THE results of a recent study carried out in the United States, which were published in The New York Times, suggest that approximately 42 per cent of both Republicans and Democrats viewed members of the opposing party as “evil”. The same study reported that 20 per cent from each party said that the opposition “lack the traits to be considered fully human”.
Considering this, two politicians in Seattle — one a Republican and one a Democrat — have begun a programme, Building Bridges, which gathers people together across political differences. They write: “Our country doesn’t need a divorce; it needs marital counselling. It occurs to both of us that the vast majority of Americans who don’t find themselves on the political fringes are yearning for national healing.”
The parallels may not be exact, but we, as joint lead bishops for the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process, believe that it is time for a reset of the process. We are at a crossroads: either we have reached the point of separation, accepting that different views cannot co-exist within the same Church, or we must shift the debate to the question how we live well with difference. We believe firmly in the latter approach, and, therefore, we are issuing a call for reconciliation and bridge-building.
THE past few meetings of the General Synod have not been edifying. Some contributions to the hours of debates on LFF have been thoughtful and eirenic, but many more have been so focused on “winning” the debate that they have implied that the “losers” should simply leave the Church. This cannot go on.
And so, the two of us, who have differing views on relationships and sexual ethics, will together bring a set of “commitments” to February’s meeting of the Synod, which, we hope, will form the basis for a settlement that allows as many people as possible to remain within the Church of England.
These commitments will honour the votes already taken by the Synod and the general sense of direction, while also inviting the whole of the Synod to make a commitment to the principle of being a broad Church in which different views are not just accepted, but honoured as part of what it means to be the living, dynamic, and beautiful body of Christ. This is an example of what Alasdair MacIntyre described when he wrote that “traditions, when vital, embody continuities of conflict.”
Read it all in The Church Times
