The General Synod agonised over the Church of England’s relationship with English society when it met at Church House, Westminster, this week.
In his presidential address on Tuesday afternoon, the Archbishop of York, Dr Sentamu, said that the C of E faced many criticisms from secularÂists, some of whom wanted to remove particular responsibilities from the national Church.
Referring to Dame Mary Warnock, who recently argued that faith had no part to play in moral discourse, Dr Sentamu said: “From where she stands, religion and morality must be prised apart.” This, he said, was “false prophesy, and potentially fatal to our social fabric”.
I sometimes wonder if England isn’t wrestling with a Church which no longer understands or is really fit for purpose. But let’s just blame everyone else.
How could anyone be ‘in touch’ with the C of E? It isnt, in truth, one church but a collection of congregations -each with freedom to preach as they see fit- united by the crown and state.
Mary Warnock was herself an Anglican who has addressed conferences of chaplains and she embodies the very worst of liberal religion.
Living in Birkenhead in the late sixties, for my last three years in England (before I crossed the pond), a joy which I have always cherished was the freedom to express my faith in public. Traditional ways such as carol singing around the neighbourhood and carrying a box to stand on while sharing the good news on street corners. My friends and I used to spend many of our Saturdays going back and forth on the ferry across to Liverpool, passing out tracts and speaking to passengers (who wanted to listen. We had a musical group as well (one of my friends lugged a double bass around with him) and we sang songs from our youth songs as well as traditional hymns. Some onlookers were bemused, others knew what we were about, some joined in -but no one was angry and offended by us.
A tad over forty years and look how far the church and Christianity has fallen.
I meant to say: “… a familiarity with Christianity …”.
Bill