But if these spiritual needs are to be properly nurtured, then Anglicanism needs to rediscover its quiet, understated confidence in the balance between Scripture, reason and tradition, and to assert this in the face of an increasingly intolerant fundamentalism.
One feature that drew me into the Church of England was its generous tolerance of diverse opinions held together by the beauty of Cranmer’s liturgy.
“Thou hast set my feet, O Lord, in a large room,” says the psalmist, and I give thanks for the large room that is the Church of England, in which those who seek meaning and purpose can be welcomed, whatever stage of belief or unbelief they have reached.
My own church has endeavoured to embody this.
As the journalists’ church, our doors are open to all of the Fourth Estate, and we have hosted debates on such subjects as Islamophobia, capital punishment, the City, religion and the media.
We attempt to look outwards, raising issues for debate rather than peddling dogmatic certainties.
The Psalmists also speak of blessed are they who walk in the paths of righteousness; the goodness of the Law of the Lord; the importance of repentance; etc. The ‘large room’ is not a metaphor for accepting all manner of beliefs or unbeliefs, but is that all those who follow the Lord are welcome in His house.
Biblical illiteracy rears its ugly head again.