We have received the following report of the second annual conference of the New Zealand Sea of Faith Network in September 1994, ‘*A breath of fresh air’’ - ‘‘life-affirming’’ - ‘‘the radical edge of the Church’s life’’: these were just some of the words used by participants to describe the second NZ SoF conference at Bryant Hall, University of Waikato, Hamilton, attended by 240 people drawn from all corners of the country and all denominations and none. There were a few more clergy than at the first conference, including two former Presbyterian Moderators, and Stephen Warne, recently arrived from England [a former SoF chair] to be vicar of Te Awamutu. All had a common interest in exploring religious thought and expression from a non-dogmatic and human-oriented standpoint.
The conference offered three main lecture sessions attended by all, plus 35 workshops of which participants could attend two - a very difficult choice. Alan Webster, a sociologist from Massey University, provided the opening lecture, ‘‘Multiple Cultures and Emergent Spirituality: a Small Society Reflecting Global Change’’.
Susan Adams, an Anglican priest, lectured on ‘‘The Tree of Life? A Feminist Looks at the Cross’’. Lloyd Geering, whose book Tomorrow’s God was given a mini-launch during the conference, supplied the final lecture, ‘“Tomorrow’s Spirituality’.
The workshops varied widely. Neville Glasgow, a freelance broadcaster who has developed a series of radio programmes containing personal interviews with wellknown New Zealanders discussing what gives meaning to their life, led a workshop on ‘‘Personal Life Stories and the Search for Meaning’’, identifying the creation of our personal story as a means of giving meaning and purpose to our lives. For some it was a new experience to find that they do have a story, and one that others find significant. Listening, too, can be inspiring as we hear other people’s stories, realising how much we have in common and also how each story is unique.
By using television clips from UK programmes Elaine Geering ran a workshop on the Anthony Freeman incident, exploring the factors which led to it and examining what light it shed on the nature of authority, the difference between faith and belief, and the general state of the churches.
A workshop on ‘‘Honesty in the Church’’, so popular it had to be offered twice, was led by Barrie Allom, a recently retired Anglican priest. The subject was opened up under seven topic headings, each explored by means of a quotation from a well-known author, as follows. J, Truth sacrificed for unity - Spong. 2, The factors which compromise honesty in the Church: ‘‘obsession with power, desire to be governed, reluctance to grow ”” - Cupitt. 3, Beliefs which require credulity and -pro.uvte dependency - Freeman. 4, Loving acceptance with strings attached - Pittenger. 5, The gulf between academic and popular theology - Spong. 6, Credal and liturgical double-talk: saying one thing and meaning another - Freeman. And 7, Church dogma beyond the reach of criticism - Bowden. The workshop did not arrive at any heart-stopping conclusions or decisions for action, but there was a strong sense of fellowship and support for each other as members discussed issues of mutual concern.
A ‘‘Workshop on Buddhism’’ discussed Buddhism as a philosophy of living where there is no conflict with other belief systems and no compulsion to accept dogma. There is no missionary movement and there never has been a holy war. There is no requirement to accept the existence of God: it is a matter of personal choice. Buddhism acknowledges that there is constant change in everything, both external to us and in our own thoughts and values.
Our natural desire for security, familiarity, dependability and permanence is destined to disappointment because of universal change. So Buddhism encourages us to let go from attachments, obsessions and clinging. Nothing ever really belongs to us. Life is only a passage.
The words of the Buddha himself were quoted: ‘‘Do not believe in anything merely because it is said. Nor in traditions simply because they have been handed down from antiquity. Nor in writings by wise men just because wise men wrote them. Nor in the mere authority of our teachers and masters. But do believe when writings, doctrine or thinking is confirmed by your own reason, consciousness and experience’’.
Sheila Murray, who has recently had published both in New Zealand and the United States books of contemporary hymns, along with her husband John, led a workshop on the writing and singing of hymns relevant to today’s world.
Another workshop was devoted to understanding the paintings of New Zealand’s most important religious artist, Colin McCahon. Using some 50 slides to illustrate the theme ‘‘Colin McCahon and the Twilight of Christendom’’, Lloyd Geering traced the way the artist’s spiritual biography reflected what has been happening in New Zealand culture over a period of 40 years.
Other workshops included ‘‘Honest Worship and Prayer’’, ‘‘Searching for Truth and Meaning in an Age of Scientific Reasons’, and ‘‘Creating God’’, led by journalist Ian Harris, chairperson of the SoFNZ Steering Committee, who has recently published a little book with that title. On the Saturday evening a panel discussed ‘‘God: For and Against’’, after the television debate between Karen Armstrong and Father McCabe at Oxford had been viewed on a large screen by the whole conference.
On the Sunday morming before the final meal the conference joined in an act of celebration in the university chapel. The chapel has no fixed seating and chairs were arranged in concentric circles. The celebration too the form of a Quaker silence, in the course of hich individuals or groups from the workshops offered tw the whole gathering reflections from what they had been doing and thinking. Although simple and largely unplanned, it was experienced as something very unifying.
Suggestions for next time (August 25-27 in Wellington) include ‘‘Where do we go from here’’, the possibility of like-minded people considering social action on some of the issues raised, singing together - and ‘‘Can we get Karen Armstrong?’