WHAT HAPPENED NEXT by Stephen Mitchell. In the first edition of SOF Magazine, Ronald Pearse described the beginnings of the first SOF conference.
That inaugural gathering provoked a great deal of thought not least among the members of the Committee who rather missed their leisurely pub or vicaragelunch discussions that had been overtaken by the pressing business of organization. They resolved, therefore, to form an SOF group separate from the Committee and, having secured a venue on Loughborough campus, issued an open invitation to former Conference members in the East Midlands to attend a first meeting in October, 1988, which attracted a score or so of people from three counties.
After two and a half years, this gathering is now established as the East Midlands Sea of Faith Group.
Our experience in setting it up may help and encourage others to start similar groups in their areas. We are fortunate to be able to meet at Loughborough University where we have had access to a comfortable room and a bar within easy reach.
This means we have been able to establish a regular venue and opportunity for refreshment without burdening individual members.
We are all busy and not everyone can or wants to attend each meeting. In the early days communication was rather haphazard regarding the setting of dates for meetings and attendances dropped perilously low until we introduced our own mailing list, which I now administer, in April 1989. We have found that this keeps everyone in the picture date-wise and reassures that the group is still going if you happen to miss a couple of meetings I Invitations have featured simple attention-grabbing ploys like coloured paper, some frankly ambiguous 'maritime' graphics that have sometimes actually started the discussion at meetings and very occasionally a summary of some of the things that we have talked about previously.
We have always met without an agenda and have never operated under a strong chair. In this way our discussions have ranged freely over many topics, prompted by individual interests, recent publications, articles in SOF Magazine and personal circumstances and frustrations. As there has usually been at least one new member at each meeting, this informal manner has enabled them to enter more quickly into the proceedings.
A new member will sometimes voice concerns familiar to others and take us into areas addressed at previous meetings. But this is part of the purpose of the group, to offer support and sympathetic understanding for the exploration of new ideas.
Like many people scattered across Britain, the East Midlands group looked forward to the second Conference last year and many were able to take advantage of their proximity to attend SOF II at Leicester. At the first Conference there had been some shyness and reticence amongst those present but by the second one we were much more confident and relaxed. However, it began to emerge that there was not only a variety of opinion amongst radicals and between "radicals" and "liberals", but also over the future and purpose of SOF.
After two Conferences, the question therefore was "What next?" A policy and task-setting meeting was held in October 1989 and sixteen people coming to Loughborough from as far as Gloucestershire, Suffolk, London, Manchester and Wolverhampton began to tackle that question. It was here that the idea of SOF as some kind of 'movement' was displaced by what was felt to be a more appropriate characterization of SOF as "a network for exploring and promoting religious faith as a human creation". This Statement of Intent that emerged from the October Meeting seemed both positive and succinct, but how should this intention be carried forward? The next Conference was already being planned and the hope is that this positive presentation of Radical Theology will continue through the workshops and Conference Report to produce a "snapshot of Radical thinking".
Two other ways of carrying SOF forward seemed possible. The first was a magazine which could continue the debate throughout the year. Thanks to the careful and imaginative editing of Clive Richards, SOF Magazine is here. The second strategy was to try to encourage the setting up of local SOF groups and it is hoped that at this year's Conference people will be made aware of others from the same area with an eye to fostering such localized activity.
Finally, some readers might be wondering what sort of topics might arise in a local group. Although we don't keep minutes or records of our meetings as such, here is a summary of a meeting in January which one of the members happened to compile. "Consideration of the October Statement of intent.
What is mean/ by religious' EX8/77/%184(9/7 & the view that only theistic belief qua/Als as religious As it stands, the Statement does not /i7 fact appear to preclude belief in a deity. Observation that radical non-realism extends to the supernatural content of all faiths and phiAcso,ohkis.
Why radicals are not agnostics whilst parao'oxiCa/4/ accepting that their chosen faith position is no more verifiable in pa/no/No than theism.
How are we to understand "religious experiences" from a radical standpoint and what V/7///9111' can we attach to them. Effect of cultural context on the form in which such experiences are perceived.
On staying in the Church in the teeth of opposition from proponents of the simple, traditional faith. It was noted that the intellectual training of many clergy now does not apparent/' dilute their zeabus "siin,o/e faith" attitude. Fate of the Church if abandoned to fundamentalists. Effects of disestablishment of the C. of E.
Influence of the Religious Rtilil genera/4; How dogmatic are radicals .2 How a strong view no otyective God, direction or purpose) is caused to be held weal* by radicals with a distaste for exclusivity. Existence of spectrum of radical opinion -'wets " and 'drys "I The self; individuality.. A dead notion or /he key to the intuitive valuing of all human life. Any place for the ino'ividual in holistic thinking 7 Moral/6; In the absencx, of a revealed morality, the radical critique of traditional Christian moral thought is seen to be an ongoing contemporary process. " In an hour and half, many of these subjects were only touched on ! But there was much food for thought as indeed there will be in whatever happens next !
SUMMER 1990 PAGE 19 SEA OF FAITH MAGAZINE NTRIBUTORS STEPHEN MITCHELL is rector of Barrow-on-Soar and chairman of the SOF Conference Committee.