Roy Greenhalgh and his inventive organising team gave us a tough one for openers: Michael Jacobs on ‘‘Varieties of Faith’’. Michael is Director of Pastoral Care and Counselling for three Anglican dioceses and teaches at Leicester University, and his talk made no concessions to those of us who don’t know our Erikson from our Kohlberg or our oral from our anal religion. But he threw out some questions which did make for lively discussion.
What illusions had we begun to harbour in Sea of Faith, and in what ways were we already becoming conventional or conformist?
Chartered psychologist John Chesney, aided by a team of hastily-recruited facilitators, divided us into small groups to work our way through such questions as ‘‘What is our purpose and vision?’’, ‘‘What do we hold on to, let go of and bring in?’’, and ‘‘How do we sce the future shape of Sea of Faith?’’.
Theology returned to the agenda with Don Cupitt’s talk on ‘tA Kingdom Theology”’ (printed in full on pp 8-12).
Psycho-Social counsellor Jenny Iliffe, stepping into a late breach, drew on her own work in the field of medical ethics to help us think our way through to a rational and humanist ethical framework with a talk entitled ‘‘Ethics:
Living Creatively with Plurality and Paradox’’.
Practical matters were to the fore in our short AGM. The Steering Committee presented a draft constitution, and Chair Aileen La Tourette handed over to Maxine Green to steer us through some 21 tabled amendments in 60 minutes! The miracle was accomplished and the constitution as amended was passed without a hand raised in dissent. (It is printed on pp 15-16). The AGM went on to endorse a new Steering Committee, which elected Maxine Green as Network Chair for the coming year. The meeting also passed unanimously an emergency resolution supporting Anthony Freeman, and asked the Network Secretary to forward it to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
But, as always, much of the real heart and soul of SoF’s annual gathering was to be found in the workshops, discussion groups, short talks and informal happenings which were crowded into our three short days (or one-and-two-halves). With the help of our scratch team of scribes, reports of these follow. Please note that a full Conference Report, containing transcripts of the plenary talks and discussion, will be sent free of charge to all Conference attenders, and will be available to others from the Network Secretary at £3.50 including p&p.
Elastic images Anne Ashworth, who led the poetry workshop, writes: Words and images are basic to human consciousness and very much the business of SoF. It follows that SoF people make ideal participants in a poetry workshop. They know the importance of metaphor and they have something to say.
From a heap of photographic images, choices were made.
Words were jotted down and left to simmer in the subconscious.
We then considered some kinds of religious imagery: bread, wine, water, wind, light, fire... dove, butterfly, fish, pelican, sheep. Finally the group homed in on the archetypal tree. Each writer produced two lines towards a tree poem, which were formed into a mosaic by the facilitator while participants concentrated on their own chosen images, producing results varying from a set of haiku to a lengthy prose poem.
Great literature is not produced in half a morning. Nevertheless examples of the workshop’s exercises were read at the end of the Conference and seemed to draw together some threads of SoF thinking and feeling.
Changing the Church John Linford led this workshop looking at the good, the bad and the ugly about the churches. Participants were set three tasks: first, to produce reasons why the churches are still valued, secondly to list ‘‘things felt to be wrong with the churches’, and third to consider factors favouring or inhibiting change.
The churches were valued as ‘‘a force for social change, a focus of local community, an open, caring fellowship of people of goodwill, a forum for exploration and reflection’. On the debit side, they were ‘‘bound to a pre-scientific past, outdated teaching methods, out of date language, lack of critical thinking’’. They were ‘‘authoritarian, exclusive, sexist, clergydominated, failing in social action’? and wedded to ‘‘poor sermons and poor hymns’’. Factors in favour of change included ‘decline of authority, mass media interest, financial problems, burden of buildings, radical clergy, experiential learning’’.
Factors inhibiting change were ‘‘the rise of fundamentalism, closed minds, inertia, prejudice, establishment, need for certainty, fear of change, disregard for academic theology’’. John Linford suggested that ‘‘change is a very slow process; there is much we must patiently put up with; we should avoid conflict, which will cause us to be marginalised; we should emphasise what we do, not what we do not believe’’. And, he added, we should support the changes already under way.
Resolution This Conference of the Sea of Faith Network, attended by two hundred men and women, clergy and laity, from the major churches and other traditions, deeply regrets that for the first time this century a Church of England priest has been removed from his living for publishing views unacceptable to his bishop. The Conference fully and unreservedly supports the Rev Anthony Freeman in his efforts to preserve a tolerant and liberal spirit within the Church of England.
Sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace Alternative worship Penny Mawdsley organised the alternative worship ‘‘Under the Trees’’, and writes: It started at the unearthly hour of 7.30am and took the form of a short poetic perambualtion under the trees between the two residential blocks we occupied. Fifteen willing (and very able) volunteers conjured up God from the gap in the hedge, caught Adam up a cedar, heard Rudyard Kipling declaimed over a sunken lawn, saw Anthea, ‘‘the Dark Lady’’, serenaded under the saplings - and so much more.
The moving meditators were very well behaved - there was no ‘‘whispering in the grass’’ - and they demonstrated particular aptitude for minute-by-minute mood swings as tree or occasion demanded. Should we try a musical version next year?
What is to be done?
David Boulton used Lenin’s ‘‘What is to be done?’’ challenge to provoke discussion on SoF activity, citing also James 1.22 - ‘Be ye doers of the word, and not heares only’’. Some in the group thought action was inappropriate for a network like SoF.
Others thought it time the Network developed a strategy for pursuing objectives.
Two such strategies were discussed. One was that SoF consider launching a series of booklets on the implications of its objectives, following the model of the Fabian Society whose publications always carry a disclaimer to the effect that views expressed therein are those of the author and do not commit the Society.
The second strategy looked to the model of the Society of Friends, which encouraged special-interest groups (Quakers in Criminal Justice, Quaker Socialist Fellowship, etc.) to act independently without committing the Society as a whole.
Perhaps SoF members wishing to pursue the political implications of radical theology, or those interested in reforming Teligious education in schools, should be encouraged to get together, acting not in the name of the Network as a whole but as a special-interest group under the Network's broad umbrella.
Other suggestions: sell the magazine (but make it more accessible); place it in libraries; produce a list, based on a questionnaire, of members’ interests, activities and specialisms; be more pro-active in relation to ceremonies and rituals. (Summarised from a report by Adam Thomson).
Ceremonies Julia Nicoll led ‘‘a very small group’’ to discuss ceremonies.
She writes: The group felt there was a great need and hunger in people for ritual, and a great fear among others of putting a ceremony together. The following points were agreed: 1. A strong request that the Conference planning committee give a much more prominent place to rituals and ceremonies. These should be central and not tucked away. 2. Encouragement to local groups to experiment in this field and perhaps offer to lead one at next Conference. 3. Ceremonies were liberating and there would be many different approaches, but only through sharing and experiencing would this need be met.
Am Ia Nonrealist?
Philip Knight reports on a workshop led by Stephen Mitchell: We divided into four groups with four themes, “‘God’’, ‘‘Self’’, ‘‘Reality”’ and ‘‘Meaning’’, and were instructed to brainstorm realist nonrealist atitudes to | them. The workshop was and structured to enable us to recognise that the realist/nonrealist debate is wider than the question of God’s reality. After brainstorming we were requested to present our conclusions in an entertaining manner.
Only the ‘‘God’’ group managed to be entertaining. They performed a role-play involving the use of an imaginary telephone line to God, which deserves a repeat performance to a larger audience next year, perhaps in the bar!
Maxine Green: new Chair Perhaps the most difficult part of the workshop was coming to grips with the nonrealist attitude to the self: the idea that the self is itself a construct of language and culture, with no reality of its own. If this is acknowledged, then it is not just religion which will have to undergo radical change as a result of nonrealist attitudes. Humanism may have to revise some of its treasured dogmas about ‘‘natural’’ human rights. Such rights are made by us in our culture. There is nothing sacred about the human self apart from our commendable desire to regard it as such. Since this notion of the sacred self continues to dominate in the great religious traditions, it may be that the liberal humanist tradition is now best served and sustained within nonrealist religious structures.
CONFERENCE from page 7 Life Abundant - without the Church Gretel Dewer, who led the discussion group, writes: The traditional Christian teaching, ‘I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly’, implying a once-and-for-all giving of life through a saviour-figure, was compared to the Jungian concept that natural energy and zest for life are part and parcel of the human condition, latent within all of us. We noted that Jung, in the quotations we looked at, still made use of ‘‘god language’’. Abundant life, the life of the spirit for Jung, seems to be equated with a notion or concept of God. Several of us found this difficult, having put traditional religious language behind us when we gave up religious allegiance. We used our time to the full and shared personal experiences in the exploration of what exactly is the origin of that energy we call ‘‘life abundant’’.
The psychology of change This discussion group asked how we can accept change without losing our sense of identity, purpose and relationships, and whether in the end taking an active part in change may not enhance all the important values in life. John Edmundson led the group and writes: Has radical theology with its new emphasis on value, meaning and human relationships got anything to offer? Can it help an urban world where small groups of children drift around on an evening, rootless, bored and aimless, and liable to drift into crime, from minor acts of theft to serious acts of physical assault and even murder? What values are needed to meet such tragic circumstances? How are they to be transmitted and what kind of new community needs to be created to reduce the risk of these tragedies recurring? There will be many more discussions and much hard work when the world of value formation comes up against the hard realities of human tragedy and ethical problem solving.
Marked men and women In a short talk on ‘‘Rational dissent and SoF’’, Adrian Worsfold suggested it was for SoF to take up ‘“‘the radical cutting edge’’ of dissent, and warned those identified with the Network to ‘‘be prepared to take the consequences of being associated with the name Sea of Faith.
For this is now a marked organisation”’. There were also short talks (not reported to the magazine) on ‘The Curse of Scripture’’ by Kit Chivers, “Realist. and Nonrealist Views of Prayer’? by Tim Miles, and ‘Postmodernism and post-communism in Eastern Europe’’ by David Hart and Artur Ston. David Winston led a discussion on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education of our children. Valerie Clark offered a workshop on ‘‘Spiritual Growth and Childhood Bereavement’’ and Jean Riley a creative painting workshop. Maxine Green led a workshop on ‘‘Creating Rites of Passage’’ which produced a simple and moving ceremony marking the dramatic change in Anthony Freeman’s life, which was repeated at the close of the conference.
New Steering Committee: The AGM endorsed the following Steering Committee, pending elections under the new Constitution next year: David Boulton, Valerie Clark, Pamela Donohue, John Edmundson, Helen Fisher, Diana Ford, Maxine Green, Roy Greenhalgh, Amanda Harding, David Hart, Stephen Mitchell, Trudi Newton. David Paterson, Ronald Pearse, John Pearson, Adam Thomson, Adrian Worsfold.