changer.

Chris Kratzer 

Part 356. Known: Unknown

There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.  There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things we know we don't know.  But there are also unknown unknowns; there are things we do not know we don't know.

Donald Rumsfed.

So how would you apply this to theological matters: in particular your personal understanding, of what is meant by  'god' or 'God'?  

Part 355. Interesting short articles. Well, I think so.

Below are a few short articles setting out opinions that may be of interest to individuals who have or in the throes of deconstructing their faith.  Unsurprisingly, I concur with much of the arguments, opinions, assertions made in the articles.  Hope you find the pieces of interest, maybe stimulating.

If the ego’s purpose is to protect itself—to shield from pain, avoid confrontation, and cling to comfort—then is it not possible, even likely, that our idea of God is its greatest projection? What better refuge for the fragile mind than a divine figure to provide answers, purpose, and the promise of something more? What better way to ease the torment of existence than to create a being who can rescue us from it?

Take heaven, for example. For an ego terrified of its own impermanence, what greater comfort than the promise of eternal bliss—a reward for enduring life’s chaos? Heaven becomes the ultimate escape, a way to make every hardship, every sacrifice feel worthwhile. But is it divine truth—or the ego’s desperate attempt to avoid the void?

Consider sin and repentance. The ego, weighed down by guilt, craves relief, and so we create pathways to absolution. Confession, penance, forgiveness—they give the ego a way to reclaim its worthiness, to avoid the crushing weight of its failures. But is this redemption from a higher power—or from the prison of our own shame?

And what of justice? The idea that a benevolent God will reward the good and punish the wicked aligns so perfectly with the ego’s need for fairness, for order in an otherwise chaotic world. But in a reality where suffering is often senseless, does this divine justice exist—or is it the ego’s refusal to confront the randomness of existence?

Then there is the notion of “chosen people.” What could be more appealing to the ego than the idea of being special, singled out by the divine? It soothes the fear of insignificance, granting not just meaning, but superiority. It transforms the ordinary into something sacred, and the struggles of life into proof of a higher calling. But does this chosenness reflect divine will—or the ego’s relentless desire to matter?

Even death itself is softened by the ego’s projections. Immortal souls, reincarnation, eternal unity with God—all of these ease the terror of finality. The ego cannot accept its own annihilation, and so it creates an identity that transcends the grave, an existence that cannot end. But is this eternity a truth of the divine—or the ultimate illusion of self-preservation?

These ideas—the promises of heaven, forgiveness, justice, chosenness, immortality—offer profound comfort. But they also raise an unsettling question: are they reflections of God, or are they reflections of us? Are we truly seeking the divine—or simply crafting an image that fulfills our deepest fears and desires?

I don’t necessarily reject religion. At its best, religion inspires love, compassion, and transformation; it provides a framework for understanding the mysteries of existence. But when religious doctrine lulls us into comfort and complacency—when it offers shortcuts that bypass the hard, necessary work of inner growth—I believe it becomes a barrier rather than a bridge to true spiritual and individual evolution. The promises of salvation or absolution can sometimes rob us of the raw, unfiltered confrontation with ourselves that is essential for growth.

So perhaps the hardest journey is not upward toward a God we’ve imagined, but inward—to confront the raw, unfiltered truths of existence. To sit with the uncertainty, the suffering, the ambiguity, and ask what remains when the ego lets go. What lies beyond our projections, in the silence where the mind can no longer construct its walls?

Maybe it is there—in that vast, terrifying, and beautiful emptiness—that we finally encounter something real. Something divine. Not crafted, not projected, but experienced. And maybe, just maybe, that truth is more extraordinary than anything the ego could ever imagine. 

Chris Johns

"The real work of deconstruction is not wheeling in a new-and-improved theology to replace your old discarded beliefs. Religion gets people all worked up over cultivating a better relationship with God, but what we most need is a healthier relationship with ourselves. 

People are suffering every day, not because of a deficient relationship with a deity in the sky, but because of a dysfunctional relationship with the person in the mirror. The root of this dysfunction are all the lies religion convinced you about yourself. A few of them are: 

I am inherently bad. 

I can't trust myself.

My heart is wicked. 

I deserve punishment. 

I don't measure up.

I am powerless. 

I need forgiveness for who I am.

I am worthless on my own.

I can never be good enough. 

I need saved from myself. 

The peace you lack is not with God, but with yourself. You are not separated from God, you are separated from you. Your challenge is not overcoming your original badness, but staking claim to your original goodness." 

Jim Palmer

My greatest revelation came in a moment of quiet clarity—a realization so simple yet so profound that it unraveled everything I thought I knew: I was the creator of my own reality. Every scar etched into my soul, every fleeting moment of joy, every rise and fall—it all traced back to me. It all stemmed from my choices, my perceptions, and my willingness to act or remain still.

For so long, I lived as though life were something happening to me, like a fallen leaf tossed by an indifferent wind. I blamed circumstances, other people, even fate itself, for the emptiness and dissatisfaction that consumed me. But then it struck me, like the first light piercing the darkness of a long night—I was the wind. I had always been the wind.

This realization was both humbling and liberating. It required me to face myself, not with judgment or shame, but with ownership. If I had created my suffering, I could also create my healing. If I had shaped my struggles, I could shape something better, something true. Life was not an unrelenting tide carrying me where it willed—it was a river, and I held the oar!

In that moment, I was no longer a victim of life’s chaos but its co-creator. And with that understanding came the most liberating truth of all: I have a choice. Not over every event that unfolds, nor over what others do or say, but over how I respond, how I grow, and how I use each moment to shape the days ahead. That truth set me free—not because it promised ease or comfort, but because it reminded me of what I had forgotten: I hold the power. I hold the choice. I always have.

Chris Johns

HAPPY BEGINNER’S DAY

Shunryu Suzuki said in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind:

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” 

“This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.” 

New Year’s is a secular version of enlightenment or being “born again.” New Year’s is an invitation to look out at the world through new eyes. 

May you wake up this day refusing to be defined by your past.

May you look at the mirror and see someone with a completely clean slate. 

May you forgive every mistake that you or others have made. May you untether from every grudge and accept this day as an invitation to a fresh start at living.

May you stop carrying the burden of a religion of memorized answers. May you be “baptized” in your own version of awareness, forgiveness and grace. 

May you wake up to this day with new eyes for beauty, a new mind unfettered by yesterday’s answers, and with a new heart unscarred by yesterday’s wounds. 

Most importantly, may you always be a beginner.

Jim Rigby

"Jesus was not a Christian. He is not the founder of Christianity. Jesus never encouraged people to worship him. Christianity is a religion created later, mostly by Paul and later church councils, in the name of Jesus, but is much different from the truth that Jesus taught and lived. Were Jesus alive today, he would not be a Christian. He would have no choice but to identify as an atheist if his only choice was the "God" of toxic religion. 

Jesus is still one of best-kept secrets because his truth has been grossly distorted by those who claim to speak for him. There is a religion-free Jesus who belongs to all of humankind. Christianity does not own or have first rights to Jesus. His truth has universal significance.

It's a mistake to make Jesus a religious figure or front man for Christianity. You have to disentangle Jesus from what you heard at church to find the truth he said would set you free."

Jim Palmer. 

I keep a list of absurd things people say about God. This morning I came across one that I added to my list. 

I saw a meme that read:

“God doesn’t give you the people you want, he gives you the people you need. To help you, to hurt you, to leave you, to love you, and to make you the person you were meant to be.”

Firstly, the part of the statement that reads “God doesn’t give you the people you want” is an insult. It might as well be translated as follows, “You are not capable of determining what is good for you. God knows better than to listen to your carnal and misguided desires.”

Secondly, God does not send people into your life to hurt you. The pain we inflict upon one another in this world is the result of our brokenness and the ignorance or denial of the essential truths that at the heart of our existence. But the idea that God sends hurtful and abusive people into our lives to teach us something or make us grow, is absurd and false. I certainly hope that all the adult survivors of child abuse, of which I am one, didn't see this meme.

Third, God does not handpick and shuffle an assortment of people in and out of 8+ billion people's individual lives. The people with whom we encounter, interact, and form relationships with is determined by a multitude of factors, conditions, circumstances, and choices, and not divine intervention. 

An aspect of every human being's lived experience and personal growth involves learning the skills to cultivate meaningful, constructive, intimate, and mutually fulfilling and loving relationships. This includes learning to set boundaries in our connections with others who are detrimental to our mental, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being. We all have a history that includes a few or more relationship shitstorms. Right? We learn from them, do our personal work, become healthier human beings, and do relationships better as more whole people. 

It is you, not God, who is at the helm of orchestrating your relational world. Of course, wisdom and spirituality is a component of this, but God is not parading specific people into your life for a divine purpose. 

Lastly, the idea that God is doing all this to "make you the person you were meant to be" is a false premise. You were born the person you were meant to be. You always are the person you were meant to be in every moment, and always will be the person you were meant to be. It's not possible for you to not be the person you were meant to be. 

Your primordial and fundamental essence, nature and Self lacks nothing. How can you be an expression or manifestation of the "image of God", which is the supreme, absolute, timeless, infinite, complete, whole, ultimate reality, and need to be made into something more???

So, I decided to reword the statement as follows:

"Your fundamental nature or essence is the ultimate reality often referred to as "God". As such, your journey is about discovering, being, and expressing what you are in the context of the lived human experience. This includes partaking in the interdependent web of connectivity with all human beings, and participating in all these interactions, associations, and relationships in a way that calls forth the truth of what you are." 

Jim Palmer 

Part 354. Action, not talk.

I was a senior lecturer and examiner in jurisprudence on a law degree course. The syllabus called for elucidation of the schools of jurisprudence in an attempt to provide the undergraduates with an understanding of the sources, purposes and application of law in the context of the interrelationship of political, economic, religious and social factors.

For the students it was a very different academic landscape from their study of contract, criminal law, tort, property law, etc. What was its practical value?  How would it be of assistance when advising clients or appearing before judges?  I will leave you, dear reader, to ponder on this.

Later in life I studied for a diploma in theology. The methodology had much in common with my previous academic experience: study of source material, purpose and application.  But again I was left in the same frame of mind as my students: wondering what was the value of all this theory in tackling problems in society. How to apply theory to the reality of exclusion, poverty, discrimination and marginalisation.

Over the years I dumped, sorry deconstructed, my beliefs and was left with the three synoptic gospels whose authors set out their interpretations of source material to build a portrait of Jesus.  Overall the picture painted of Jesus is that he was not what we would call today a keyboard warrior.  He was willing to confront religious and political leaders, to help individuals at point of need,  and set out guidelines for those choosing to follow him.  The authors of the synoptic gospels describe a man of action, not a theologian in an ivory tower.

Part 353. Knowledge or mysticism or both or neither?

Erich Fromm in his book Escape from Freedom argues that it is impossible by intellect to know and understand God. We experience mystical union with God and knowledge of God is superfluous. 

 It is my opinion that God is beyond description, metaphor or symbols,  beyond human intellectual capacity, but we have to ask: is there anything to know or to experience?

Does deconstruction lead to a completely negative outlook or is it the precursor to some form of fsith/religious reconstruction?  My decision to follow the way of Jesus, to love neighbour and campaign for social justice, is driven by what? I do not believe it is a mystical union, nor the work of a metaphysical entity. It is a subjective decision based on inclination and experience as are many other things in life.

Part 352. I have been banned by SENTRY: yippee

I have been banished from the Facebook page SENTRY: Salvationists Fighting For Sanctity. I am well pleased.  The page is homophobic, pro conversion therapy, anti single sex marriage and theologically and doctrinally evangelical fundamentalist.  It is a thoroughly nasty page.

The Salvation Army has not condemned the page that, given its reluctance to tackle systemic homophobia, should not come as a surprise.  The Salvation Army cannot ban the page but it could denounce it. I have my doubts it will given its theology and doctrine.

Part 351. Just musing.

Think of deconstructing your faith as being akin to taking an engine out of a car, dismantling and examining each of the parts carefully.  You have now a car without an engine and engine parts scattered over the ground.

Taking your faith and examining its constituent elements is not dissimilar. But then what? What comes next?  What fills the engine compartment? A completely new engine, an engine using parts of the old engine, or simply scrap both car and engine?

When we deconstruct what comes next: complete rejection of all that has gone before, or repurposing some of the elements, or striking out in a completely different direction? Do we move from deconstruction to reconstruction?

Part 350. What will 2025 bring?

 2024 has been a turbulent year in the Church of England.   The Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process continues to meander through  General Synod.  The conservative evangelicals are pushing hard for an additional province loyal to their interpretation of scripture and doctrine.  In the event (likely) of failure will disaffected Anglicans flounce off in schism?  The resignation (so far) of the Archbishop of Canterbury (others to follow?) over the appalling failures of safeguarding may well  slow the LLF process. The next meeting of General Synod could be explosive.

The Salvation Army in the UK & Ireland territory has witnessed a growing demand for full inclusion regardless of sexuality. 2025 is the year when decisions will have to be made, do nothing, embrace full inclusion or produce a fudge. There have been questionnaires, conferences, discussions, meetings and the point has been reached where kicking the can down the road no longer is appropriate. At least one hopes this is the case.

I think it is fair to state that organisations seeking to alleviate poverty at point of need and/or promoting systemic change to challenge its causes are not enamoured by the Labour government elected in 2024.   In some respects the government has made the position worse.  I intend in the coming year to continue posting on poverty issues.  Followers of  Jesus demand social justice for the have-nots of society.

On a positive note, the government has indicated its intention to introduce legislation banning conversion therapy.  

Part 349. God in us

Three tĥought provoking articles i commend for your consideration.

Can we truly know the divine without first knowing ourselves? Not merely as we wish to be, or as the world has shaped us, but as we truly are—beneath the masks, beyond the stories we tell ourselves? Or could it be that the divine cannot be sought or grasped because it is already here, waiting in the quiet truth of our own being, covered beneath the lies we refuse to confront?

For years, I searched for the divine outside myself, chasing it in philosophies, doctrines, and fleeting moments of wonder. Each step outward seemed to lead me further from what I sought. It was as though every attempt to know God reflected my own blindness back to me. I was looking for truth, but I hadn’t yet dared to face the lies that lived within me—the lies I told to avoid pain, to protect my fragile ego, to make the world more bearable.

It was only when the weight of those lies became unbearable that I turned inward, not out of wisdom but out of sheer desperation. What I found wasn’t the divine—not at first. I found chaos. Shadows of regret. A self I didn’t want to claim. But in time, as I sifted through the wreckage of my identity, I began to uncover something else. Beneath the noise, there was stillness. Beneath the stillness, there was truth. And within that truth, there was something infinite—a spark, untainted by my failures, unbroken by my wounds.

In that moment, it became clear: the divine isn’t something I reach for; it’s something I am. Not in the sense of ego, but in essence. To seek the divine is not to find something foreign or distant but to remember who I am beneath the illusions. I am not merely a seeker of truth—I am the truth. But to live in that truth, to embody it, is perhaps the greatest and hardest work I/we will ever do.

To be true to myself means to confront the lies I live by. It means facing the pain I’ve buried, dismantling the false self I’ve created, and releasing the need to be anything other than what I am. It is an act of surrender, not to weakness but to reality. And when I do this—when I resolve the lies within me—what remains is unadulterated, undeniable truth.

This truth is not a thing I possess; it is what I become. It is the mirror through which I recognize the divine, not as something separate from me, but as the essence of all things. To know the divine is to know myself—not the self shaped by the world, but the self that simply is. The self that has no need to prove, to grasp, or to fear.

If this is true, then the greatest act of devotion is not belief but authenticity. To be true to ourselves is to honor the spark of the divine within us. It is to say, “Here I am, as I am—nothing more, nothing less.” This, I believe, is the essence of both self-realization and divine communion: to strip away all that is false, so that truth alone may remain.

So, I leave you with this: Can we know the divine without first being true to ourselves? And if we are the truth itself, what lies must we confront, and what illusions must we dissolve, to live in harmony with that truth?

CHRIS JOHNS

It was never about some grand external revelation; it was about an inner revolution- an awakening long buried within the depths of my soul.

It was never about achieving heaven or being doomed to hell; it was about realizing that I am both architect and prisoner of my own creation.

It was never about seeking peace in a fractured world; it was about forging it from the chaos within, where the seeds of all creation are sown.

It was never about you; it was always about me—stripping away illusions, revealing the truth of my being, naked in the light of my own awareness.

It was never a flaw that needed fixing; it was a misunderstood perfection, woven into the very fabric of my being, awaiting the clarity to be seen.

And in the silence of this confrontation, I understood: the universe I sought was never outside me—it was a reflection of the unseen realms within.

For me, the true journey is not forward, but inward—into the heart of all things, where the fragments of existence converge, and all that is, is made whole.

CHRIS JOHNS

“So long as God seems to be outside and far away, there is ignorance. But when God is realised within, that is true knowledge. You should love everyone because God dwells in all beings. All will surely realize God. All will be liberated. It may be that some get their meal in the morning, some at noon, and some in the evening; but none will go without food. All, without any exception, will certainly know their real Self.”

 ~ Ramakrishna

“Even to say that God is close is not exactly right – because closeness, after all, shows a certain distance; closeness is distance. God is not close – God is you. You are God. So don't look for God in the churches, in the temples, in mosques. Look for him within. We have just to be a little calmer to feel him. The turmoil in the mind does not allow us to feel. And God is not a person – you cannot worship him; there is nobody to be worshipped. The worshipper is the worshipped. That's what Jesus means when he says again and again, ‘The kingdom of God is within you’. And the kingdom is such that it cannot be taken away from you. The whole existence is God. I want you to destroy duality completely. God is in the trees, in the rivers, in the moon, in the sun, and he is in you. Except God, there is nothing else.”

 ~ Osho

"God is not playing with you. God is playing as you. I know you and love you far too much to treat you as a mere person. I refuse to know you as less than God." 

 ~ Mooji

“Invite your attention towards yourself seriously and you will come to know that there is no God except yourself. It is so simple... All you have to ‘do’ is realize that the body is not your identity. You are Ultimate Reality.”

 ~ Ramakant Maharaj

“Ultimately you are the proof that God exists, not the other way round. For, before any question about God can be put, you must be there to put it.

"I am" itself is God.

You yourself are God, the Supreme Reality.”

 ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

JAMES THOMAS

Part 348. It's all in the mind, isn't it?

 My journey of deconstruction has led me to the conclusion that there is no objective truth.   Concepts such as morality, natural law, divine law, and human rights are not of  metaphysical origin: they are creations of the human mind.  We may choose to to live a life of love, of kindness, of humility, of caring.  We my choose to support and campaign for concepts of human rights and social justice.  However, we should not delude ourselves into believing that such concepts are the creation of an objective agency external to humanity.  The temptation is to cloak such concepts with a veneer of objectivity or universality: of being god given, or an element of a natural order.

What matters are the choices we make. My choice is to try to follow and promote the concepts of love and justice attributed to Jesus.  It doesn't matter who Jesus was, it is the ideas ascribed to him that matter. 

Part 347. How did I deconstruct?

 It was not my intention at the outset to deconstruct my beliefs.  Nevertheless it happened.  Three main elements in the process were:

* Seeking to understand the bible.  The conclusion I drew was that the bible is not the inerrant word of God, nor were its authors inspired from God.  Attempting to understand the context in which the authors  wrote I sought to interpret the underlying concepts contained in the text.  Finally I came the conclusion that I would apply the ideas of the postmodernist Jacques Derrida, namely that words mean what the reader or listener takes them to mean.

* Defining god.  I came to the view that it is an impossible, indeed pointless, task to define god.  Whatever god may be in our minds it is beyond our comprehension, beyond metaphor, beyond symbolism and most certainly beyond anthropomorphism.  When we pray, to what are we praying?  To ourselves,  to our personal concept of god telling us what to do?

*  Following the message of Jesus.  We can each discern concepts and their application found in the teaching of Jesus as set out in the synoptic gospels.  It doesn't matter if Jesus was an actual person, or a myth, the texts being written many years after the concepts were formulated.  What does matter is the overriding concept of love for all, for justice, for preferential treatment for the poor, marginalised and discriminated against.  It is a powerful message that does not need support by any claim of supernatural origin.

Each person comes to their conclusions on the meaning of scripture, god and Jesus.  There is no right or wrong interpretation and we should not presume to claim to have the correct understanding, nor should we seek to influence others with disparaging comments, nor by flaunting an air of superiority, nor by being arrogant.  

Part 346. Tackling poverty.

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.

Gustavo Gutiérrez 

The causes of poverty are many and complex.  The effects of poverty  on individuals, communities, social cohesion and government policies also are many and complex.  For many trapped in poverty life is difficult beyond the imagination of the better off.  Sadly many poor people view their position with resignation and apathy.  Some live in fear of bailiffs, loan sharks and social services.  Many are depressed.  

The overriding  problem is that no long-term solutions are on offer.  Instead short-term palliatives and relief is provided.  Essential as this is, it deflects from campaigning for radical change to the priorities of government in the economic and social spheres.  Investment is required to improve education and training, to enhance medical services to tackle the causes of illness, to plan for better housing and environment,  to tackle anti-social behaviour, to improve public transport, to provide jobs and increase wage and benefit levels. 

Apart from material manifestations of poverty there also are other underlying issues.  Racial, ethnic and sexual discrimination has to be combatted if a society is to reduce marginalisation and improve social cohesion.

Followers of the way of  Jesus seek his kingdom on earth, one where we love all our neighbours and achieve social justice.  It is a call to action.  Jürgen Moltmann puts it thus:

"I accept Jesus Christ as my saviour" diminishes the Gospel into an introverted  and  self-centred individualism.

  

Part 345. Inherited poverty and homelessness. The Big Issue.

In the last forty years  I have been an owner-occupier, a lodger, homeless, a sofa surfer and a private tenant.  During this period I have been also a councillor serving on the housing committee of a local authority, an housing association director and a director of a faith based voluntary organisation providing accommodation for up to two years for single homeless individuals whilst providing assistance for them to become self supporting.  

I agree fully with the statements in the article below.  The author is correct in making the link between inherited poverty and homelessness.  There are of course many other factors that lead to homelessness and these need to be addressed.  I support the Big Issue and the direction of travel it is embarking on.

John Bird

11 Dec 2024

Christmas threw up something interesting that we had realised only after we launched the Big Issue. It was the idea that homeless people didn’t just need a home. That, as we called it, “Homelessness was the tip of the social iceberg.” It was the presenting problem. It’s what you saw, but it hid a myriad of problems that often started when people who later fell homeless were born. That they inherited poverty and were coming from behind before they even began the human race.

It was interesting finding ourselves in competition against other homeless bodies that kept going on about more hostels, more beds and more rooms for the people caught in homelessness. And us saying that if you don’t sort out the ridiculous situation of housing people but not addressing the issues of how they became homeless they would end up back out on the streets.

There was a definite revolving door. Most of the people who got put into hostels and used the facilities offered by homeless organisations had been there before, and often on multiple occasions. So people were being kept in an eternal returning.

Unfortunately that is the situation even now, although there is always evidence that people have fallen into homelessness for the first time. But there, on too many occasions, are the seasoned homeless back again, although at times they have been hostelled or housed.

That is why the Big Issue started raising the issue of homeless prevention and homeless cure. We were working in the emergency and we could see how destructive and self-destructive homelessness was for all. We had to try and drag the world towards homeless and poverty prevention. It’s something that we continue to do in our editorial work and with me in parliament.

Now, of course, it is a given that you need to address the reasons why people become homeless. When I say a given I mean that everyone seems to accept it. Each government since has accepted the idea that you cannot just put people in a hostel or a room in a flat and hope for the improvement of their lot. Housing First is one of the major innovations that has grown since our launch in 1991.

What are the solutions to homelessness?

Housing First: What can Finland teach us about tackling homelessness?

The idea is so simple and so necessary: you wrap people around with support – social, mental, physical – when you house people. And thankfully the Scottish government has got behind it. Various other authorities are musing on it, and Manchester under Andy Burnham is taking seriously the whole idea of getting the demons out of people’s lives that caused them to fall into the needs of homelessness.

Yet frighteningly many of the frightening realities come back: it is largely a class issue. That people born into poverty that puts people on the back foot at birth need extra help to break that inheritance. Otherwise it is likely to lead to a lifetime of dislocation.

That’s why we need Big Issue even more because we are not seeing a wholesale drive to prevent the occurrence and reoccurrence of poverty inheritance. 

Up until the Big Issue’s first Christmas there was little signs of the public getting behind homeless people. Begging threw up too many problems for people. They were not relating to those in the street. Those begging and asking for alms. And then the Big Issue came along and suddenly people could talk and relate to rough sleepers, hostel dwellers and people in the margins. It was extraordinary how quickly the public bought into the idea that the Big Issue was giving people a legitimate means of making money and therefore they were working and earning their own money.

I don’t think any of us who brought the Big Issue into being ever thought we were challenging the thinking around homelessness – you need more than a home – and allowing the public to support people in the street.

Of course, times have moved on and we have had to innovate. We have had to include people caught in poverty and do more around helping those who are vulnerably accommodated. And if we don’t help them they fall into homelessness. There are deep, deep issues now, post-Brexit, post- the cost of living crisis caused by the Liz Truss regime; by the incredibly mad increase in housing costs and the continuation of the low-wage low-investment economy that we live in.

That the 2008 financial crisis was paid for by squeezing local authorities of their social support money and caused an increase of burdens in the NHS, our schools and other parts of the welfare system. Not to forget the damage done to us by the Covid crisis.

Big Issue itself will have to make major changes in how we work because of the new problems thrown up by new levels of destitution – 33 years is a long time to be on the planet, but still there are big issues needing to be sorted. The biggest problem is the lack of central coordination of government, public and charity coming together to kick a hole in preventing homelessness and the poverty it comes from. It’s still all scattergun and will remain so until government abandons its inherited responses to poverty that have yet to work.

John Bird is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Big Issue. 

Part 344. The way it is.

There was a time when I was recently divorced, penniless, homeless, unemployed and living many miles from my home town. I was sofa-surfing in properties situated in an area of multiple deprivation.  Eventually I secured employment, accommodation and rebuilt my life.  It was a torrid time but I had some advantages: a degree, a driving licence and determination to climb out of the morass I had walked into.

For me poverty and destitution are not concepts. They are a reality I have experienced.  The desperation, despair, fear and depression that comes with poverty is very real. Many in such a situation perceive no way out or end to their misery or misfortune.  It is a life sentence with little prospect of parole.  It is a life in chains created by a society that cares little for them.  Mitigation may be available in the form of foodbanks,  warm areas, soup kitchens and free clothing. But such provision does not resolve the causes of the factors leading to poverty and destitution.  The so-called safety net is not fit for purpose.

For followers of Jesus the imperative must be for systemic change to achieve social justice and indeed bring his kingdom on earth.

Part 343. Action is the antidote to despair.

Caring for the poor by creating a just economy is not optional for Christians.

Anon

How do we create a just economy and do away with poverty and destitution?  How do we overcome the divisive effect of poor and wealthy regions in the United Kingdom?

The answer to both questions is: political action resulting in the passing of legislation. How do we secure the requisite political action?  Learned reports ad nauseum, petitions, campaigns seemingly have little impact on the electorate or the manifestos of the political parties. Very little has changed in the thirty years I have been active in the social justice sphere.

Below is a passage from the BIG ISSUE published on 9th December. Lottie Elton 9 Dec 2024

Blackpool has the lowest male life expectancy in the UK. 

People in the most deprived parts of the country are now expected to die up to a decade sooner than people in wealthier areas.

Shocking new figures have exposed stark life expectancy divides across the UK. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Blackpool now has the lowest male life expectancy in the country – the first time since records began in 2001 that Glasgow has not come bottom of the rankings.

A baby boy born in Blackpool between 2021 and 2023 is likely to live for 73.1 years. In affluent Hart, Hampshire, the life expectancy for baby boys is 83.4.

Glaswegian girls born during this period have the lowest life expectancy in the country, at 78.26 years. Meanwhile, girls born in Kensington and Chelsea are expected to live to 86.46.

The rankings are evidence of a “clear geographical divide,” the ONS has warned. The 10 areas with the highest life expectancies for both women and men were in southern England. The vast majority of areas with the lowest life expectancy were in Scotland and northern England. And the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has warned that it shows the “devastating impacts of poverty on life expectancy”.

Joseph Elliott, Lead Analyst at JRF, described the figures as “shocking but not unexpected".

“Not being able to afford essential items like enough food or heating robs people of options and dignity but also impacts their health. This in turn puts pressure on public services in more deprived areas, which are staggering under the weight of hardship,” he added.

“If we want people’s health to improve, we need to hear how the government intends to immediately bring down hardship as a first step. But we also need to see the longer-term change that’s needed if everyone in our country is going to have the same chances of good health, regardless of where they live.”

A JRF spokesperson on social media added that “being born into poverty could take years off your life. This is not OK.”

In the vast majority of areas, life expectancy has fallen since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 70% of areas seeing an overall decline. “We are yet to see a recovery from the decrease in life expectancy we saw during the pandemic,” the ONS explained.

Yet in deprived areas, the downward trend has been ongoing for years. In Blackpool, for instance, life expectancy has dropped 18 months since 2014, when it was 74.7 for men. 

During this time, austerity has slashed local council funding for preventative health services. According to a report tabled to Blackpool council this year, the local authority has roughly £1,400 less per person to spend on its population than it did over a decade ago. Its public health grant has been cut by £10 per person since 2013.

Last week, academics from the University of Glasgow published a book linking regional disparities in life expectancy to government policy.

In Glasgow – until this year repeatedly the city with the lowest male life expectancy in the UK – spending pressures have wiped nearly half a billion pounds over the council’s budget over the last 10 years. 

In their book Social Murder? Austerity and life expectancy in the UK, Dr David Walsh and professor Gerry McCartney explore how such cuts impact health – and argue that the decline in life expectancy evidences a “dereliction of duty from those in power”.

“Life expectancy is about more than just health – it’s about the kind of society we live in,” Dr Walsh said. 

“And in the early 2010s, after decades of continual improvement, life expectancy in the UK stopped increasing, and for a great many it actually declined. This is something that simply should not be happening in a wealthy society.”

The previous Conservative government’s austerity spending cuts shaved nearly half a year off the average person’s life between 2010 and 2019, research out earlier this year revealed.

The Big Issue has previously reported on disparities in ‘healthy life expectancy’ – the number of years a person can expect to spend in “good health”. Across the UK, the healthy life expectancy gap between the healthiest and unhealthiest local authority is 23.5 years for women and 21.2 years for men.

it brings shame on our society that we are prepared to accept this state of affairs. How do we energise people to demand change?  Have the interests of the better off been protected and advanced at the expense of the poor? Yes has to be the answer.  How should secular and faith organisations respond?

Below are my previous posts on poverty.  

Part 173. Shocking. 23rd October 2023

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has funded the production of a report entitled: Destitution in the UK 2023. It is sombre reading, it is shocking. The report, in full, is available online and I commend it. Please read it.

The report states 1.8 million households equating to 3.8 million individuals live in destitution. Destitution is defined clearly in the report. Indeed there is an underclass in the UK as defined by JK Galbraith in a USA context. Galbraith said we have the means to overcome destitution, politically we prefer not so to do.

The situation is a damning indictment of the political process and the Civil Service. It is also an indictment of religious bodies. The latter are good at providing bandages but are reticent in attacking those causing the wounds. Religious bodies should be leading campaigns demanding change. No longer is the cry sustainable that religion should keep out of politics.

Christian churches need to engage with the political process, to shout out for social justice, to show leadership in the pursuit of His Kingdom on earth.

Part 187. Another damning indictment. 11th December 2023

In Part 173 reference is made to the report of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation entitled Destitution in the UK 2023. The report paints a shocking picture of the failure of the political process to alleviate and tackle the causes of extreme poverty.

Last week the Social Justice Commission of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) published its report Two Nations: the State of Poverty in the UK. It is further evidence of the failure of politicians to tackle poverty issues in any sustained meaningful way. The report tells of a widening gulf between main stream society and a depressed and poverty-stricken underclass. Shades of JK Galbraith. The gap is wider than it has been since Victorian times and risks becoming a chasm. The Chief Executive of CSJ states a strategy is needed to go after the root causes of poverty: education, work, debt, addiction and family. The report adds crime, poor housing and health to the list.

The Commission's membership includes Lord King. Former Governor of the Bank of England.

Tim Farron. Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Andy Burnham. Former Labour minister and currently Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Miriam Cates. Conservative MP for Penistone & Stocksbridge.

(Cates is an evangelical Christian. She has been touting Tory MPs to oppose any proposals to ban conversion therapy and is no friend of the trans community. A former chief at CSJ she is married to a minister of a church supporting conversion therapy.)

Sadly, the latest report is likely to gather dust as have many other reports on the causes of poverty. There will be wringing of hands and expressions of concern but doubtless failure to tackle the systemic issues. As Galbraith noted society has the means to deal with the issues, it is unwilling to pay the cost. Instead there will be minor adjustments to alleviate the symptoms but nothing meaningful to tackle the causes.

From a Christian perspective we are told by Jesus to love our neighbour. Bishop Desmond Tutu said we should stop pulling people out of the river: instead we should go up river, find out why they are falling in and put a stop to it. The churches are very good at pulling people out of the river but woefully inadequate at demanding systemic change to stop them falling in. Christians individually and collectively should campaign vigorously in the political arena for systemic change to overcome poverty. Somehow I do not believe the denominations will engage politicians with the determination, passion, perseverance and zeal that is required to force change. But change is needed, urgently.

Part 222. Poverty: a stain on the nation. 26th January 2024

Yesterday, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a further report on poverty in the United Kingdom: UK Poverty 2024. The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK. It is another truly shocking report and further clear evidence of the need for the campaign by the churches to demand government takes urgent action.

It is shameful that poverty levels are so high. The report is easy to find on a search engine and I have downloaded the Foundation's news article, which contains a download link to the report, to my Facebook page: John Hopkinson Theology Page. It is a long detailed report and well worth close study.

*Please take a look at the Let's End Poverty website: letsendpoverty.co.uk. it is brimful with campaigning ideas and action. Better still, join the campaign.

Part 291. Another damning report. 17th June 2024

Hardship, poverty and destitution should have no place in an affluent society, yet it looms large in Britain. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published today another damning report: The impact of hardship on primary schools and primary and community healthcare.

It is an indictment of the political process that it enables this situation to exist and continue and also of a wider malaise in society. Faith and secular organisations have united to campaign against poverty, sadly with little impact on politicians, media and society. Read the election proposals and propaganda coming through your letterbox. How much is devoted to the subjects of poverty and destitution? Very little I surmise. The reality is as identified by JK Galbraith many years ago: we have the means but lack the will to effect change. 

Part 313. Here we go again. Another report on poverty. 23rd August 2024

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has published a report: Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2024. It is a long, detailed document containing many statistics. It is sober reading.

The report is the latest in a long line of reports over the last fifty years that between them have attempted to identify the scope and causes of poverty, destitution, deprivation and inequality. The conclusion to be drawn is that precious little has been achieved to diminish or eradicate the problems.  

There is a recurrent theme: the need for political will to make systemic changes to achieve both short-term palliative and long-term structural change. There is the need also for joined-up thinking to tackle issues across a wide area of activities: housing, health, education, training, employment opportunities, pay, social and care services, environment and planning. Shades of the Bains Report!.

It is imperative that secular and faith organisations continue to press politicians to implement legislation to achieve systemic change. JK Galbraith in the 1960s wrote, in the USA context, that politicians had the means but lacked the will to effect the necessary changes. So it is in the UK sixty years later. 

Part 342. Love your neighbour: duty of care

I am of an age when the inescapable reality of one's mortality sinks in.  It is inevitable: I  accept it with equanimity.  Friends and colleagues have died and my time will come.  My belief is that death is the end, no after-life in heaven or hell.  So, I do not order my life in order to secure a passport to heaven.  I refuse to accept the blandishments of purveyors of the concepts of metaphysical theology, doctrine or creeds. 

Instead, I seek to follow the teaching ascribed to Jesus encapsulated in the command to love your neighbour as yourself.  Loving your neighbour is inclusive: no exceptions.  It does not recognise boundaries.  All fall within its remit.  Furthermore it is not limited to supporting people at the point of need.  It extends to seeking the sweeping away of the causes of oppression, exclusion, marginalisation and poverty.  It is a demand for systemic change to achieve social justice.

Systemic change involves challenging those with the power to effect change: politicians, church leaders, business leaders. Such challenges are a threat to the established order and are likely to be opposed vigorously.  It shifts the balance between the haves and have-nots.  Any shift towards social justice requires extension of the concept of duty of care.

This will be the subject of later posts.  Here is an example to be going on with, hopefully to whet your appetite.  In the UK thousands of families live in destitution.  Previous posts have referred to reports on this situation.  The demand should be that families are lifted out of destitution and the way of achieving this is for the state to owe such families a duty of care to ensure their lot is improved.  It would require legislation to impose a duty on government to achieve this objective.  The extent of such a duty and its enforcement would be delineated by the legislation. 

 

Part 341. A paradigm shift

Over the years I have moved from a conservative evangelical outlook to one grounded in liberal, progressive, radical and deconstructivist ideas.  I have shifted from labelling myself as a Christian to describing my views as following the teaching ascribed to Jesus, with an emphasis on promoting systemic change to achieve social justice.

Liberation theology developed by Gustavo Gutierrez  and Leonardo Boff has been a significant influence, as has the Christian socialism of Martin Luther King Jnr and Desmond Tutu.

Recently I read the following quotation by the late Tony Benn, a Christian Socialist and Labour Party MP.

Socialism is the flame of anger against injustice and the flame of hope that you can build a better world.

I concur.  

.

Part 340. Future posts

 My posts 332 to 339 summarise my current theological thinking.  I have nothing further to add and have no desire to engage in repetition.  This is my final post on theology, for the time being,  Future posts will concern the ongoing battle for equality within The Salvation Army and the disputation within the Church of England over Living in Love and Faith.

I intend to post on the subject of the interrelationship of politics, economics, law and sociology in the context of social justice issues.

Part 339. Faith and certainty

 In Hebrews 11:1 we read:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Revised Standard Edition.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, New International Version

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.  The Message

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. King James

So, what is it that is hoped for and how certain can we be that our hope will be realised?  Or not?  I will write only from my point of view.  My starting point is that I do not believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, metaphysical or anthropomorphic god. Nor do I believe in being consigned to heaven or hell when I die.  Therefore I do not need to conduct my life in such a way as to ensure I realise my hope, indeed the certainty, of reaching god in heaven.

I surmise that Jesus articulated a set of ideals to be acted upon and that evidence of this is to be found in the synoptic gospels. These documents are not to be taken literally but as an expression of a way of thinking and living.  They express the need for love, for helping the poor and marginalised in our society and the imperative of action to achieve change.  My hope is that by our deeds we shall see loving our neighbour in action, both in terms of assisting individuals at point of need and systemic change to achieve social justice.   

Part 338. Omnibus post.

This post gathers in one place three short articles setting out my current thinking on theological/faith matters.

Part One.

2023 was quite a year for me. I dispensed finally with the last vestiges of fundamentalist literalist conservative evangelicalism and embraced, for me, new ideas. What "my theology' is now I don't know or care but most certainly it is orientated in the progressive/liberal, maybe even the deconstructive, direction.

It has been so liberating to escape the clutches of detailed conservative evangelical biblical exposition and replace it with the broad principles of Jesus as reported in the synoptic gospels. The two Great Commandments fulfill all earlier teaching and asks of us to love God and love others. The teaching of Jesus, to follow him, to seek His kingdom on earth through love is a simple yet profound concept.

I have given up regularly attending bible study groups. Instead I look forward to attending groups seeking to discern what it means in practical terms to follow Jesus, to understand how love should show itself to to the marginalised and discriminated against in our society. The shift that has taken place in my thinking is one of moving from private piety to public proclamation of the need for systemic change in our society. I accept that showing love entails meeting present needs and many faith groups provide a wide range of loving support for people in straitened circumstances or on the receiving end of discrimination. But simply propping up the system is not enough. Followers of Jesus should campaign for change, to sweep away the rotten systems and attitudes causing so much hurt and misery. Jesus confronted religious, legal and political systems and so should we. But do we? Do we seek instead comfort in our church congregations and the feel-good factor of direct assistance to individuals. I believe we all do in varying degrees and I do not criticise for one second anyone for so doing. But in our heart at least we should pray for His kingdom to come and empowerment of individuals able to campaign for change.

Churches are very good at studying and preaching on the minutiae of bible passages. What is lacking is studying how the two Great Commandents are to be put into effect. How do we challenge those in power to effect systemic change? How do we empower individuals to rise up and campaign for change? Have the lessons of Liberation Theology been understood and applied? Sadly I have my doubts. Too many good people are enveloped in the comfort of churches rather than going into the world and challenging its assumptions and systems.

Part Two.

No longer do I claim to be a Christian. I describe myself as a follower of the teaching of Jesus. The recorded teaching is in the synoptic gospels, the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke. We have to be mindful that the texts of the three books probably are evidence of an oral tradition that developed following the death of Jesus, and also now lost earlier documents. What we do know is that the three books are not contemporary to the time of Jesus and are not verbatim reports of the words of Jesus. It is important to understand the historical context of the synoptic gospels and the underlying motivation of each author. We bring our own understanding to the words of literature and I acknowledge the contribution of postmodernists such as Jacques Derrida.

My understanding of the teaching of Jesus is not based on the myth of inerrancy nor on a literalist reading of texts. Rather, we should engage in seeking to ascertain the principles to be discerned from the reported actions and words of Jesus.

My starting point for this seeking is the two great commandments that may be summarised succinctly as Love God, love others. Simple yet profound.

God is beyond our comprehension. God should not be anthropomorphised, not given human attributes. God is in all things including us. We should love: our world, all humanity. We should be in wonder of the universe: of all creation. God is the great unknown, filling the void our minds cannot comprehend. But God is not some great judge in the sky. Such a god is a human creation designed to coerce individuals to behave in ways specified by those with power to enforce their will. 

Let us consider God's kingdom of heaven as a human construct, as an ideal. Jesus calls on us to follow him and work to bring this ideal on earth: make an ideal a reality. This ideal is grounded in love for all humanity, for inclusiveness, for justice. Read the bible through the lens of love. His message incurred the wrath of the economic, political and religious establishments. He dared to upset the settled order, to call out oppressors, sentries and gatekeepers. He was a radical yet peaceful revolutionary. The fair society was to be achieved through love: not through violence.

The message is clear. Following Jesus requires us to challenge the causes of poverty, discrimination and marginalisation. It is essential to confront those wielding power and demand systemic change. Many who profess to be Christians have retreated into a private piety bubble chasing the chimera of Pauline theology rather than face up to the challenge set by Jesus. Many seek to have a foot in each camp. Who is to say one path is preferable to others? Certainly not me. Belief is a personal matter, not to be imposed by conditions set by others.

Part Three.

I seek to understand and promote what it means in a Christian context to campaign for systemic change in society to tackle the issues of poverty, discrimination and marginalisation. I have been influenced strongly by the writing

 of Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jnr, Desmond Tutu, Leonardo Boff and Gustavo Gutierrez et al. Reading their work is both humbling and exhilarating as they developed a theological basis for campaigning to change established political, economic and social orders. 

We really must go beyond acting as bringers of relief through such activities as foodbanks, debt advice, homelessness hostels etc, etc. I do not belittle any activity which brings relief at the point of need. It is essential activity done in love for humanity. However as Desmond Tutu said: we must stop pulling people out of the river and find out why they are falling in and put a stop to it. In other words, prevention is better than cure. But there is more to do than repair faults in existing structures. We need to promote wholesale root-and-branch change, a paradigm shift in attitudes and actions in society. As did Jesus.

Jesus was no armchair critic nor, as we describe it now 'a keyboard warrior'. He was out in the community: disputing, engaging, orating and doing. Love in action.

So how do we act? How do we overcome bigotry, hatred, destitution, misogyny, homophobia, discrimination and marginalisation? In my opinion we have to mount challenges to those holding the levers of political and economic power. We have to engage and campaign for systemic change which inevitably involves changing priorities and redistribution of resources.

We should welcome working with secular organisations in campaigning for a common cause.  

It is not easy. We have to be prepared for the long-haul, to hitting brick walls, to being abused and derided. Our faith, our belief in loving our neighbour, gives us the strength to continue. Following Jesus is not easy. He demanded we pick up our cross daily and follow him.

Part 337. My chains fell off...

The Charles Wesley hymn: And can it be that I should gain  has the following lines:

my chains fell off, my heart was free

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

When I was a visiting speaker at conservative  evangelical free chapels/churches this hymn, along with:

O for a thousand tongues to sing

and

Love divine, all loves excelling

were sung often. The tunes were liked, the words reflected the theology and doctrine of the fellowships/congregations.

As I moved away from conservative evangelical fundamentalism towards liberal, progressive, radical and deconstructivist theologies the words quoted above came to mind. Indeed I did feel that the stifling, restrictive chains of fundamentalist conservative evangelical doctrine and theology had fallen away: I had been released and was free to explore and articulate theological concepts based on the love of neighbour and social justice. 

Part 336. On God and scripture

In my opinion there is no anthropomorphic nor metaphysical god living in heaven. God is not an external entity 'out there'.  God is beyond description or definition. God is of and in our imagination and in this sense, to us, is real. In prayer we make supplications to the god of our imagination and respond as we deem appropriate.

Scripture is an human construct, no inerrancy, no literal word of God, no guiding Spirit. Scripture assists in our understanding the ideas of some of our forebears, and this may help in determining our ideas and actions.

Followers of the way of Jesus, progressive Christians, appropriate the statement 'love your neighbour' as the primary concept of faith. Prayers and actions perceive Jesus as God at work in all of us, in all creation.  it is this that drives progressive Christians  to campaign for social justice, for systemic change, for equality, for equity,  for an end to poverty, marginalisation, discrimination and exclusion.  In other words, nothing less than the heaven on earth of our imagination.

Part 335. I concur (2)

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

Soren Kierkegaard

Part 334. I concur (1)

I concur with the concepts set out in the following quotations.

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

Gustavo Gutiérrez 

His teachings and behaviour reflect an alternative social vision.  Jesus was not not talking about how to be good and how to behave within the framework of a domination system. He was a critic of the domination system itself.

Marcus Borg 

Christian theology needs to speak of social revolution, not reform; of liberation, not development; of socialism, not modernising the prevailing system.

Gustavo Gutiérrez.

Part 333. On following Jesus.

In my opinion we should promote the principle of loving our neighbour and campaign for inclusion and eradication of the causes of poverty. These objectives will only be achieved by collective action, by campaigning for systemic change, by challenging those with power to effect change so to do.  Expressions of hope, or assisting individuals at point of need, although necessary and worthy, will not trigger change.  To paraphrase Desmond Tutu: we should stop having to pull people out of the water, we should go upstream and prevent them from falling in.

There is no objective set of human rights. Declarations of human rights are of human origin, not of a divine nor of a natural law origin. Human rights are subjective concepts with no supernatural nor metaphysical basis.

Following the way of Jesus is not to place trust in a metaphysical entity.  Rather it is a determination to help those in need and to promote social justice by following concepts attributed to Jesus by the authors of the synoptic gospels.  They may be read as a manifesto. 

Part 332. Following Jesus: nothing more, nothing less.

Consider this remarkable fact: in the Sermon on the Mount there is not a single word about what to believe, only words about what to do 

and how to be.  By the time the Nicene Creed is written, only three centuries later, there is not a single word in it about what to do and how to be - only words about what to believe.

Robin Meyers

Sad, isn't it, developing myth and metaphysical concepts of God:  rather than following the way of Jesus. My theological journey has taken me from the former to the latter.

Marcus Borg expresses it thus:  

It is a way of being Christian in which beliefs are secondary, not primary.  Christianity is a "way" to be followed more than it is a set of beliefs to be believed. Practice is more important than "correct beliefs".  Beliefs are not irrelevant; they do matter.  But they are not the object of faith. God is the "object" of commitment - and for Christians, God is known as Jesus.

It is important to understand in reading the synoptic gospels that we are considering the concepts being advanced and should recognise the documents as being not infallible and/inerrant, but as a collection of myths, memories and other texts selectively edited by the authors.

I have argued before in this blog that the Bible is a human construct. Marcus Borg states it well:

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 understanding and affirmations, not statements 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.

Follow the way ofJesus, love your neighbour, campaign for social justice.

Part 331. The Canterbury Stakes

The process for selecting the next Archbishop of Canterbury is underway as potential candidates parade ready for the off. It is fruitless to speculate who the runners will be and certainly foolhardy to name an anticipated 'winner'.

The declared runners are individuals selected for a shortlist. The process of selection is opaque. Those on the shortlist are interviewed by a committee and a choice is made. The person selected must receive at least a two-thirds majority. Herein lies a potential problem.  Currently the committee charged with selecting the next Bishop of Ely has failed to reach a decision as it is hopelessly divided. Could this be repeated in the selection of the next Archbishop?

The Church of England currently is riven with disunity over the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process. Conservative Evangelicals are pressing for a new province within the Church and threatening to depart if it is not forthcoming. How will this affect the selection process both in terms of shortlisting and choice of the committee's preferred candidate?

Will all the shortlisted candidates be current diocesan bishops? Will any suffragen, area or flying bishops, or bishops outside the CofE make the list?

Will consideration be given to individuals outside the broader episcopacy such as university theologians, deans, canons, parish priests etc?

Will ethnicity or sex be a significant factor in the selection process?  Should the Church seek to move away from a managerialism emphasis by seeking an individual with extensive pastoral experience particularly in areas of deprivation?

So many imponderables. Speculation will be rife, suggestions for 'suitable' candidates promoted and negative publicity for 'unsuitable' individuals.  Whoever does become the next Archbishop will face seemingly intractable issues to deal with. It could be a poisoned chalice and it may be the daunting nature of the tasks ahead will deter some, if invited, from engaging in the selection circus.

Part 330. What a week that was!

On 5th November Donald Trump was elected to be the next President of the USA.  The Republican Party gained control of the Senate and looks likely to retain control of the House of Representatives.  The Supreme Court has a majority of judges of a conservative disposition.  So much for 'checks and balances'.  Faith groups are worried that the new administration will target deliberately and adversely deprived and marginalised individuals including migrants, LBGTQ, the ill, those seeking abortions and the poor.  Instead of supporting what Galbraith defined as the underclass they will be in the firing line for attack. Say goodbye to achieving social justice through systemic change.

Thursday saw the publication of the Makin Report.  It is an analysis of the shocking lack of action and disregard by the leadership of the Church of England into complaints, accusations and allegations concerning abuse of individuals.  The utter failure of the safeguarding system is exposed as is lack of meaningful response by the higher echelon of the church.  There is a petition circulating calling on the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign.

Finally some good news.  I attended my first meeting of Radical Pilgrims Kent and Sussex. A thoughtful, loving and caring group of individuals.  I 'discovered' this group through the Progressive Christian Network GB.

Part 329. Jurgen Moltmann and Gustavo Gutiérrez

This year has witnessed the death of two of the leading theologians in the field of social justice: Jurgen Moltmann and Gustavo Gutiérrez. 

In Part 286 I published the following:

In the 1990s I read Theology of Hope (1964) by Jurgen Moltmann. It was a major influence on my thinking as at the time I was studying for a diploma in theology.

His obituary published in The Daily Telegraph on10th June 2024 had this to say:

"Jurgen Moltmann was the most significant Protestant theologian of the 20th century.  

"The basis of Moltmann's work was his conviction that true theology must always be related to concrete human situations and that the teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom of God requires of his followers commitment to the overthrowing of everything in the social order that is contrary to its demands. This led him to personal involvement in peace and other demonstrations.....and close association with the Liberation Theology movement in Latin America, where his work was specially valued by Catholic theologians.

"The message was of a God whose coming in the world lay not in some distant future but was a present reality, thus offering both hope and challenge."

The news of Martin Luther King Jnr's assassination propelled Moltmann into an interest in black theology and becoming a strong supporter of the USA civil rights movement. Moltmann's wife, Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendell was a prominent supporter of feminist theology.  

I published an obituary and appreciation of the theology of Gustavo Gutierrez in Part 327.

The theology of Moltmann and of Gutiérrez had a profound effect on my thinking at a time I was studying for a diploma in theology.  It led to my being active in secular and faith organisations promoting social justice  and also those providing support  individuals at point of need. 

Jesus told us to follow him and to love our neighbour. Action, not mere intellectual assent. We are called to action.

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.

Gustavo Gutiérrez