Change faith versus politics standoff, says Christian think tank
-04/07/06
Current ide
Change faith versus politics standoff, says Christian think tank
-04/07/06
Current ideas about the relationship between faith and politics ñ both among believers and secularists ñ are ìhopelessly stuckî in a confrontation which is ìas deadly as it is mistakenî, says the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia ñ which is launching a book proposing a ìradical new approachî.
Faith and Politics After Christendom, by Ekklesia co-director Jonathan Bartley, is published this week by Paternoster Press. It is provocatively sub-titled ìthe church as a movement for anarchyî.
It argues that in the UK and elsewhere the old ëChristendomí settlement, whereby religion (specifically Christianity) sought to offer blessing to the state in return for being accorded official status, protection and privilege is ending ñ and that this is good both for the churches, whose radical Gospel message has been undermined by being part of the establishment, and for those of other faiths and none, who are marginalised when one faith or ideology dominates the public square.
Explains Mr Bartley: ìThe history and ideology of Christendom, which has parallels in other religious traditions, has led to the utterly false assumption that the only options in the relationship between faith and politics are between the kind of religion that tries to dominate others, or the virtual expulsion of religion from public life and its reduction to a ëprivateí sphere.î
Neither of these approaches, often advanced by religionists and secularists respectively, is either credible or desirable, argues Ekklesia.
In Faith and Politics After Christendom, Jonathan Bartley says that if it wants to follow the subversive way of Jesus (who rejected violence, broke religious taboos, by-passed political authority, and was ultimately killed by the powers-that-be) the church should stop trying to grasp political privilege for itself.
Instead, it should recognise itself to be a creative minority, operating from the margins, with an imaginative agenda for change which it should seek to ëget on the agendaí by example, by witness and by cooperation with others ñ as in the global anti-poverty movement.
Bartleyís book is highly critical of the ënew dealí that the British government is offering the churches and other faith communities ñ involvement in partnerships with the government and service provision.
Not all of this is bad, it says, but the underlying ëdealí is unhealthy. It solves the churchesí loss of identity and role by making them surrogates for the government (with resulting clashes over human rights and fairness) and it allows the government to ëcontract outí welfare provision without addressing underlying questions of injustice and the rich-poor divide.
Ekklesia has called for an end to the Establishment of the Church of England under the Crown, the abolition of blasphemy laws, the removal of religious selection in state schools, and the revision of marriage laws to distinguish between legal, civil and religious partnerships.
Instead it has encouraged churches to become directly involved in non-violent conflict transformation, restorative justice, the politics of forgiveness, ecologically sustainable lifestyle, hospitality for migrants and displaced people, alternative worship, emergent church, radical spirituality, anti-poverty action and fresh approaches to bio-ethics, family and sexuality.
ìThe agenda for ëfuture churchí is about demonstrating how the Gospel undermines the norms and values of a violent, selfish, acquisitive and fragmented social order,î says Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow.
ìBut in order to do that the churches need to let go of their privilege and of models of partnership that shore up the status quo. Itís about a new way of thinking and acting ñ combining risky faith and hopeful reasonî, he explains.
Ekklesia points out that the post-Christendom approach to religion in public life creates new alliances and shatters old assumptions ñ and Jonathan Bartleyís Faith and Politics After Christendom says that it is not an ëidealí, but an emerging reality.
ìHistoric churches may be stuck and declining as institutions, but there is life between the cracks and there are radical alternatives developing through networks like Christian Peacemaker Teams and experiments with ëfresh expressionsí of church,î he notes.
Ekklesia says that it is as happy to work with secular and humanist organisations on common causes and a fresh agenda as it is to cooperate with evangelicals, liberals, catholics and people of other faith traditions.
The new ecumenism, it suggests, is not about stitching together ecclesiastical institutions, but about a ìdynamic process of cooperation, conversation, argument and distinctive actionî among people of overlapping but different convictions.
Says Barrow: ìThe Jesus movement didnít obey the ëstandard categoriesí of religion and politics, and nor should we. In post-Christendom, we no longer have to choose between state church and fearful fundamentalism, or between being indiscriminately pro- or anti-religion. Those ëchoicesí might dominate public talk about religion, but they no longer work. Itís time we changed the agenda to something more hopeful and liveable.î
Faith and Politics After Christendomwas launched this weekend at an Anabaptist Network conference in Birmingham. It has already been commended as an ìessential readî by commentators, academics and church leaders ñ including (among others) Bruce Clark of The Economist, Stephen Bates of The Guardian, Methodist general secretary David Deeks, Bishop of Bath and Wells Peter Price, and Lord David Alton.
For more information about ëpost-Christendomí see Postchristendom.com and After Christendom – The Series. For new perspectives on religion and is relation to politics see God and the Politicians and Subverting the Manifestos on Ekklesia.
Change faith versus politics standoff, says Christian think tank
-04/07/06
Current ideas about the relationship between faith and politics ñ both among believers and secularists ñ are ìhopelessly stuckî in a confrontation which is ìas deadly as it is mistakenî, says the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia ñ which is launching a book proposing a ìradical new approachî.
Faith and Politics After Christendom, by Ekklesia co-director Jonathan Bartley, is published this week by Paternoster Press. It is provocatively sub-titled ìthe church as a movement for anarchyî.
It argues that in the UK and elsewhere the old ëChristendomí settlement, whereby religion (specifically Christianity) sought to offer blessing to the state in return for being accorded official status, protection and privilege is ending ñ and that this is good both for the churches, whose radical Gospel message has been undermined by being part of the establishment, and for those of other faiths and none, who are marginalised when one faith or ideology dominates the public square.
Explains Mr Bartley: ìThe history and ideology of Christendom, which has parallels in other religious traditions, has led to the utterly false assumption that the only options in the relationship between faith and politics are between the kind of religion that tries to dominate others, or the virtual expulsion of religion from public life and its reduction to a ëprivateí sphere.î
Neither of these approaches, often advanced by religionists and secularists respectively, is either credible or desirable, argues Ekklesia.
In Faith and Politics After Christendom, Jonathan Bartley says that if it wants to follow the subversive way of Jesus (who rejected violence, broke religious taboos, by-passed political authority, and was ultimately killed by the powers-that-be) the church should stop trying to grasp political privilege for itself.
Instead, it should recognise itself to be a creative minority, operating from the margins, with an imaginative agenda for change which it should seek to ëget on the agendaí by example, by witness and by cooperation with others ñ as in the global anti-poverty movement.
Bartleyís book is highly critical of the ënew dealí that the British government is offering the churches and other faith communities ñ involvement in partnerships with the government and service provision.
Not all of this is bad, it says, but the underlying ëdealí is unhealthy. It solves the churchesí loss of identity and role by making them surrogates for the government (with resulting clashes over human rights and fairness) and it allows the government to ëcontract outí welfare provision without addressing underlying questions of injustice and the rich-poor divide.
Ekklesia has called for an end to the Establishment of the Church of England under the Crown, the abolition of blasphemy laws, the removal of religious selection in state schools, and the revision of marriage laws to distinguish between legal, civil and religious partnerships.
Instead it has encouraged churches to become directly involved in non-violent conflict transformation, restorative justice, the politics of forgiveness, ecologically sustainable lifestyle, hospitality for migrants and displaced people, alternative worship, emergent church, radical spirituality, anti-poverty action and fresh approaches to bio-ethics, family and sexuality.
ìThe agenda for ëfuture churchí is about demonstrating how the Gospel undermines the norms and values of a violent, selfish, acquisitive and fragmented social order,î says Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow.
ìBut in order to do that the churches need to let go of their privilege and of models of partnership that shore up the status quo. Itís about a new way of thinking and acting ñ combining risky faith and hopeful reasonî, he explains.
Ekklesia points out that the post-Christendom approach to religion in public life creates new alliances and shatters old assumptions ñ and Jonathan Bartleyís Faith and Politics After Christendom says that it is not an ëidealí, but an emerging reality.
ìHistoric churches may be stuck and declining as institutions, but there is life between the cracks and there are radical alternatives developing through networks like Christian Peacemaker Teams and experiments with ëfresh expressionsí of church,î he notes.
Ekklesia says that it is as happy to work with secular and humanist organisations on common causes and a fresh agenda as it is to cooperate with evangelicals, liberals, catholics and people of other faith traditions.
The new ecumenism, it suggests, is not about stitching together ecclesiastical institutions, but about a ìdynamic process of cooperation, conversation, argument and distinctive actionî among people of overlapping but different convictions.
Says Barrow: ìThe Jesus movement didnít obey the ëstandard categoriesí of religion and politics, and nor should we. In post-Christendom, we no longer have to choose between state church and fearful fundamentalism, or between being indiscriminately pro- or anti-religion. Those ëchoicesí might dominate public talk about religion, but they no longer work. Itís time we changed the agenda to something more hopeful and liveable.î
Faith and Politics After Christendomwas launched this weekend at an Anabaptist Network conference in Birmingham. It has already been commended as an ìessential readî by commentators, academics and church leaders ñ including (among others) Bruce Clark of The Economist, Stephen Bates of The Guardian, Methodist general secretary David Deeks, Bishop of Bath and Wells Peter Price, and Lord David Alton.
For more information about ëpost-Christendomí see Postchristendom.com and After Christendom – The Series. For new perspectives on religion and is relation to politics see God and the Politicians and Subverting the Manifestos on Ekklesia.