Part 397. Distract and divert

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

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

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

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

A few examples from personal experience.

Connexions. 

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

CLSP. Community Legal Service Partnership

CP. Strategic community plans.

Compact.

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

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

1. Networking and making contact with potential allies

2. Identifying key players in the organisations making decisions. 

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

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

Part 396. Be pragmatic.

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

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

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

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

Part 395. Parish woes and blessings

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

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

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

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting should be interesting.

Part 394. Who needs scripture?

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

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

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

Part 393. How to protest for social justice.

 Social justice will most likely involve systemic change and therefore require action by government both in terms of legal provision and the granting of financial resources.  In other words, redistribution and changed priorities.  Truth must speak to power so it is useless to direct campaigns at those without  power.  Campaigns have to be honed to hit the target, usually ministers and members of the ruling political party.

The problem is that too many faith and secular organisations, passionate and dedicated as they are to advancing social justice, are too polite and ineffective in their campaigning.  You have to get under the skin, be a nuisance, keep pressing, to have any chance of success.  Polite letters, petitions, learned dissertations, social media, detailed reports of themselves do not produce change. There has to be a catalyst to persuade those in power to make changes. 

Work out who are the relevant ministers and members of parliament, demonstrate outside their constituency offices, go to their surgeries. Keep the local press and other social media informed of your campaign and the reactions you receive: keep them onside.  Above all be a confounded nuisance should early contact be unproductive.  Be prepared for the long haul.  Be seen, keep your campaign in the public eye.  

I wish national faith and secular organisations would work together and coordinate local action.  I do not hold much store by big national demonstrations: for the most part they do not result in the change desired by the demonstrators.

My final thought is make sure the campaign is positive: seek social justice for the people you wish to support.  What matters is what you are for, not what you are against.

  

Part 392. Peaceful civil disobedience.

 On 27th March 2025 twenty uniformed police officers, some equipped with tasers, forcibly entered the Quaker Friends Meeting House in Westminster and set about arresting six women holding a meeting in a hired room.  According to the Metropolitan Police the arrests were on the ground of suspicion of conspiring to cause a public nuisance.

The alleged crime relates to the activities of Youth Demand who are planning 'swarm roadblocks' in London as an element of opposition to the government supplying arms to Israel and also the need for urgent action to counter the climate change crisis, a crisis already causing the deaths of marginalised people worldwide.

Make no mistake, this police action is an attempt to stifle, hinder, threaten, call it what you will, the ability of people to publicly protest against government policies by peaceful acts of civil disobedience.  The state is using the police to deter criticism, backed up by legislation placing restrictions on meeting in public places.

The recent decisions of the government to reduce benefits for disabled people, the ending of the automatic winter fuel allowance and  failure to address the causes of poverty and destitution have fuelled discontent, not just with the current government, but with the political process.  Seeking to restrict civil protest plays into the hands of right wing political organisations, as witness the rise of Reform in the UK and the success of far right parties in Europe.

It is time for more civil disobedience, to show contempt for the failure of the political system to tackle social injustice.  It is not enough to pussyfoot around with petitions and hand-wringing letters.  Direct action is needed.

Part 391. Engagement

For those who believe following Jesus demands campaigning for social  justice and systemic change the following quotations are pertinent.

"There is no true commitment to solidarity with the poor if one sees them merely as people passively waiting for help...The goal is not to become the voice of the voiceless, but rather in some way to help ensure that those without a voice find one."

Gustavo Gutierrez

 

Following Jesus means being political and advocating for the 'least of these.'"

Mark Sandlin

Clearly campaigning for change in priorities, in the allocation and redistribution of resources, in laws relating to factors causing marginalisation and discrimination etc, cannot be done without being political. We seek to engage to change entrenched attitudes and privilege.  We are competing.  We are advocating on behalf of the poor, downtrodden, marginalised and discriminated against.  Without our advocacy, and that of others seeking social justice and systemic change, nothing would happen.  

That said, Gutierrez makes the valid observation that we should not simply see ourselves as advocates for the voiceless: we should work to provide the voiceless with the tools to enable them to engage. The phrase 'community engagement' has been coined to describe this process.  Laudable and desirable but exceedingly difficult to achieve.

Part 390, Poverty is a political choice.

 It is 40 years since the Church of England published Faith in the City and a little later Faith in the Countryside.  Both documents laid out the scale of poverty, destitution, deprivation, marginalisation and discrimination in England.  Since then little has been achieved to overcome the misery identified in the reports, although there have been countless reports, all gathering dust, of the scale of the issues and possible solutions.

Make no mistake: the failure lies with the political process, the failure of governments to instigate and then maintain the changes needed.  Governments claim it is all a question of priorities, of use of scarce financial resources, of no discernible public agitation for change. 

For followers of Jesus it is a moral issue, a matter of loving your neighbour, of helping at point of need, but above all demanding social justice and with it concomitant systemic change.  Some choose to do so though faith based organisations, others through secular bodies. others through both.  

The problem is the sterling work of the voluntary sector in providing assistance to individuals at point of need, necessary though it is, masks from society and politicians the sheer scale of the misery suffered daily: inflicted by an uncaring  political process.  The myriad reports inform us of what it wrong, politicians choose to look the other way.

Part 389. A life of misery.

"The true horror of existence is not the fear of death, but the fear of life. It is the fear of waking up each day to face the same struggles, the same disappointments, the same pain. It is the fear that nothing will ever change, that you are trapped in a cycle of suffering that you cannot escape. And in that fear, there is a desperation, a longing for something, anything, to break the monotony, to bring meaning to the endless repetition of days."

— Albert Camus, The Fall

Stark but real, as I testify from personal experience and from witnessing the lives of others imprisoned in a life of poverty, discrimination or marginalisation.  Society and politicians fail individuals caught up in this life of despair.  Christians peddling the need for repentance and salvation as the ticket to the kingdom of heaven, whilst ignoring the call of Jesus to work for the kingdom on earth, offer no solace, comfort or escape route from the misery of everyday life, from hand to mouth existence, from loan sharks, from any number of debilitating factors.

It is no wonder that church attendance by the poorer sections of society has fallen off faster than amongst the better off.  Fundamentalist evangelical doctrine and theology has much to answer for.  It is an irrelevance in the life of people struggling to survive in the cycle of suffering.  Individuals caught up in this situation need hope that things will change now, not at some indeterminate time in a heavenly kingdom.  Liberation theology is one step in the right direction, so is deconstruction from damaging theology and doctrine. The vital element is that of engagement in the society around us  helping at point of need, but above all striving to engage successfully with those in  positions of power to make systemic change.

Part 388. Expediency rules, OK?

 Concerning the treatment of poor people at election time in Australia (but it could be in the UK) Barry Gittins writes:

"They know that policies aren’t written with them in mind. That campaign events aren’t held in shelters. That meet-and-greets don’t take place in food queues. They know they are not the target audience for the policy launches and budget splashes, the corporate fundraisers. They know they don’t count..."

Sadly only too true.  It is an example of cynical political calculation. Focus groups, reference groups, policy review groups, surveys etc are used to discern what may attract individuals to vote for your party and also to prepare and project policies that may find favour with particular communities of geography or interest.

Or as Groucho Marx put it:

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them I have others".

Politicians make promises in their manifestos that we doubt they will fulfil.  Groucho had this to say about the reality of the political process:

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere  diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies".

Those of us engaged in campaigning for systemic change, whether as people of faith or not, have lost confidence in the promises and actions of politicians in many areas of poverty, discrimination and marginalisation.  But, followers of Jesus must fight on. It may be that we should appeal to the public for support instead of to politicians directly.  Until we do, and do so successfully, self-interest will prevail and policies will pander to it.  Galbraith was right: we have the means but lack the will as a nation to end the misery inflicted on so many amongst us.

Part 387. No sign of systemic change to tackle poverty, marginalisation and discrimination

 As I dismantled slowly my belief infrastructure I moved increasingly to follow, as best I could, the general principles for living ascribed to Jesus.  This led to a long involvement in the activities of faith and secular voluntary organisations.

My deconstruction was influenced by the writings of Jacques Derrida, Don Cupitt, John Robinson, Richard Holloway, Marcus Borg, Walter Brueggemann, John Caputo and Robin Meyers.  Conviction of the necessity for social justice was fed by the writings of Gustav Gutierrez, Jurgen Moltmann, Leonardo Boff, Martin Luther King Jnr., Aaron Stauffer et al.

In many congregations social responsibility/justice is perceived, if at all, as a distraction from saving individuals and guaranteeing a passport to heaven.  Social justice does not infuse all things some churches do, it is distinct, not inherent. The concept of the kingdom on earth now is an alien concept.

Sticking plaster hides the deep wounds in society.  Huge amounts of assistance, mostly under the radar,  to people at point of need hides from wider society the reality of systemic injustice. There is little evidence of populist pressure or campaigning for systemic change. It does not figure in the priorities of society: indeed it is opposed by many.

As followers of Jesus we must campaign for systemic change and seek allies outside church bubbles.  Sadly, I see no evidence of militant action from churches to demand change.  In the United Kingdom there is no appetite in the political parties for the degree of systemic change required.   It is not a vote winner.  

  

Part 386. I believe......

As an habitual attender at Church of England services of Evening Prayer according to the Book of Common Prayer I am able to recite most of the service sight unseen.  The General Confession, Magnificat, Nicene Creed and responses are said without hesitation.  The problem I have is that after 'I believe' there is little else in the Creed I subscribe to in the sense of regarding it as a literal statement of fact.  I consider the various creeds useful as metaphor and symbolism.    Above all the creeds fail to set out how Christians should behave, instead they concentrate on what to believe. 

My shift in emphasis towards liberal, progressive and radical theology led me to deconstruct my ideas of a distinct metaphysical god 'out there' and the Jesus of the creeds.  My thinking is that we simply cannot define or describe god outside of us: indeed whatever it is is within us and all we see around us.  

I am drawn to the concepts set out in the teaching and actions ascribed to Jesus in the synoptic gospels, culminating in the call to love our neighbour.  This is now the basis of my belief, based on action, not on belief in supernatural events.

The Revd. Dr. Caleb J Lines states it well:

"The goal is not to bring people to Christianity, the goal is to bring people to LOVE. If it's through another religions or no religion at all, fine. What the world needs is love, not more people professing right belief."

Jürgen Moltmann believed that theology must always relate 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.  Karl Popper emphasised that belief in the need for social change should prompt immediate action to overcome current concrete issues rather than waiting and hoping for a utopia at an indeterminate time in the future.  A long line of Christian theologians and clerics have campaigned actively for change to overcome systemic injustice: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jurgen Moltmann, Martin Luther King Jnr., Desmond Tutu, Oscar Romeo, Gustavo Gutierrez, Leonardo Boff et al.

So, what would my creed consist of? An outline, tentative at this stage, a work in progress.  Suggestions welcome.

I believe in loving our neighbour, in helping those in need, in campaigning for systemic change to overcome poverty, deprivation, marginalisation, discrimination or exclusion.

Part 385. Fluidity

Language in fluid in its meaning and thereby its interpretation. The claim a text is subject to only one meaning and one interpretation is a nonsense,  a claim unfortunately embraced by a particular tranche of christianity that holds the opinion that words of the bible are literally true, are inerrant and God given whether directly or by inspiration.

In my law student days one of the first tasks set us was to visit the law library and read selected law reports.  Law reports are the depository of case law built up of judgments made over hundreds of years and referred to by counsel in argument and by judges in  determining decisions.  It became obvious that the clear statements of law to be found in textbooks was not reflected in case law: the mill pond surface water of the textbooks belied currents of varying strengths below expressed in the text of law reports. Look beyond the clear cut certainty and explore the currents was the advice to law students then and is now.  

Likewise, in studying bible texts look below the surface, look at the currents of thought, the fluidity of ideas, the different possible  meanings and interpretation. Do not be beguiled by the concept of rock solid certainty on the surface of the text.

 

Part 384. Labels

 I prefer not to attach labels to my theological opinions as too often individuals ascribe their understanding to  labels that may not reflect my views.  To say one is a Roman Catholic or a Protestant carries with it baggage that can bury a person's views.  Likewise labels such as progressive, liberal, evangelical conjure up ideas that may bear little resemblance to the views of the individual they are attached to. 

That said I have decided to attach a few labels to my opinions!

As I deconstruct the conclusion I draw is that what matters foremost is to follow the teaching of Jesus. Also I cannot support the concept, let alone the reality, of either an objective other metaphysical or an anthropomorphic god. The label attached to this is Christian Humanism. So be it.

I have been a follower of Liberation Theology for a long time and I am a member of the United Kingdom group Christians on the Left (before 2013 known as the Christian Socialist Movement).  I have embraced the ideas of postmodernism, particularly in respect of language.  None of this will come as a surprise to readers of my blog and Facebook posts, nor will my membership of the  Progressive Christian Network.

Part 383. Drawn to Liberation Theology

Since the 1990s I have engaged in the pursuit of social justice, as a councillor, as a member of a churches' social responsibility group and activity in the voluntary sector,  driven by the desire to follow the teaching ascribed to Jesus and  also the concept of liberation theology with particular reference to Leonardo Boff, Gustavo Gutierrez and Jurgen Moltmann. 

A quotation from Gutierrez:

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

This I read as a call for positive action.  Compare and contrast with this statement by James H Cone:

'Liberation theology is not a the theology of revolution, but a theology of the cross that call for ongoing resistance against all forms of oppression'

My opinion is that liberation theology embraces both resisting oppression and demanding systemic change. 

The basis of Moltmann's theology was his conviction that 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.  No  ivory tower, armchair theology.  Moltmann was active in the field participating in demonstrations.  The task of the theologian is not to promote the ideal of a distant utopia, rather to get on with seeking to effect change, to tackle current issues, an argument similar to one made by Karl Popper.

My theological 'position' therefore is to follow Jesus: for individuals to be assisted at point of need, and campaigning for systemic change. From a faith perspective I have deconstructed everything else.

 

Part 382. Was Jesus a real person?

 When I was an evangelical christian I believed the bible was the word of God, that it was factually true and it was our duty to follow its teaching and the creed of my church. Thus Jesus lived, was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, dead and buried, rose again and now sits at the right hand of God the heavenly Father from where he will come to judge the quick and the dead.  I believed also in the Holy Spirit. 

It is indicative of how far my deconstruction has come that now I believe none of the above as statements of fact to be taken literally.  Instead I understand the creed as symbolism and likewise much of the bible.   

It is my opinion that the bible is a purely human construct and is to be interpreted in that light.  It is entirely  possible that a Jesus type person existed.  However, we have no significant proof of that outside the bible and in particular the synoptic gospels.  

The synoptic gospels were composed years after the supposed death of Jesus. Academic research points to source material that has been lost.  Doubtless stories, tales and myths about Jesus were handed down and may well have been included in the three gospels.  We need also to acknowledge that the authors each had their own agenda and target audience. 

In an important sense the historical basis for the synoptic gospels does not matter.  What does matter is the messages they convey to us now, how we understand those messages  and how we act upon them.  It really doesn't matter that we may consider Jesus not to be divine, nor that he possibly did not exist in the manner described to us in the bible. 

 

Part 381. Doesn't butter parsnips

This week's Salvationist has an article on what is happening concerning the report of the Membership Working Group (MWG). There will be discussions and meetings but absolutely no immediate change in the homophobic stance of The Salvation Army (TSA). No change in biblical interpretation, no change in rules and regulations, no change in theology.  In other words, zilch.

MWG took 18 months holding discussions, issuing questionnaires and holding a conference to prepare its report and recommendations, presented to the United Kingdom and Ireland Territory (UK&IT) Cabinet in September 2024. Cabinet huffed and puffed in November 2024 and, on the issue of inclusion, decided that 50 people would be trained to deliver discussions in all divisions in the content of Let’s Talk About material on human sexuality. What then?

Cabinet decided to send the report to International Headquarters (IHQ) where it will be fed into an international consideration of covenant and membership and thence to the International Leaders Conference in 2026!  Who knows what may be decided there but the author of the Salvationist article reminds us cultural differences  may play a part.  Code for nations embracing homophobia. 

Has the Army moved on from the disastrous pronouncement of General Peddle in Vancouver in 2022?  Certainly UK&IT gives the impression of wishing to move to far greater inclusivity but appears reluctant to take action.  Talk butters no parsnips.  Action is required, not more debate and discussions.  Just get on with it.

Part 380. 'Biblical Authority'.

The writings of Jim Rigby and Jim Palmer interest me. Both write clear expositions of their opinions untrammelled by jargon. The following is by Jim Palmer.

"7 ways that insisting one's beliefs be exclusively determined from the Bible can be problematic:

1. When the Bible is taken as THE "authority", we are likely not to explore and embrace truth and spirituality from other meaningful and significant sources.

2. When we assume that the Bible was meant to present a coherent picture of God and well-reasoned belief-system, we are likely to experience the futility of this expectation.

3. When we assume biblical theology is the best way of knowing God, we are likely to be dismissive of equally important fields of knowledge related to knowing ultimate reality.

4. When one's interpretation of the Bible is taken as superior over others, theology likely digresses into an argument over who is "right" and who is "wrong".

5. When we believe the Bible to be God's inerrant and infallible word and sole spiritual truth to the world, we are likely to be guilty of worshipping a book.

6. When we anchor our personal and cultural identity and existential security solely in the Bible we run the risk of vilifying and objectifying others who don’t.  

7. Assuming that there is a God who requires obedience and devotion to one belief-system as depicted in the Bible, opens the door to dangerous ideas of nationalism and theocracy.

Thank goodness one can find meaning in the Bible and not do any of the above."

Jim Palmer

Part 379. I've signed up.

 It may come as a surprise to some to know that I have signed the form to become listed on the electoral roll of the local parish church.  Every six years all  Church of England parish churches have to produce a new electoral roll.  Signatories  of current rolls cannot simply be transferred to the new roll.  All must sign the form.

Given my dismay at the failure of the CoE to speed up the Living in Love and Faith process and the abysmal decision of General Synod not to agree to totally independent safeguarding provision one might think I had no interest or desire in associating with the church.  However, I do enjoy the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) services of Matins and Evening Prayer, particularly the latter when it takes the form of Choral Evensong.  I appreciate the language of the BCP and the singing of the magnificent choir.  The choir regularly performs at cathedral services, most recently at St. Paul's Cathedral.

On their own language and music would not justify my decision to re-join the CofE.  There are deeper reasons as exemplified in the theological opinions of John Robinson, Richard Holloway, John Shelby Spong et al moving along the road towards a postmodern, radical theology free of the clutter of creeds, doctrine, dogma and regulation.  You have to be inside to promote change, not looking on from without.  The malign influence of fundamentalist evangelical attitudes has to be countered and challenged at every turn.

I have taken the following statement by  Don Cupitt to heart.

                   "I am a priest in the Church of England and I practise in a rather traditional way, but when I say the creed, I regard it not as giving me supernatural information but as showing me a way to walk  in."

 

Part 378. Another ramble.

For some time I lectured in jurisprudence to law students seeking  to engage them in consideration of the interrelationship, both in philosophical theory and actual practice, of law, politics, religion, economics, ethics, structures of society and so forth.  A very open subject given that theories are of human origin and therefore subjective.   It is our choice to decide which philosophies to follow.  My choice is to follow the example of Jesus, however poorly I do so.

It is with the above in mind I recalled two quotations by Richard Rohr that seem pertinent.

"Worship of Jesus is rather harmless and risk-free; actually following Jesus changes everything".

"Christianity is a lifestyle - a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared and loving. However, we made it into an established 'religion' (and all that goes with that) and avoided the lifestyle change itself.  One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe Jesus is ones 'personal Lord and Saviour'.  The world has no time for such silliness anymore.  The suffering on Earth is too great."

Followers of MAGA disagree, naturally.

My thinking now is that my seeking to follow Jesus is but one of  infinite ways of living one life.  Others follow different paths of their choosing.  Who is to say which path is preferable?  It is all subjective opinion, it is fluid: there are no absolute truths.  All that is possible is to seek to influence people by one words and actions and to accept that others seek to influence us.  Again, choices are made and we choose the path to follow.  This to me is the prize of deconstruction: freedom to be ourselves, unfettered by metaphysical based dogma.

Part 377. Obfuscation and delay.

Further implementation of Living in Love and Faith was not on the agenda of this week's General Synod of the Church of England on the dubious grounds that more theological analysis and reflection is needed.  This is bunk: there is a mass of relevant information available for consideration.

What we are witnessing are deliberate attempts to engineer delay being made by The Alliance, the Church of England Evangelical Council and the Holy Trinity Brompton organisation, aided and abetted in part by Forward in Faith.  The purpose of this scheming is to secure time to further develop the groundwork for schism should the campaign for a third province fail. This may be seen against the background of elections for General Synod. The motley collection of puritanical conservative evangelical protestants and Anglo-Catholics will be hoping to secure a blocking majority in the House of Laity.

Part 376. A call for solidarity.

Below is a statement made by Bernie Sanders.  Echoes of liberation theology and the views of John Kenneth Galbraith. I like the reference to the theological and political concept of divine right.

"I do not often find myself in the habit of thanking Elon Musk, but he has done an exceptional job of demonstrating a point that we have made for years — and that is the fact we live in an oligarchic society in which billionaires dominate not only our politics and the information we consume, but our government and economic lives as well.

That has never been more clear than it is today.

But given the news and attention Mr. Musk has been getting over the last few weeks as he illegally and unconstitutionally dismantles government agencies, I thought it was an appropriate time to ask the question that the media and most politicians don't seem to be asking: What do he and other multi-billionaires really want? What is their endgame?

In my opinion, what Musk and those around him are aggressively striving for is not novel, it is not complicated and it is not new. It is what ruling classes throughout history have always wanted and have believed is theirs by right: more power, more control, more wealth. And they don’t want ordinary people and democracy getting in their way.

Elon Musk and his fellow oligarchs believe government and laws are simply an impediment to their interests and what they are entitled to.

In pre-revolutionary America, the ruling class governed through the “divine right of kings,” the belief that the King of England was an agent of God, not to be questioned. In modern times, the oligarchs believe that as the masters of technology and as "high-IQ individuals,” it is their absolute right to rule. In other words, they are our modern-day kings.

And it is not just power. It’s incredible wealth. Today, Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg have a combined worth of $903 billion, more than the bottom half of American society — 170 million people. Since Trump was elected, unbelievably, their wealth has soared. Elon Musk has become $138 billion richer, Zuckerberg has become $49 billion richer and Bezos has become $28 billion richer. Add it all up and the three wealthiest men in America have become $215 billion richer since Election Day.

Meanwhile, while the very rich become much richer, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, 85 million are uninsured or under-insured, 25% of seniors are trying to survive on $15,000 or less, 800,000 are homeless and we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth.

Do you think the oligarchs give a damn about these people? Trust me, they don’t. Musk’s decision to dismember U.S. AID means that thousands of the poorest people around the world will go hungry or die of preventable diseases.

But it’s not just abroad. Here in the United States they’ll soon be going after the healthcare, nutrition, housing, and educational programs that protect the most vulnerable people in our country - so that Congress can provide huge tax breaks for them and their fellow billionaires. As modern-day kings, who believe they have the absolute right to rule, they will sacrifice, without hesitation, the well-being of working people to protect their privilege.

Further, they will use the enormous media operations they own to deflect attention away from the impact of their policies while they “entertain us to death.” They will lie, lie and lie. They will continue to spend huge amounts of money to buy politicians in both major political parties.

They are waging a war on the working class of this country, and it is a war they are intent on winning.

I am not going to kid you — the problems this country faces right now are serious and they are not easy to solve. The economy is rigged, our campaign finance system is corrupt and we are struggling to control climate change — among other issues.

But this is what I do know:

The worst fear of the ruling class in this country is that Americans — Black, White, Latino, urban and rural, gay and straight — come together to demand a government that represents all of us, not just the wealthy few.

Their nightmare is that we will not allow ourselves to be divided up by race, religion, sexual orientation or country of origin and will, together, have the courage to take them on.

Will it be easy? Of course not.

The ruling class of this country will constantly remind you that they have all the power. They control the government, they own the media. “You want to take us on? Good luck,” they will say. “There's nothing you can do about it.”

But our job today is to not forget the great struggles and sacrifices that millions of people have waged over the centuries to create a more democratic, just and humane society:

* Overthrowing the King of England to create a new nation and self-rule. Impossible.

* Establishing universal suffrage. Impossible.

* Ending slavery and segregation. Impossible.

* Granting workers the right to form unions and ending child labor. Impossible.

* Giving women control over their own bodies. Impossible.

* Passing legislation to establish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, a minimum wage, clean air and water standards. Impossible.

In these difficult times despair is not an option. We’ve got to fight back in every way we can.

We have to get involved in the political process — run for office, connect with our local, state and federal legislators, donate to candidates who will fight for the working class of this country. We have to create new channels for communication and information sharing. We have to volunteer not just politically, but to build community locally.

Whatever we can do is what we must do.

Needless to say, I intend to do my part — both inside the beltway and traveling throughout the country — to stand up for the working class of this country. In the days, weeks, and months ahead I hope you will join me in that struggle.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders"

Part 375. Well done The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army's leader General Lyndon Buckingham published the following on 13th February 2025:

"Events of recent weeks have caused me to reflect once again on the power of words. It’s dangerous to underestimate the power of words, both to pull down and build up. 

The book of James reminds us that the tongue is a powerful force. James describes it as ‘a fire, a world of evil’ (James 3:6). He further contends it is a ‘restless evil, full of deadly poison’ (v8).  

Paul, writing to the believers in Colossae said, ‘Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone’ (Colossians 4:6).  

We can pray, ‘Lord, help us pay more attention to the words we speak.’ In these days of social media, we might rightly add, ‘Lord, help me to be careful in regard to my posts.’ 

The words we use can inspire, heal, unify and promote peace. They can also have the opposite effect.

I pray that all entrusted with the responsibility and privilege of leadership, wherever they are, will be motivated by a driving desire for the common good of all humankind.  

Jesus said, ‘Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks’ (Luke 6:45). As people belonging to God and The Salvation Army, let’s check the motivations of our own hearts and be sure the words we use inspire hope, healing, peace and a revelation of God’s love. In these days, our conversations, speech and conduct serve as a powerful testimony. Let’s ensure that our testimony is pure in thought, word and deed.

God bless you."

One wonders how this message will be received by the Army's leadership in the USA. Will it oppose Trump’s attacks on vulnerable people or will it keep silent?

I am pleased to see the Army's response to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report: UK Poverty 2025: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK, noting the 'devastating impact' of poverty on families and particularly on children.  

According to the Army our broken social security system is out of step with reality, and needs fixing so that families can afford to keep a roof over their heads, as well as essentials like food, heating and clothing. In particular the Army calls on the goverment to:

* reverse the two-child limit on allowances.

" implement an essentials guarantee to ensure benefits cover the cost of living.

* reverse the planned freeze on the local housing allowance in April 2025.

* reduce the wait for a first universal credit payment from six weeks down to two.

All commendable demands echoing those of other faith and secular organisations. For pressure to have any impact organisations must work together, even to engage in civil disobedience.

Part 374. What a shambles

I gave up on religious organisations a while ago, partly as a consequence of my shift towards progressive and deconstructivist ideas, but also occasioned by my distaste for what is happening in the two denominations I engaged with on a regular basis.

I was an Adherent member of The Salvation Army for almost a decade, attracted to it by its work assisting marginalised individuals at point of need.  Sterling work.  However I became increasingly disenchanted by its failure to tackle its homophobic policies on soldiership and officership clothed in a fundamentalist interpretation of scripture.  Just under a year ago there was much wringing of hands at a conference at Warwick University but since then nothing has happened to change the policies of the Army.  Saying sorry is not enough: action is required to address and overcome the wrong done to gay individuals.

The Army has failed to speak out against the vicious homophobic legislation in some African states. Silence is acquiescence, as is neutrality.  More recently the Army has failed to speak out against the policies of the Trump administration attacking marginalised and deprived individuals.  The Pope has spoken out against aspects of the Trump programme but where is the condemnation from the General of The Salvation Army?

I enjoy the service of Matins and Evening Prayer according to the Book of Common Prayer (BCP).  Choral evensong is a delight.  It is not the theology or doctrine that attracts me, rather it is the language of  Cranmer et al. The changes made to the  BCP are a fascinating study of changes in doctrine and theology of the Church of England (CofE).

Sadly the CofE has become embroiled in matters pertaining to safeguarding leading to the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and calls for the Archbishop of York to do likewise. Yesterday at the General Synod there was an opportunity for safeguarding in its entirety to be outsourced to an independent organisation.  This was a radical proposal supported by the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London.  General Synod decided otherwise. Safeguarding provision as national level will be outsourced but retained within dioceses at local level, with the hope that at some indeterminate time diocesan safeguarding also will be outsourced. What a mess.  It would not surprise me if Parliament intervened to insist on total outsourcing. 

Part 373. Taking my leave.

I am exhausted mentally.  Writing my blog, posting on Facebook and Bluesky, and responding to comments has become too much for me.  So I am retiring from active service for a while, possibly permanently.  My blog and Facebook pages will stay live.

I leave you with a brief statement of my current theological opinion.

All that matters is to love your neighbour.  Help individuals in need and campaign for systemic change to achieve social justice.

Part 372. Moltmann, Gutierrez and Cuppitt

 The past year has witnessed the deaths of three theological giants, Jurgen Moltmann,  Gustavo Gutiérrez and Don Cupitt.  

Cupitt will be best remembered for his advocacy of the concept of a non-realist god. God only exists in our language and therefore in our mind. Clearly he was influenced by the ideas of the postmodernist Jacques  Derrida. The following quotations summarise Cupitt’s ideas. 

"Our thinking, our selfhood, our very humanity are constituted within language in such a way that we have nothing to think ourselves right out of language with."

God "is no sort of being. He is our personal concept in a world of meaning in which everything is relative or diferential".

Cupitt defended his position as a cleric thus:

"I am a priest in the Church of England and I practise in a rather traditional way, but when I say the creed. I regard it not as giving me supernatural information but showing me a way to walk in.".

I'll have to remember that when I attend a Book of Common Prayer service of Matins or Evening Prayer.

According to Cupitt God does not exist as a metaphysical figure nor as a spiritual presence external to us. It is internal to us, to our language.  Cupitt posits the following:

"I take the idea of God as someone like a guiding spiritual ideal that you use to orientate your life by. God is our values. God symbolises the good of spiritual life."

Part 371. Omnipotent, not on your Nelly.

'God is Love' it is said. Let's be clear: this is an assertion, a clsim; it is not a fact. The divine right of kings simply was a means to claim authority to rule supposedly granted by an omniscient supernatural entity.  It is nothing of the sort. It is entirely a human construct to justify claiming and retaining power.

In the teaching ascribed by the authors of the synoptic gospels to Jesus the writers determined to give authority to their work by claiming it was of God.  To my mind the message of Jesus does not need a supernatural underpinning to shore up its authority.  It is compelling in its own right.

I recognise the message of Jesus is but one of a range of philosophical ideas concerning how humanity might think and live as individuals and collectively. I dispute the idea that god is love is somehow hardwired into us. We choose to love, or not to.  There is no supernatural imperative to love.  We do so as a consequence of our experience in life, not because we are obliged to by the bidding of a supernatural being.

Part 370. Let us not bray

We are not donkeys to be treated  by a stick and carrot approach to encourage us to be true believers.  The stick is the threat of hell, damnation and eternal torment.  The carrot is eternal life in heaven. Many churches prey on fears of death and its finality.  Such churches seek to control lives through peddling promises of a happy eternity in return for controlling the lives of people.  It is time to dispose of superstition, doctrine, dogma and regulation and get a life. It is time to ditch ideas of bible inerrancy and that it is the true word of a metaphysical entity.

The above probably is a statement that many who have deconstructed would be content to concur. However, it begs the question: what do you believe, what leads you to think and act as you do?  

My starting point is that I do not believe in a god that is a metaphysical entity to which we can speak and be heard,  that can answer prayer and can directly control events.  Nor do I believe god can be defined by symbolism or metaphor.  If there is a god it is an unknown beyond our comprehension.  A major failing of Christian religion is to anthropomorphize an undefinable 'creator'.

To my mind prayer is not to god.  Rather it is asking of ourselves what is causing us concern, how we would wish the matter to be resolved and the strength to go out and achieve what we can.

It is possible that Jesus was a real person, but it doesn't matter is this is not the case.  The synoptic gospels are a melange of  myths, metaphor, symbols, folk stories and documents written  through the lens of the intentions of the authors.  What does matter is our interpretation of the messages contained in the synoptic gospels.

It is difficult to believe in a holy spirit if one has doubts concerning the reality of god.  I think there are internal human processes that produce our thoughts and ideas thus determining how and why we act as we do.  An individual is influenced by many factors: gender, ethnicity, health, sexuality, education, knowledge, family, relationships, religion, events, environment etc. all of which are processed internally to determine responses of thought and action.  

So, the two main factors for me are:  

 * How to interpret the synoptic gospels

* How, I am to give effect to my interpretation.

The conclusion I have reached is to follow the way of love in thought and action.  This is not a  defining Christian approach.  Individuals with other faith or secular beliefs,  are committed to the principle or doctrine of love. The teaching ascribed to Jesus provides a framework for my thoughts and actions. Others take a different source for their determination of a course of action. 

I could expand interminably on these thoughts but I prefer to keep my posts short

  

Part 369. Another poverty report.

 The abject failure of our society and governments to deal with the causes of poverty is laid out in the report published today by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation entitled: UK Poverty 2025: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK.

Sadly one conclusion that may be drawn from the appalling situation described in the report is that despite their posturing, hand-wringing and campaigning secular and faith organisations have achieved very little.  Yes, they have alleviated conditions for some at point of need, but have failed miserably to persuade the public and government of the need for systemic change.   

The voluntary sector has to get its act together, work much more closely in partnership and collaboration with each other and campaign with much more vigour to the point of direct action.  Will they?  Don't hold your breath.

 

Part 368. A very basic and simplified introduction to campaigning for social justice.

The following quotations are indicative of the central importance of social justice for followers of the teaching attributed to Jesus. Social justice is only achievable by campaigning for systemic change, in other words by political action. Truth must speak to power.  

The heart of all worthwhile religion is justice for the marginalised.

Mark Sandlin 

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 

Charity is necessary.  But charity without justice is complicit in supporting systems that create the need for charity.

Mark Sandlin 

Whilst it is important that the state, secular and religious organisations assist people at point of need it should not be an end in itself.  Simply perpetuating failing systems will not do.  The systems occasioning social injustice must be changed.  What is the process to achieve change?  In democracies political decisions are determined by governments mindful of the electoral process.   Changing attitudes in society is a prerequisite to political/governmental action.  But, given vested interests society has in maintaining the status quo, significant change is unlikely. Politicians lack the will to reorder priorities to meet the needs of social justice.  

It really is no good the churches making polite noises.  Peaceful direct action is called for.  Most churches are not equipped theologically to take such a step. 

Part 365. Don Cupitt

The obituary below states that one day Don Cupitt may be regarded as a major figure in 20th-century religious thought.  I agree.  

From The Daily Telegraph 

The Reverend Don Cupitt, who has died aged 90, taught theology at Cambridge for more than 30 years and was Britain’s most radical theologian.

Between 1971 and his death he wrote more than 50 books and contributed to a great number of symposiums, while in 1984 he presented a widely acclaimed television series, The Sea of Faith, a landmark in religious broadcasting. The title was taken from Matthew Arnold’s poem ‘Dover Beach’ and its lines “The Sea of Faith/ Was once, too, at the full.../ But now I only hear/ Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar.”

Although Cupitt was a devout man and remained a priest of the Church of England, he moved from a position of firm, though by no means uncritical, orthodoxy to one of what he called Christian atheism.

During the 1980s he came to the conclusion that the word God had no objective reality and was best regarded as “a necessary myth”. In his book After God: The Future of Religion (1997) he foresaw the end of all traditional religion, with imagination substituted for faith, and religion regarded as a kind of experimental art form.

Even by the standards of the late 20th century this was unusual thinking by a professional theologian and Cupitt believed that he had taken Western philosophical theology to the very limits of its integrity. Some of his colleagues thought he had gone well beyond these limits and should have resigned from the priesthood, but Cupitt would not accept this.

Cupitt was a brilliant communicator, as his large television audiences testified.

He declared that his purpose was essentially religious, for he aimed to “rescue Jesus from dogmatic captivity and God from metaphysical captivity”, both of which had been imposed by the church. In The New Christian Ethics (1988), he wrote: “We can today be Christians only at the price of saying that there wasn’t any Christianity to speak of before the later 18th century.”

This dogmatic, provocative assertion was a typical example of his style. He was a brilliant communicator, as his large television audiences testified, and he combined intellectual gifts with moral passion in a manner that compelled attention. His appearance, too, suggested an unusual combination of strength and sensitivity – a long face, huge ears, a vertical cleft on his forehead and a wry smile radiating from his lips.

Cupitt pulled no punches when discussing the Church. In Taking Leave of God (1980) he accused it of exercising “psychological terrorism”, and went on to describe the monastic ideal as “a hospice for those who are terminally sick of life and a standing denial of the Christian Gospel”.

An evening meeting during the General Synod of 1984, designed to enable its members to discuss The Sea of Faith with Cupitt, was cancelled at the request of “higher authority” and in 1993 a young priest who declared himself to be a follower of Cupitt was dismissed from his clergy teaching post in Chichester diocese.

The Sea of Faith: the BBC invested in Cupitt making a television series (a book followed) surveying the main world religions, the title taken from the line in Matthew Arnold's poem 'Dover Beach'

Academics tended to treat him less seriously, regarding him as no more than an eccentric who had strayed into their field. His books, which achieved regular sales of 5-6,000 copies – many more than most volumes of serious theology – were more polemical tracts than measured works of scholarship and it was not unknown for him to misrepresent his opponents’ positions.

He was in fact conducting a crusade and seeking to win converts to his point of view because he believed that the future of Christianity depended on the recovery of vital and dynamic elements which had been lost under “the debris of dogma”.

Cupitt was therefore accorded little academic recognition. Bristol University awarded him an honorary DLitt in 1985, but Cambridge was unwilling for him to rise above the rank of lecturer.

Those who appreciated him most were disaffected Christian intellectuals, among them the novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch, who found a great deal of traditional Christianity incredible yet recognised in Jesus valid religious insights.

Whatever the final verdict on his answers, many theologians recognised that Cupitt was asking the right questions about the credibility of Christianity in the modern world, and it is not impossible that he may one day be regarded as a major figure in 20th-century religious thought.

Don Cupitt was born on May 22 1934. He went from Charterhouse to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and, having taken a second in natural sciences, switched to theology, in which he secured a first. By now he was destined for Holy Orders and trained at Westcott House, Cambridge.

In Taking Leave of God he accused the Church of exercising ‘psychological terrorism’.

Temperamentally he was very religious, though he never believed in miracles, answers to prayer or the supernatural. Three years as a curate in Salford (1959-62) showed him how far removed the traditional presentations of the Christian faith were from the lives of people living in the back streets of an industrial city.

Yet at this time he shared the belief of Bishop John Robinson and other 1960s theologians that the generally accepted tenets of Christianity were capable of re-interpretation.

In 1962 Cupitt returned to Cambridge as vice-principal of Westcott House and three years later became a Fellow of Emmanuel College, serving as Dean of the College from 1966 to 1991 and as a lecturer in the university Divinity School until 1996.

He then resigned because he did not believe his colleagues were treating him with sufficient seriousness. He was none the less a popular member of the college and revered by his students; they found themselves in the company of a revolutionary thinker who was also a sensitive pastor and a radical churchman who insisted on the importance of the traditional worship offered in the chapel.

His first book, Christ and the Hiddenness of God (1971), was well-received and caused no raised eyebrows, but The Crisis of Moral Authority (1971) registered objections to the doctrine of original sin and the idea of atonement. The Leap of Reason (1976), which was one of his best books, argued powerfully for the reality of God, but pleaded for the separation of religious experience from dogma.

A documentary, Who Was Jesus?, broadcast in 1977, revealed Cupitt to be a television “natural” and encouraged the BBC to invest a great deal of money later in The Sea of Faith (1984), a critical survey of all the main world religions.

By this time Cupitt was coming under the influence of Jacques Derrida and other French deconstructionist philosophers, and The Long-Legged Fly (1987) indicated just how far he had moved into the realm of non-realistic theology.

His books, which continued to appear at more or less yearly intervals, provided up-to-date accounts of his own religious pilgrimage, and the pace of movement was so swift that his critics found it almost impossible to pin him down.

A summing-up of his personal faith was provided in After All: Religion Without Alienation (1994): “We should live as the Sun does. The process by which it lives and the process by which it dies are one and the same. It hasn’t a care. It simply expends itself gloriously, and in so doing gives life to us all.”

His last book, Ethics in the Last Days of Humanity, was published in 2016.

In 1963 Don Cupitt married Susan Day, with whom he had two daughters and a son.

The Rev Don Cupitt, born May 22 1934, died January 18 2025

Part 367. Speaking truth to power.

A brilliant sermon by The Right Revd. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC.  Her guts and determination deserve wider recognition within the Anglican Communion. Invite her to the next General Synod of the Church of England. 

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara, and temples.

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God, for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”

                           xxxxx

From Yachats Community Presbyterian Church Facebook page:

To all my friends who are hurting.

I couldn’t bring myself to watch the inauguration—couldn’t bear to listen to the inaugural address. But I couldn’t avoid the fallout either: the pain and anguish radiating from so many people I love. So many who heard their President say they don’t matter. That they don’t belong. That they must retreat into the shadows.

And I asked myself: Where do we even begin?

We begin with love.

We start with the unshakeable, pulsating truth that every human being—every immigrant, every trans person, every soul on the margins—bears the imprint of the Divine. 

This is our foundation. 

This is our starting point.

As we stand here, in the wake of an inaugural address that chose division over inclusion, fear over empathy, rejection over embrace, let us remember…

Words matter. 

It hurts to see them used like weapons against those already vulnerable—because words shape how we see ourselves, how we see others, and how we understand what is real, what is possible in this world.

Some of us heard that address and felt the sting of condemnation, watching neighbors, friends, and loved ones singled out as scapegoats—labeled “threats” or “others.” Some of us sat in disbelief, hearts breaking at the harshness of it all. 

I can’t imagine the pain.

And I wish that I could take it away.

But I can’t.

But please hear this… although at times, it may feel that way, you are not alone.

There is a love that holds all things together, transcending borders and boundaries, infinitely larger and more creative than any limiting words we heard. A love that never demands you squeeze yourself into someone else’s narrow definition of worthiness.

We cannot ignore the images of people denied opportunities simply because of where they were born. We cannot turn away from trans siblings stripped of their dignity by another’s insistence on who they ought to be. These are our neighbors, our friends, our families. Your stories matter. Your voices matter. Your flourishing matters.

Jesus spoke of a Kingdom—a new creation—where the hungry are fed, the oppressed are liberated, and the stranger is welcomed. Today, we might say: It’s a place where trans folks are celebrated, where immigrants find home and hope, and where no one is forced to hide in the shadows.

This is God’s dream for humanity, as ancient and alive as the breath in your lungs. If we claim to follow Jesus, we are called to help bring that Kingdom to life right here, right now. 

So, when those in power speak words meant to slam doors and erect walls, we respond by opening our hearts even wider. When they try to silence or shame, we lift up the voices at the margins. When they want to label, exclude, and divide, we form circles of compassion—welcoming, celebrating, protecting.

Why? Because love compels us. Because fear has had the microphone for far too long. Because it is both our sacred responsibility and our deepest joy to insist on a world where everyone is drawn into the ever-widening circle of God’s grace.

May you refuse to let harsh words define you—or your neighbor. May you stay wide awake to love, grounded in the holy truth that everyone belongs at the table. And may we, together, usher in a new day where no one stands outside the beloved community.

Grace and peace.

pastor bob

                                 xxxxx

From I'm Not That Kind of Christian Facebook page. 

A Plea for Compassion

One final plea…

“Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”

In a world that often feels divided and tumultuous, the words of The Right Rev. Mariann Budde resonate deeply within our hearts. As the Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C., she has been a steadfast voice for justice, compassion, and unity. Her recent sermon serves as a powerful reminder of our shared humanity and the teachings of Jesus.

A plea for marginalized communities… 

"There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and Independent families — some who fear for their lives."

Bishop Budde's work has consistently focused on advocating for the marginalized and promoting social justice. Her leadership within the Episcopal Church has been marked by a commitment to inclusivity and a dedication to addressing the pressing issues of our time. In her sermons, she often draws upon the teachings of Jesus, emphasizing the importance of love, mercy, and compassion.

A plea for the stranger…

"They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques, gurdwara and temples."

While she was directly addressing the President, the plea for mercy in her sermon is a call to action for all Christians. It is a reminder that in times of fear and uncertainty, we must turn to the teachings of Jesus for guidance. Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to show kindness to the stranger, and to offer comfort to those in distress. In the face of adversity, we are called to embody these principles and extend a hand of compassion to those who are suffering.

Bishop Budde's words echo the sentiments found in the book of Hosea, where God says, "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6). Jesus Himself quotes this passage in the Gospel of Matthew, saying, "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:13). This verse underscores the priority of mercy and love in our actions over ritualistic or sacrificial practices. It reminds us that mercy is not just a passive feeling but an active expression of our faith. It is through acts of mercy that we can bring healing and hope to a world in need.

"Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land."

As Christians, we are called to be the light in the darkness, to offer hope where there is despair, and to be a source of strength for those who are scared. Bishop Budde's sermon challenges us to rise above our fears and to be instruments of God's love and mercy. It is a call to live out our faith in tangible ways, to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, and to work towards a more just and compassionate world.

Let us be the hands and feet of Jesus, bringing mercy and hope to a world in need.

🤟 Royce

Part 366. On theology and social justice.

My theological position, or if you prefer my belief, is very simple to state: love God, love others.  In other words the two great commandments set out in the synoptic gospels. However I do not regard God as being a metaphysical entity.  God is the great unknown beyond human imagination, beyond metaphor, beyond symbolism.  Can such a God be loved?  I find the following statements immensely helpful.

The moment I seek to understand God, I limit God.  The moment I seek to love myself, I enter into God. The moment I seek to love people unconditionally, I become God.

Chris Kratzer

                                         xxx

You are never more like God than when you are helping hurting people, lifting up the fallen, and restoring the broken.

                                         xxx

Stop searching for god in the farthest corners of the universe.  He is in you.  You are it.

                                         xxx

We are all God in disguise.

Alan Watts

Give up searching, god is with us, in us.  Well that is my belief.  Doubtless many disagree but so be it. Our faith is a personal matter, not one to be foisted on us by others.

Was Jesus a real historical person?  Or is he a concept, a myth, a legend?  It doesn't matter.  What does matter is the message of love conveyed by the authors of the synoptic gospels that should be read to understand the ideas the words are conveying, not literally as an instruction manual.

The thrust of the gospels is the requirement to love unconditionally.  The following statements have assisted me in coming to the views I hold.

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

Jurgen Moltmann

People have differing opinions of what the term 'social justice' means and how the term is used, but nobody should be opposed to the goal of improving societal systems for the well-being of others.

Stephen Mattson

Charity is necessary.  But charity without justice is complicit in supporting systems that create the need for charity.

Rev Dr Mark Sandlin

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

Gustavo Gutierrez 

The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a redistribution of political and economic power.

Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Part 364. A trinity of social justice giants.

Today in Martin Luther King Jr Day in the USA, a federal holiday celebrating his birthday and achievements.

King  along with Jurgen Moltmann and Gustavo Gutiérrez have bequeathed a vast body of theological ideas and praxis on social justice issues. Three theological giants. 

For further appreciation of the work of Gutiérrez and Moltmann please refer to my blog posts. 329, 327 and 286.

Part 363. My theology.

Two very similar posts of mine on a private group on Facebook The Lasting Supper.

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.

11th December 2024

the 1980s I was divorced, unemployed, homeless and living in poverty, all at the same time. My locality was an area of multiple deprivation. The worst feature was uncertainty; when would the nightmare end, if ever?

My experiences during this time influenced strongly my theological thinking and steered me in the direction of progressive and liberation theology. These experiences were the driving force to my involvement as a trustee with homelessness and mental health charities as well as supporting community groups in areas of multiple deprivation campaigning for change. It led also to my campaigning for new credit unions and foodbanks.

Helping individuals at point of need is palliative: it does not promote the required systemic change in the policies of government and attitudes in society.

As I deconstructed I was drawn to the conclusion that all that matters really is the concept: love your neighbour. This is all the theology I need. What interests me is how the concept is understood and acted on. 

18th January 2025

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.

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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