Dr Eeva John talked about the radical new Christian inclusion described by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in their letter published in February 2017 in a presentation ‘handing over’ the work of the Next Steps Group to the new Synod that will meet for the first time in November 2021. The inclusion offered is not radical nor new nor Christian nor inclusive.
In a letter to the Bishop of London sent to all members of the Next Steps group, Tina Beardsley outlines her understanding of the Church of England’s current position on gender variant people, developed over the last two decades. Changing Attitude England invites the LLF’s Next Steps Group to confirm that these are the Church of England’s current policies and practices and, if so, to publicly affirm them. We also ask the Group what the missing elements might be that would necessitate such a working group, given the Church of England’s generally affirming line on trans people, and that LLF has already published on gender identity and transition.
How do you present a really radical argument about the revolutionary change in today’s society for LGBTIQ+ people to a Church that refuses to take on board the implications of the revolution? I have used extensive quotations from chapter four, Resurrection and Goodness, of Harry Williams’1972 book, True Resurrection, to describe what I think are the implications of Changing Attitude England’s campaign to give content to the radical new LGBTIQ+ (because that’s what it primarily has to be about) Christian inclusion advocated by the Archbishops.
I’ve been reading a review of Some Day I’ll Find You and the opening chapters of True Resurrection, books written by Harry Williams, priest (1919-2006), a member of the radical 1960s school of Cambridge theologians and later a member of the Anglican Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield. Fr Harry has restored me to a sane, emotionally more stable place after a week in which events in the Church of England and my personal life severely disturbed my emotional equilibrium. Harry has restored my confidence in my own spiritual and wisdom core when the Church seems to be heading more and more deeply into a realm of dangerous, abusive and very un-Christian LaLaLand
In advance of the Synod debate in February 2017 fourteen retired bishops took the unprecedented step of intervening in the Church of England’s controversial debate over Same Sex Marriage. They said that the 2017 report would only have integrity if it honoured “the assurance that the voices of those who participated would not be drowned out by the ‘majority view’ or ‘established position’”. Do I think that at the end of the Living Love and Faith process, LGBTIQ+ voices will have been authentically heard and not drowned out by ‘the majority view’ or ‘established position’? No.
Why do we, LGBTIQ+ people become so quickly disputatious and defensive among ourselves? Because we have been living in an incredibly unhealthy, abusive, toxic environment in Church and Society for centuries for starters. We don’t seem to recognise that this unhealthy, toxic, abusive environment continues to dominate nationally, however much our local church seems to be welcoming and valued. There is a reluctance to organise ourselves to campaign actively for an ambition far greater than the Archbishops’ understanding of what radical inclusion means - a really radically inclusive outcome for LGBTIQ+ people.
Alex Clare-Young and Christina Beardsley and the Changing Attitude England steering group have replied to the Bishop of London convinced that the formation a working group to consider gender identity and transition supplementary to the work already undertaken in this area by the LLF project would be inadvisable.
Changing Attitude England has written to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York asking them to spell out in detail what new radical Christian inclusion actually means. Where, in scripture, in reason, in tradition, in theology, and the Christian faith as the Church has received it, is radical Christian inclusion to be found?
Tina Beardsley and Alex Clare-Young have written to the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Sarah Mullally, bishop of London and chair of the LLF Next Steps Group, asking her to confirm that the new working group on gender identity and transition will be composed of a wide range of trans members, including transfeminine, transmasculine and non-binary people together with those who are recognised specialists in the field of gender identity and in overseeing people’s transitions.
The House of Bishops’ meeting held on Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th May “agreed in principle to the formation of a working group on gender identity and transition under the auspices of the LLF Next Steps Group.” Tina Beardsley and Alex Clare-Young argue that the membership of the proposed working group should embrace a broad range of trans and gender variant people. It must also include people who are specialists in the field of gender identity and in overseeing people’s transitions. It should not include those who dismiss trans people’s experience as a mental illness, a fantasy, a sinful temptation, a gnostic claim to secret self-knowledge, or a symptom of the decadence of Western self-consciousness.
