Letter published in the Church Times from Canon Stephen Mitchell.
How disappointing to read that the late Hugh Dawes’s attempt, in his 1992 book Freeing the Faith, to find a new story of God which did not rely on supernatural assumptions, found little support from his bishop (Gazette, 3 May). But has anything changed?
It is now more than 60 years since Bishop John Robinson came clean and declared that he no longer found it possible to believe in an almighty God ‘out there’ who intervened in human affairs, and exactly 40 years since Don Cupitt charted the gradual erosion of this belief in The Sea of Faith, broadcast on the BBC.
While both of them met with the same unsup portive attitude at the time, the evidence now is that all bishops and archbishops in the Church of England agree with John Robinson.
Prayers in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (still authorised for use) ask God to ‘send us rain and showers’, ‘confound [our enemies’] devices’, and ‘withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness’. Yet during the recent droughts, no bishop or arch bishop beseeched God to send rain; nor has one asked God to confound Russian tanks or withdraw the Covid-19 plague from us. While they called for a ceasefire in the Middle East, they did not ask God to bring it.
Until our bishops acknowledge that they do not believe in a God who will send rain, confound war makers, and take away plagues, the Church will never be the open, liberal, and inclusive community that Hugh so desired.
Such an admission by the Bishops would help to liberate faith and free us from an image of God which many find oppressive and abusive. It would help us to take responsibility for our talk of God, and encourage us to make our theology true to experience and explore the rich diversity of ways in which God has been spoken about in the Bible and in history.
Stephen Mitchell
Trustee, Sea of Faith Network
Great Waldingfield