Law and Order

I spent Tuesday evening at The Law Society in London, next to the Royal Courts of Justice.  I was there to speak in a debate entitled “Protecting Diversity: Belief, Conscience, and the new definition of Marriage.”

Around 100 people gathered and there were 4 speakers comprising myself and 3 barristers including Andrea Minichiello Williams, the CEO of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre.  The debate was chaired by Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, former President of the Law Society.

Most of the debate was good natured enough. 

Andrea quoted at length from selected passages in the Bible, and spoke of her fear that Christians were being persecuted in England today for simply living out their faith in an increasingly hostile society.  At the centre of her message however, was the fact (as she presented it) that God is against same-sex marriage, and if we embrace it, we are against God.

I, on the other hand, summarised the fears of some Christians at the thought of same-sex marriage, but then quoted from Evangelical Alliance FAQ’s on marriage to show that there was absolutely nothing for churches and church leaders to be afraid of because no church (or faith group) can be compelled to celebrate or facilitate a same-sex wedding and every church and church leader has the right to refuse.   But what concerned me more, I continued, is that there is a diversity issue which is not being recognised – the diversity of belief and conscience among Christians on the subject of same-sex marriage. 

A You Gov poll from earlier this year has shown that more Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Presbyterians support the right of same-sex couples to get married than oppose it.  Furthermore over a 1/3 of those who identified themselves as members of mainstream Christian churches went further and said that Same-sex Marriage was right (as opposed to wrong!)  Yet where is this diversity being recognised and expressed in statements by our denominational leaders?  Answer – it is not.

During the question and answer part of the debate, Andrea and I disagreed on how to interpret the Bible, the importance of looking at the context of Bible passages, the wideness of God’s love, and on the importance of marriage for all.  Andrea’s bottom line was that, according to her faith, all same-sex partnerships were wrong and sinful – and there was no recognition that there could be a different way of interpreting Scripture or being a Christian.  My bottom line was that faithful, committed, loving relationships honour the creative will of God for human kind and may (in my opinion) find their ultimate expression in marriage.

When the formal debate drew to a close, everyone was invited to the bar to continue our discussions in a more informal way, and I experienced an amazing thing.

Person after person came up to me to thank me for what I had said, and went further than that.  Again and again, I was being told, in different ways, “I am not religious – in fact I tend to be anti-religion – but what you said tonight has made me more open to the possibility of believing in God.”

 I was deeply moved by these first tentative statements of faith.  I had thought that I was going to the debate to defend the same-sex marriage from wild accusations and hysteria.  In the end, I saw people coming closer to God.

That reflection was particularly interesting in the light of the last conversation I had.

Just before she left, Andrea Minichiello Williams came to speak to me.   I assumed she was coming to say goodbye, but instead she said in a very calm and clear way, “I think that what you are doing is appalling.”

What was appalling, I wonder?  For me, the ultimate mission of a Christian is to live, speak, and act in way which draws people closer to God.  I wonder which one of us achieved that last night.

There was good news in the end, however.

In an effort to lighten the conversation after her statement, I asked how General Synod was going these days (knowing that she was a member).  Her reply was fascinating….

“Well” she said, “They are all like you!”

“Andrea” I replied as she was leaving, “That’s the best news I have had all evening!”

Perhaps there is hope for the Church of England…

Misreading the map...

Published in the Church of England Newspaper - 13 September 2013

I love walking in the Yorkshire Dales.

During my last visit there, I decided to walk up Great Whernside, a big bald moor rising above Wharfedale.  I set off with my map, bag and compass, quickly reaching the moor wall, beyond which there are few obvious features to help in finding the path.  As I checked my map, I saw a dotted line reaching up towards the summit so I set off, following it with the help of my compass.  I could see no visible path on the ground, but that was not unusual, and I pressed on across the moor.

Before long, I got into difficulties.  The ground became increasingly boggy, until I reached a point where I had to jump between tufts of marsh grass and dark sodden areas of peat bog.  I remember missing one tuft of grass and ending up thigh deep in thick peaty water scrambling to get out.  I checked the map again.  I was still on the dotted line but I realised that continuing on this route was both impossible and dangerous.

So reluctantly and carefully, I turned back and retraced my steps out of the bog and back to firm ground.

In the pub that night, I recounted my failed attempt to a local who looked surprised, and then roared with laughter when I showed him the dotted line I had tried to follow.

“That’s not a path” he said when he had stopped laughing. “That’s a parish boundary!”

Reflecting on this later, I saw the absurdity of what I had done.  I had diligently sought to follow the map.  I had followed this dotted line carefully and accurately.  But because I had misread the map my progress had ground to a sticky and dangerous halt in a miserable bog high up in the Dales.   The map wasn’t the problem – it was my interpretation of the map which was at fault.

I can’t help but think that we have made the same mistake in our understanding (or misunderstanding) of the Bible and homosexuality.  As the church, we have joined together a faint dotted line of scattered verses and have thought we understood the map of the scriptures.  We have tried to follow the path faithfully, only to find ourselves getting stuck in an ever more treacherous bog.

And now we have ground to an uncertain halt.

As the Archbishop of Canterbury noted in his address to General Synod, the world has moved on, and the church’s stance on sexuality, same-sex partnerships, and now marriage is putting us at odds with society at large.  At the recent opening of the new headquarters of Evangelical Alliance he spoke about the way in which the church’s position on sexuality is alienating younger people.  “We have to face the fact that the vast majority of people under 35 think not only that what we are saying is incomprehensible, but also think that we are plain wrong and wicked and equate it to racism.”

In Australia, research by the evangelical group Olive Tree Media showed that 69% of non-Christians surveyed said that church doctrine on homosexuality is a ‘belief-blocker’ – only exceeded by child abuse in churches.

As Evangelicals, we are passionate about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that opens hearts to a personal relationship with Him.  Yet our interpretation of Scriptures has led us into a dangerous dead-end where we are alienating the very people we want to reach.  We have sought to follow the Scriptures – our map – but perhaps we have misread them just like I misread that dotted line, and have found ourselves alone in the wilderness as a result.

On the moor, there was only one option for me – turn back and look again.  Perhaps we need to do the same.

Rev Benny Hazlehurst
Accepting Evangelicals

www.acceptingevangelicals.org

Good News... keep it simple!

 In contrast to the Church of England, the Church in Wales got its act together today and voted for women bishops. 

What is more, there were no 'ifs' and 'buts' - just a simple one clause measure with the promise of a code of practise to be written over the next few months.

Simple...

Which might be why the Church of England keeps getting it wrong.  We make it too complicated, always trying to please everyone and ending up pleasing no-one.

The first meeting of the new steering committee on women bishops in England took place earlier this month, and the discussions were described by the press release as 'serious, honest, and constructive'.

Let's hope they were also brave and simple - just like the Church in Wales.

On a different note, I hear that Pope Francis has given up his bullet proof Mercedes for a 30 year old Renault with 186,000 miles on the clock.  The car was a gift to him from a elderly priest in northern Italy, in response to the Pope's example of humility.

Now all we need is a little humility towards the role of women in the Roman Catholic church, and who knows what might happen...?

OK - that's just a dream - for now....

Wtfwjd..?

Recently Rev Alice Goodman has been propelled into the public’s gaze with her rather unconventional bumper-sticker ‘wtfwjd’. 

Apparently the sticker has resided on her car for some time without causing too much of a stir, until Anonymous of Cambridge wrote to a local newspaper to complain.  The story was then picked up by the Daily Telegraph, and before you could say ‘Holy Sh*t!’ statements were being sought from Bishops and Archbishops in a media frenzy.

The fact is -  vulgar words are nothing new in Christian circles.

For example, Paul used a word which could properly be translated as ‘Shit’ in the New Testament.  Talking about the righteousness he used to rely on before he knew Christ, he describes it all as ‘skubala’ compared to the treasure of knowing Christ.  The strength of this word is hard to understate.   Although our modern translations sanitise the word by translating it as ‘rubbish’ or ‘garbage’, it is really ‘street filth’ or ‘excrement’.  The King James version comes closest translating the word as ‘dung’ but in today’s language it would certainly be ‘crap’ and probably ‘shit’.  Yet imagine the offence which it would cause if we read that out in church…

“What is more, I consider everything as loss, compared with the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… I consider all these things as shit that I may gain Christ!” Phil 3:8.

Then there was a famous Evangelist I worked with on a mission.  He was late for his opening address of the weekend.  Caught up in traffic, he arrived, hot, bothered and stressed, once the evening meeting had already begun.  He raced into the church and straight to the pulpit where he launched into one of the caricatures he used of a ‘man in the street’ to set the scene, but forgot to moderate the language, using the word “F*ck” as he laid the foundations for his address.  You could see people in the congregation, looking at each other as if to say “Did he really say F*ck in church?!”

And of course there is evangelical leader Tony Campolo, who has often begun speaking about poverty with 3 things he wants to say to Christians.

“First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation and diseases related to malnutrition.  Second, most of you don’t give a shit.   What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”

Which brings me back to Alice Goodman’s bumper sticker which (it seems to me) has been blown up out of all proportion.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t use the ‘F’ word very often, and when I do it is usually followed by a swift apology and silent request for forgiveness.  But there are more important things to get hot and bothered about.  There are bigger priorities for the church and the gospel than playing it safe all the time. 

And we do get things out of proportion.  If Paul can use the word ‘shit’ in his epistles to shock his hearers into taking his message seriously, then why shouldn’t Alice use another vulgar word to stop and make people think?  (Especially as most of the people who are likely to take offence would not know what ‘wtf’ meant anyway?)

Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, we all have the propensity to get our priorities so muddled that we miss God’s big picture while getting hung up on the wrong thing yet again.  

So I leave you with one more offensive item – the pictures and caption below.

 

 

 Wwjd?