The Pensive Pilgrim

There has been a flury of social media activity recently following the publication of the Church of England's teaching materials 'Living in Love and Faith' - the latest attempt to explore questions around gender, sexuality, marriage and relationships.   Not surprisingly, attention has been focussed in particular on two videos.The first of these, released by the 'Church of England Evangelical Council', was clearly filmed prior to the release of LLF and re-iterates all the well-rehearsed conservative arguments whilst also gently rattling sabres about either leaving the CofE if it changes its teaching in any way, or at least requiring the development of new provinces for those who would dissent from any such change. Rather bizarrely, it features people who were architects of LLF itself. The second, far more toxic, video was published by the group calling itself 'Christian Concern'. This is presented as a 'critique' of the LLF materials, in particular th...

  Welcome, straight friend, to Mirror-World. Your imagination has brought you here, and your imagination will enable you to experience what Mirror-World has to teach you.   So set your imagination free. While here you can be – and indeed must be – completely yourself. It is only the world around you that will be different. It will be a mirror image of the real world, and everything will be reversed, but if you dare to open your heart and mind, it is an image that may give you a new insight into the lives and experiences of others, and perhaps even to understand yourself in new ways. You are yourself. Your sexual desires and drives remain as they have always been. If you are in a committed relationship, that person remains the absolute focus of your desires and love. (I bet that’s a relief, isn’t it?) But you need to know that here in Mirror World, physical and romantic attraction to the same sex is the norm.   You will be left in no doubt about this. From the ear...

As England begins another Lockdown in response to Covid-19, places of worship have once again been told that they can open their doors only for private prayer. Public worship is now forbidden by law for the next month. As one would expect, there have been some very angry responses to this, not least from clergy in the Church of England. Indeed even the Archbishops and Bishops - who were criticised for acquiescing too readily to the shutting down of public worship last time round - have challenged the government on this occasion.  Inevitably, it is the voice of the objectors that is most heard; but in reality, views on this issue - both amongst the clergy and, even more so, the laity - are rather more mixed. Whilst some have argued that closing churches for public worship will do missional harm to the church, others suggest that in a predominantly secular culture, excepting faith communities from a hardship that so many other institutions must endure simply causes more alienation. I...