Archbishop tackles Tsunami faith controversy in Christmas message

-15/12/05

Almost a ye


Archbishop tackles Tsunami faith controversy in Christmas message

-15/12/05

Almost a year after a Sunday newspaper generated headlines around the world by falsely suggesting that the Archbishop of Canterbury doubted God’s existence following the Asian Tsunami, Rowan Williams has once again publicly addressed the role of faith and the problem of why God allows such tragedies to take place.

Despite apologising privately to the Archbishop the Sunday Telegraph never issued a public correction to a headline that suggested the Archbishop doubted God’s existence, although its editor at the time later privately admitted it has misrepresented the Archbishop’s views.

Since the story, the Archbishop has not publicly addressed the issue.

However in his Christmas message which has just been released, Rowan Williams has once again tackled the controversial issue of why God allows suffering, and how faith can lead to a response to such tragedies as the Tsunami and hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans this year.

“The question never quite goes away of why God made a world in which such tragedy is possible” the Archbishop says.

“But Christmas reminds us of the one thing we know for sure – and that is God’s way of responding to suffering. He doesn’t wave a magic wand, or descend briefly from the sky to clean things up. He arrives on earth as a human being who will change things simply by the completeness of his love.”

“As has often been said, the Christian answer to the problem of suffering is not a theory but the story of a life and a death, Jesus’ life and death. And for that answer to be credible now, that story has to be visible in our story. We must give an answer to suffering and tragedy in what we do – because the one thing we know is that this is what God does. Faith is restored and strengthened not by talking but by witness in action.”

In a warning against giving black-and-white answers to difficult questions, the Archbishop concludes; “There is something about Christianity that always pulls us back from imagining that everything will be all right if we can find the right things to say – because for God, the right thing to say at Christmas was the crying of a small child, beginning a life of risk and suffering.”

The Archbishop’s words will be seen by some as sending off a strong message about the role of the Christian faith in tragedy, following the headlines that the Sunday Telegraph generated about the Archbishop following the disaster in Asia.

The Sunday Telegraph article still remains uncorrected on the paper’s website a year later, despite the fact that, in a letter obtained by the religious thinktank Ekklesia, Dominic Lawson apologised privately to Rowan Williams, for the newspaper’s “obtuseness” in running the headline.

The headline, on the paper’s lead story on January 2 – supposedly based on an article that Dr Williams had written inside the paper after the tsunami – read: “Archbishop of Canterbury admits: This makes me doubt the existence of God.”

When Lambeth Palace complained, the sister title the Daily Telegraph claimed that the misinterpretation was the archbishop’s own fault for not writing clearly enough.

The paper has never apologised publicly, but in the letter seen by Ekklesia, Dominic Lawson, the newspapers editor at the time, wrote to the archbishop blaming subordinates for the headline. The letter said the headline “apart from misrepresenting the nature of your argument was also theologically obtuse”.

In a letter to Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow, Mr Lawson wrote: “I share your sentiments … It grieves me that we should let down our readers who have the right to expect the highest standards.”

Jonathan Bartley, director of the theological thinktank Ekklesia which runs the Ekklesia news service, also wrote to Dominic Lawson suggesting that the Sunday Telegraph publish a correction both on its web site and in its print edition. He never received a reply.

It is understood the paper was being edited on the day that the headline appeared by its deputy editor, Matthew d’Ancona, who is a former junior fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and author of The Quest for the True Cross.

You can read the uncorrected Sunday Telegraph article here

The full text of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas message is as follows:

Perhaps the two images most of us will carry away from the last twelve months are those of the devastation caused by the tsunami just after last Christmas and by the hurricanes that devastated the southern states of America in the autumn. The natural world became a place of terror and disaster.

The question never quite goes away of why God made a world in which such tragedy is possible. But Christmas reminds us of the one thing we know for sure – and that is God’s way of responding to suffering. He doesn’t wave a magic wand, or descend briefly from the sky to clean things up. He arrives on earth as a human being who will change things simply by the completeness of his love. Jesus is dedicated to the will of the one he calls Father, the divine source of his own divine life. Never for a moment does he put any obstacle in the way of that ultimate, total outpouring of love that is the wellspring of his own life. He gives himself to this transforming purpose in every moment, whatever it costs.

And the world changes – even the physical world: death is overcome and the material world reveals God’s glory in its depths. So we are changed. New things become possible for us, new levels of loving response and involvement. As has often been said, the Christian answer to the problem of suffering is not a theory but the story of a life and a death, Jesus’
life and death. And for that answer to be credible now, that story has to be visible in our story. We must give an answer to suffering and tragedy in what we do – because the one thing we know is that this is what God does. Faith is restored and strengthened not by talking but by witness in action. And one of the moving things that this year has brought for me is the awareness of how generously so many have responded to the desperate needs of the tsunami victims and those who suffered in
New Orleans.

I have had moving letters describing the sacrificial work of Anglicans in the Province of South-East Asia, and in the diocese of Kurunagula in Sri Lanka, to name only two instances, clearly witnessing to the willingness to respond first and ask theoretical questions afterwards. And only a few days ago, I listened to a woman from Texas speaking of her work day and night over many weeks in Houston with those who had been made homeless by Hurricane Katrina. Here are stories of people who know how to answer the challenges of terrible suffering in God’s way – by obedience and service and love.

There is something about Christianity that always pulls us back from imagining that everything will be all right if we can find the right things to say – because for God, the right thing to say at Christmas was the crying of a small child, beginning a life of risk and suffering. God shows us how, by his grace and in his Spirit, we can respond to the tormenting riddles of the world. And, as we agonise over the future of our beloved church, with all its debates and bitter struggles at the moment, it does us no harm to remember that God will not solve our Anglican problems by a plan or a formula, but only by the miracle of his love in Jesus. If we want to be part of the solution, we must first be wholly and unconditionally pledged to that love, with all its costs. May God who works in the weakness and smallness of the Christmas child work in our weakness and smallness; may he bless and strengthen you all at this season.

+Rowan Cantuar:


Archbishop tackles Tsunami faith controversy in Christmas message

-15/12/05

Almost a year after a Sunday newspaper generated headlines around the world by falsely suggesting that the Archbishop of Canterbury doubted God’s existence following the Asian Tsunami, Rowan Williams has once again publicly addressed the role of faith and the problem of why God allows such tragedies to take place.

Despite apologising privately to the Archbishop the Sunday Telegraph never issued a public correction to a headline that suggested the Archbishop doubted God’s existence, although its editor at the time later privately admitted it has misrepresented the Archbishop’s views.

Since the story, the Archbishop has not publicly addressed the issue.

However in his Christmas message which has just been released, Rowan Williams has once again tackled the controversial issue of why God allows suffering, and how faith can lead to a response to such tragedies as the Tsunami and hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans this year.

“The question never quite goes away of why God made a world in which such tragedy is possible” the Archbishop says.

“But Christmas reminds us of the one thing we know for sure – and that is God’s way of responding to suffering. He doesn’t wave a magic wand, or descend briefly from the sky to clean things up. He arrives on earth as a human being who will change things simply by the completeness of his love.”

“As has often been said, the Christian answer to the problem of suffering is not a theory but the story of a life and a death, Jesus’ life and death. And for that answer to be credible now, that story has to be visible in our story. We must give an answer to suffering and tragedy in what we do – because the one thing we know is that this is what God does. Faith is restored and strengthened not by talking but by witness in action.”

In a warning against giving black-and-white answers to difficult questions, the Archbishop concludes; “There is something about Christianity that always pulls us back from imagining that everything will be all right if we can find the right things to say – because for God, the right thing to say at Christmas was the crying of a small child, beginning a life of risk and suffering.”

The Archbishop’s words will be seen by some as sending off a strong message about the role of the Christian faith in tragedy, following the headlines that the Sunday Telegraph generated about the Archbishop following the disaster in Asia.

The Sunday Telegraph article still remains uncorrected on the paper’s website a year later, despite the fact that, in a letter obtained by the religious thinktank Ekklesia, Dominic Lawson apologised privately to Rowan Williams, for the newspaper’s “obtuseness” in running the headline.

The headline, on the paper’s lead story on January 2 – supposedly based on an article that Dr Williams had written inside the paper after the tsunami – read: “Archbishop of Canterbury admits: This makes me doubt the existence of God.”

When Lambeth Palace complained, the sister title the Daily Telegraph claimed that the misinterpretation was the archbishop’s own fault for not writing clearly enough.

The paper has never apologised publicly, but in the letter seen by Ekklesia, Dominic Lawson, the newspapers editor at the time, wrote to the archbishop blaming subordinates for the headline. The letter said the headline “apart from misrepresenting the nature of your argument was also theologically obtuse”.

In a letter to Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow, Mr Lawson wrote: “I share your sentiments … It grieves me that we should let down our readers who have the right to expect the highest standards.”

Jonathan Bartley, director of the theological thinktank Ekklesia which runs the Ekklesia news service, also wrote to Dominic Lawson suggesting that the Sunday Telegraph publish a correction both on its web site and in its print edition. He never received a reply.

It is understood the paper was being edited on the day that the headline appeared by its deputy editor, Matthew d’Ancona, who is a former junior fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and author of The Quest for the True Cross.

You can read the uncorrected Sunday Telegraph article here

The full text of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas message is as follows:

Perhaps the two images most of us will carry away from the last twelve months are those of the devastation caused by the tsunami just after last Christmas and by the hurricanes that devastated the southern states of America in the autumn. The natural world became a place of terror and disaster.

The question never quite goes away of why God made a world in which such tragedy is possible. But Christmas reminds us of the one thing we know for sure – and that is God’s way of responding to suffering. He doesn’t wave a magic wand, or descend briefly from the sky to clean things up. He arrives on earth as a human being who will change things simply by the completeness of his love. Jesus is dedicated to the will of the one he calls Father, the divine source of his own divine life. Never for a moment does he put any obstacle in the way of that ultimate, total outpouring of love that is the wellspring of his own life. He gives himself to this transforming purpose in every moment, whatever it costs.

And the world changes – even the physical world: death is overcome and the material world reveals God’s glory in its depths. So we are changed. New things become possible for us, new levels of loving response and involvement. As has often been said, the Christian answer to the problem of suffering is not a theory but the story of a life and a death, Jesus’
life and death. And for that answer to be credible now, that story has to be visible in our story. We must give an answer to suffering and tragedy in what we do – because the one thing we know is that this is what God does. Faith is restored and strengthened not by talking but by witness in action. And one of the moving things that this year has brought for me is the awareness of how generously so many have responded to the desperate needs of the tsunami victims and those who suffered in
New Orleans.

I have had moving letters describing the sacrificial work of Anglicans in the Province of South-East Asia, and in the diocese of Kurunagula in Sri Lanka, to name only two instances, clearly witnessing to the willingness to respond first and ask theoretical questions afterwards. And only a few days ago, I listened to a woman from Texas speaking of her work day and night over many weeks in Houston with those who had been made homeless by Hurricane Katrina. Here are stories of people who know how to answer the challenges of terrible suffering in God’s way – by obedience and service and love.

There is something about Christianity that always pulls us back from imagining that everything will be all right if we can find the right things to say – because for God, the right thing to say at Christmas was the crying of a small child, beginning a life of risk and suffering. God shows us how, by his grace and in his Spirit, we can respond to the tormenting riddles of the world. And, as we agonise over the future of our beloved church, with all its debates and bitter struggles at the moment, it does us no harm to remember that God will not solve our Anglican problems by a plan or a formula, but only by the miracle of his love in Jesus. If we want to be part of the solution, we must first be wholly and unconditionally pledged to that love, with all its costs. May God who works in the weakness and smallness of the Christmas child work in our weakness and smallness; may he bless and strengthen you all at this season.

+Rowan Cantuar: