(Letter July 2012)
At the beginning of last month I very much enjoyed watching the various programmes on TV celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Attendees at the parish lunch were able to watch the magnificent pageant on the Thames as were able to broadcast it on a large screen in the church hall whilst coffee was served. I felt that one of the most moving programmes was Prince Charles’ tribute to his mother where we were able to view previously unseen film of the Queen with her children when they were young. During the programme Prince Charles referred to the importance of the Church of England and his mother’s role as Supreme Governor and Defender of the Faith, titles which derive from the reign of Henry VIII. The Prince understood one of the roles of the Church of England in the modern era being to defend the right to worship of all religions in what is now a multicultural society: “Defender of Faith”. Perhaps at first this may seem a strange claim to make, after all surely the Church of England exists to promote a particular brand of Christianity? While this is undoubtedly true if you look at the history of the Church of England you can see that from the bloodletting feuds of the Reformation Period under Henry VIII gradually the Church of England developed a sense of tolerance which tried to include all shades of Christianity: Catholic, Evangelical and Liberal. In other words the Church of England was able gradually to move from conflict to dialogue and with it came a mutual respect for differing opinions. With that kind of tradition now well at its centre it would seem that the Established Church, which claims to minister not just to its card carrying members but to the whole nation, is in a unique position to be in meaningful conversations with those of other faiths in order that in partnership we might work together on areas of joint concern within our national life.
Three great living faiths have their origins in the same area of the world, i.e. the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. The first to arise was Judaism, the second Christianity and the third Islam. They have many common features as well as profound theological differences. They are all monotheistic religions (believing in one God not many gods) although both Jews and Muslims have difficulties with the Christian idea of God in Three Persons (The Blessed Trinity) and in the divinity of Jesus (The incarnation). Muslims honour both Mary and Jesus, seeing Jesus as a great prophet, and you cannot really understand the teaching of Jesus without acknowledging his Jewish background and the fact that he was a reforming Rabbi. However the most hopeful and practical area for a meaningful conversation between the three faiths is in the area of ethics, i.e. how we should treat one another as human beings. Here the three faiths have much in common. Many years ago I attended an interfaith service at St James Piccadilly, it was during the time when people of all faiths and none were campaigning for the release from prison of Nelson Mandela. During the service representatives of the various faiths outlined their religion’s take on social justice and there was a great deal of common ground.
In the light of the above I was interested to be approached a few days ago by a Muslim Group which is very concerned about the fact that many people’s view of Islam is a negative one based on the criminal activities of a minority of radicalised individuals. They asked if they could hire the church hall to put on an exhibition of texts from the Qur’an and they invited me to come and talk about what the Bible has to say about justice and peace. Having talked to two of the members of the group I was happy to accommodate them and look forward to entering into dialogue with them. This will take place in the Church Hall at 3pm on Sunday 15th July and you would be most welcome to attend.
I had some experience of interfaith dialogue back in the 1980s when I founded an ecumenical chaplaincy at Croydon College. Part of the ministry at the college was to enter into conversations with those of other faiths as well as bringing together Christians from the various denominations. We had some lively times and I never felt threatened by those of other faiths, in fact trying to explain one’s own hope to others is an excellent way of developing spiritually. The enemy today is not those of other religions, it is fundamentalism of any shade, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, a mindset which knows it is right and cannot therefore see the point of dialogue. Such a mindset is extremely dangerous and contrary to the traditions of the Church of England. The other enemy is secular materialism but tackling that must wait for another letter. Let’s hope that our conversation on 15th July will in some small way bear fruit and go some way to fulfil the hopes of Prince Charles who will, one day, be Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith.
All the best – Fr Mick