Can Christianity overcome dualism?

Can Christianity overcome dualism?

As empires diminish in our era, aggressive sectarian impulses are seemingly in the ascendant. It is our impulse to sort people into those like-me and those not-like-me. I perceive the impulse to sort traditional, orthodox, Bible-believing Christians from progressive, inclusive Christians to be an example of this. Twenty-five years on from the Kuala Lumpur Global South conference the conflict over gay sexuality and intimacy has never gone away. It has broken out again at Lambeth 2022 and is dominating the agenda. The organisers have not been able to control it.

Revisiting the Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10 plenary session

Revisiting the Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10 plenary session

The Lambeth Calls fiasco has broken the trust that LGBTQIA+ people had placed in the LLF process. It has shown that we cannot trust the bishops to act honestly and with transparency. It shows why the Church of England needs to change. The bishops of the church need to admit that homophobia and transphobia are endemic, systemically, in the structures of the church and the ethos of the LLF material and process.

Lambeth Call on Human Dignity draft didn’t include Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10

Lambeth Call on Human Dignity draft didn’t include Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10

Bishop Kevin Robertson of the diocese of Toronto has posted an article on Facebook about the Lambeth Calls document that was released last week, days ahead of the Lambeth Conference. He is a member of the Human Dignity Call drafting group that wrote the Call. Kevin says the group did not discuss the reaffirmation of Lambeth I.10 and it never appeared in any of the early drafts of their work together. He says that the Human Dignity Call in its current form does not represent the mind of the drafting group and distances himself from the reaffirmation of Lambeth I.10 in the strongest possible way.

An Open Letter to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England

An Open Letter to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England

Changing Attitude England is one of the seven groups who have written an open letter to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England expressing our concern about the draft Lambeth Call on Human Dignity, to be discussed and possibly issued by the forthcoming Lambeth Conference. This Call has been drafted with reference to Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference. It says: “It is the mind of the Anglican Communion as a whole that same gender marriage is not permissible. Lambeth Resolution I.10 (1998) states that the “legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions” cannot be advised. It is the mind of the Communion to uphold “faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union.” Were it to be accepted, it would fatally sabotage the Living in Love and Faith process and rule out any possibility of progress towards the Archbishops’ vision of a radical new Christian inclusion for LGBTQIA+ people.

General Synod chaplain resigns under homophobic pressure

General Synod chaplain resigns under homophobic pressure

Do gay people contaminate the Church of England? This question has been haunting me since I learnt yesterday that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York seem to have accepted the resignation of the Revd Andrew Hammond, Chaplain at St John’s College, Cambridge, openly gay and appointed as chaplain to the General Synod by the Archbishops last year. Andrew offered his resignation as a result of homophobic reactions to his contribution to the act of worship at Synod on Tuesday morning, part of an act of worship themed round humility. Andrew’s key point was that humility is the opposite of the sin of pride. The Gay Pride movement is using the word as the opposite of a sin that produces humiliation and shame.

The cosmos, planet earth, consciousness, and energy – life’s spiritual adventure

The cosmos, planet earth, consciousness, and energy – life’s spiritual adventure

We, homo sapiens, matter. We, us, me, our souls and bodies, feelings and energy, our consciousness and self consciousness, our self-awareness and our breathing, the well-being and health of our body systems equally with our environment, all this matters, and contemporary culture encourages addictions rather than awareness of just how much we matter.

LLF – Next Step Group bishops to hold meetings with interested groups

LLF – Next Step Group bishops to hold meetings with interested groups

Changing Attitude England is one of the groups invited to one of a series of two hour long meetings with bishops, members of the Next Steps Group, on the afternoon of Friday 30 September. In the morning Inclusive Church, OneBodyOneFaith, Diverse Church, and the General Synod Gender and Sexuality Group are invited and in the afternoon Changing Attitude England is joined by the Ozanne Foundation and Equal. The meetings on 30 September will be the first time ever that bishops have met corporately with representatives of inclusive and LGBTQIA+ organisations.

Unknowing God

Unknowing God

In 1957, aged nearly 12, I knew with an arrogant conviction that if God disapproved of me loving another boy, then God was wrong and I was right. I knew I was right to trust my feelings and physical desire for intimacy and love. I trusted my intuition, my awareness of who I am. I have had to learn again to trust the arrogant wisdom of my youthful self. Today I am still learning to trust and listen to my contemporary self, my body and feelings, and the energy within.

The dangerous theology of Ian Paul

The dangerous theology of Ian Paul

Ian Paul published a long blog in response to Richard Coles’ ‘honest reflections’ in a Times article published on April 17th.in the context of Richard’s retirement from parish ministry. I have written a response to Ian, edited and improved with the help of Changing Attitude England’s steering group. want to go public in order to comment critically on Ian’s thinking. He raises questions that affect me deeply and intimately as a gay man, a priest who is partnered and in love and retired from active ministry.

Radical New Christian Inclusion - the Silence of the Bishops

Radical New Christian Inclusion - the Silence of the Bishops

According to the Bishop of London LLF offers the whole church the opportunity to explore what ‘radical new Christian inclusion’ means. It is not something that can be achieved by a top-down process of publishing a definition but something that the whole church needs to discover and live out together. The LLF Course never mentions radical new Christian inclusion, let alone invites people to explore a definition together. In providing no introduction to the concept nor any account of how it is to be lived out the bishops, the teachers and guardians of the faith, have proved themselves inadequate to the prophetic vision and courage required to ensure the LLF process is functional and will deliver a visionary outcome.