tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/archbishop-of-canterbury-6534/articlesArchbishop of Canterbury – The Conversation2024-02-13T16:08:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2220072024-02-13T16:08:50Z2024-02-13T16:08:50Z‘Tarry awhile’: how the Black spiritual tradition of waiting expectantly could enrich your approach to Lent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575326/original/file-20240213-22-sxr5ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=233%2C26%2C4796%2C3925&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/woman-in-brown-coat-raising-her-hands-Y_2P5icyKus">Brian Lundquist|Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, hundreds of millions of Catholic and Protestant Christians around the world celebrate <a href="https://theconversation.com/lent-is-here-remind-me-what-its-all-about-5-essential-reads-200269">the season of Lent</a>. For the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, observers devote themselves to fasting, prayer and acts of generous giving. </p>
<p>Lots of people, who might not be observant, also take this time to give something up. In 2023, Country Living <a href="https://www.countryliving.com/life/g26473567/give-up-for-lent/">ran a list</a> of 32 ideas for what you might want to curtail, from “commenting on social media”, “road rage” and “ignoring your health” to “speeding”, “snacking” and “single-use plastic”. </p>
<p>For Lent 2024, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has chosen a new book by British theologian Selina Stone, as his annual recommendation. Entitled Tarry Awhile: Wisdom from Black Spirituality for People of Faith, this selection speaks to the growing salience of Black spirituality globally, especially in regards to Christianity. </p>
<p>By 2050, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/">40%</a> of the world’s Christians will live in sub-Saharan Africa. Black spirituality will increasingly influence global Christianity as the 21st century continues. The Archbishop’s Lenten book choice cordially redirects religious literary attention to the influence of Black spirituality in Anglican thought. </p>
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<img alt="People in a church service" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575339/original/file-20240213-26-pe4bf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575339/original/file-20240213-26-pe4bf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575339/original/file-20240213-26-pe4bf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575339/original/file-20240213-26-pe4bf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575339/original/file-20240213-26-pe4bf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575339/original/file-20240213-26-pe4bf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575339/original/file-20240213-26-pe4bf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Black spirituality will increasingly influence global Christian praxis as the 21st century continues.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/man-in-white-and-red-striped-polo-shirt-_cdI8MkfkVI">Gracious Adebayo|Unsplash</a></span>
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<p>The most intriguing aspect of this selection, though, is what, for many, will be an infrequently used word in the title. “To tarry” is to <a href="https://www.oed.com/dictionary/tarry_v?tl=true">linger in anticipation</a> – be that of a person or an occurrence. In a Christian context, it is about waiting on God, expectantly. </p>
<p>“Tarrying gives us an opportunity to rest,” Welby writes in his foreword, “to see the realities of the world more clearly and to imagine more boldly what the world could be”. </p>
<p>Stone, in her introduction, says the practice recognises “the interdependence of the individual and the community for encounter with God”. She exhorts her readers – whether tarrying, as a tradition, feels like home to them or is entirely new – to be open, as they wait for the justice and peace so sorely missing from the world. </p>
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<h2>Tarrying in the Christian tradition</h2>
<p>The Bible uses the word “tarry” at least 30 times. In particular, as Stone highlights, it is the word (in the King James version) the Gospel of Matthew uses, when Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane with his disciples. Overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, he asks his disciples to, “tarry here and watch with me”.</p>
<p>In biblical literature, tarrying refers to an individual or community patiently, longingly waiting in one setting or state for something. This might be a person or an event or an act of spiritual or political liberation. </p>
<p>The concept of tarrying surfaces in the historical development of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23957241">academic Christian theology</a>. It remains popular among Black Christians, but it is not exclusive to this religious group. In fact, it is not exclusive to religious communities in particular either. It is a term used by philosophers, psychoanalysts and religious leaders alike. </p>
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<img alt="Three men sit in prayer in a church." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575334/original/file-20240213-18-dk237e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575334/original/file-20240213-18-dk237e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575334/original/file-20240213-18-dk237e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575334/original/file-20240213-18-dk237e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575334/original/file-20240213-18-dk237e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575334/original/file-20240213-18-dk237e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575334/original/file-20240213-18-dk237e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tarrying means devoting time to stillness and prayer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/man-in-brown-dress-shirt-and-black-pants-sitting-on-black-leather-armchair-JcnSq7IYTKY">Luis Morera|Unsplash</a></span>
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<p>In Black Christian spirituality, the concept of tarrying exists as a familiar, mature spiritual ritual that practically manifests in a variety of ways. After a church service or an event concludes, worshippers might gather near the altar or remain in their seats, ignoring the socialising around them to devote extra time to prayer. A Christian might sit alone in an empty chapel lost in prayer, conveying their needs and anxieties to God, emboldened by the biblical view that God responds favourably to those who spend time with him. </p>
<p>Like meditating, tarrying prioritises mindfulness over negligence or indifference. It encourages you to live in a way that gives significance to each given moment. </p>
<p>Within the Pentecostal tradition, specifically, tarrying is seen as a spiritual discipline. It serves to clear the way for <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233642398_Tarrying_on_the_Lord_Affections_Virtues_and_Theological_Ethics_in_Pentecostal_Perspective">God’s presence to manifest</a> in even the most mundane, profane aspects of everyday life. Those who tarry prioritise doing so when the anxieties of everyday life compete for one’s mental, emotional, and physical attention – but fail. </p>
<p>Religiously, tarrying means replacing the attention seeking anxieties of everyday life with a focus on the spiritual, the social and the relational. Tarrying functions as an expression of love, devotion and desire. In a world where one’s attention can be diverted more quickly and easily than ever, tarrying is a choice to shun one thing for another. </p>
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<p>Culturally, tarrying calls for rejecting the rat-race mentality characteristic of capitalist societies. In many ways, it is antithetical to the modernist assumptions that drive the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2265.2009.00500.x">glorification of secular reason</a> and the worship of production. </p>
<p>In this way, tarrying unambiguously relates to Lent. The Lenten emphasis on fasting, prayer and ideologically driven generosity and charitable giving aligns with tarrying’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-an-african-church-choir-made-a-difference-to-care-home-life-in-greater-manchester-190556">emphasis on communal life</a>. </p>
<p>Christians observing Lent give in the expectation that their giving will positively contribute to the life of another. In a world where people are often encouraged to forsake relationship for productivity, perhaps all of us would do well to partake in a little more tarrying in our everyday lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222007/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Christopher Wadibia receives funding from a postdoctoral research fellowship specialising in race, theology, and religious studies based at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. </span></em></p>Lenten traditions emphasise fasting, prayer and charitable giving. This aligns with tarrying as central to communal spiritual life.Christopher Wadibia, Junior Research Fellow in Theology, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973752023-02-01T06:12:04Z2023-02-01T06:12:04ZPope prepares for South Sudan peace mission – but many people there aren’t ready to forgive<p>Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland plan to visit South Sudan in February 2023 to try and move <a href="http://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/news/2022/2022-12-01-ecumenical-pilgrimage-for-peace.html">the nation towards peace</a>. </p>
<p>The three church leaders will meet church and civil groups. The visit follows a retreat held at the Vatican in 2019, when South Sudanese political leaders were urged to end a civil war that has cost more than <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-southsudan-idUSKCN1RN27G">400,000 lives</a>. </p>
<p>Churches are powerful <a href="https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481308229/christianity-and-catastrophe-in-south-sudan/">authorities in South Sudan</a>, where many people are <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/621868/summary">Christian</a> (estimates of <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/south-sudan/">60%-80%</a> are highly contested). When South Sudanese political leaders visited the Vatican in 2019, the pope surprised people by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-47903916">kissing the feet</a> of President Salva Kiir and opposition leader (and former vice president) Riek Machar, as the pontiff urged them <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-southsudan-idUSKCN1RN27G">towards peace</a>.</p>
<p>Religious leaders can provide <a href="https://nsuworks.nova.edu/pcs/vol19/iss1/4/">an alternative diplomatic route</a> when others have failed to reconcile. For example, churches in Columbia have been active in <a href="https://www.usip.org/blog/2022/11/latest-usip-resurgent-efforts-colombias-peace-process">promoting peaceful relations</a>. </p>
<p>I have spent a decade carrying out research on peace and conflict in South Sudan, and research suggests that the two big challenges these religious leaders face are understanding both why people are not ready to forgive and why local institutions face difficulties helping resolve the violence. </p>
<p>Religious leaders have previously called on people to forgive each other as part of a move towards peace. <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013385/spiritual-contestations-the-violence-of-peace-in-south-sudan/">In my forthcoming book</a> I highlight how, for many South Sudanese, forgiveness is seen as undesirable when the violence of the perpetrator is ongoing, and doesn’t provide accountability. </p>
<p>People also feel this ignores people’s obligations to those who were killed during war. Among the communities where I have researched, people want compensation in order to provide for the family of the dead, to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/dead-are-just-to-drink-from-recycling-ideas-of-revenge-among-the-western-dinka-south-sudan/425A11D0B27561FDCA5979AD4A431B41">keep their memory alive</a> and to allow full reconciliation. </p>
<p>Christian churches have sensibly sought to work with existing peacemaking institutions and <a href="https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10454/17138/Martin%27s%20PhD%20Thesis%20%28Post-viva%20final%20submission%20%20May%201%2C%202018%29.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">not only with political leaders</a>. Local peacemaking is also subject to ongoing, high-level political interference including through the remaking of <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013385/spiritual-contestations-the-violence-of-peace-in-south-sudan/">the meanings of peace rituals</a>. </p>
<p>In areas where I conducted research, decades of governments’ legal reforms, shifting economies and the lack of compensation in peacemaking had undermined local institutions’ <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/dead-are-just-to-drink-from-recycling-ideas-of-revenge-among-the-western-dinka-south-sudan/425A11D0B27561FDCA5979AD4A431B41">ability to end violence</a>. </p>
<p>Decades of armed conflicts have had political, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/dead-are-just-to-drink-from-recycling-ideas-of-revenge-among-the-western-dinka-south-sudan/425A11D0B27561FDCA5979AD4A431B41">social and spiritual consequences</a>. Local beliefs have long suggested that killers and their communities become subject to “<a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013385/spiritual-contestations-the-violence-of-peace-in-south-sudan">spritual pollution</a>” that can have deadly physical manifestations, such as sickness, and that can only be resolved through rituals and reconciliation. </p>
<p>Armed combatants have tried to remake rituals to protect themselves from <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013385/spiritual-contestations-the-violence-of-peace-in-south-sudan/">this “pollution”</a>, but the scale of killing, the use of guns and the patterns of violence all leave fears that situation is unresolved.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The pope offered help to South Sudanese leaders at a previous meeting at the Vatican.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Religious authorities, including those largely invisible to the international community such as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/182485#metadata_info_tab_contents">Nuer prophets</a> and Dinka spear masters, have a powerful role in setting the <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/amet.12138">moral limits of lethal violence</a>, and deciding <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050629.2021.1918126">how war should be fought</a> and resolved.</p>
<h2>Understanding the past</h2>
<p>Wars for a separate South Sudan state started soon after Sudan’s independence from Britain in 1956. Peacemaking by Christian churches in what is now South Sudan also has a long history. </p>
<p>It has also often involved collaboration between different churches including Catholics, Anglicans and Presbyterians. In 1972, the World Council of Churches hosted peace negotiations that ended the war between the Sudan government and the Anyanya rebels who were <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/root-causes-of-sudans-civil-wars/addis-ababa-agreement-the-regional-governments-197283/A9E8251ED9C9F823FF26CB78F8883A49">fighting for southern independence</a>. </p>
<p>From 1983 until the 2005 peace agreement, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) fought against the Sudan government. To gain international support and local recruits, from the 1990s the SPLA framed <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.5325/jafrireli.4.2.0129.pdf">the conflict in religious terms</a>.</p>
<p>These terms pitted the pro-Christian SPLA in what is now South Sudan against the Islamic Sudan government. However, much of the fighting in the 1990s and 2000s was between South Sudanese groups. </p>
<p>The SPLA v Sudan government wars ended with the <a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/SD_060000_The%20Comprehensive%20Peace%20Agreement.pdf">2005 peace agreement</a> that made the SPLA the official army of the south and promised a referendum on southern independence. In 2006, the SPLA absorbed large numbers of anti-SPLA troops from elsewhere in the South in order to reduce divisions between groups. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011. </p>
<p>Armed conflict escalated again in South Sudan in December 2013 when the army divided along the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/113/451/300/135552">historic pro- and anti-SPLA lines</a>. This fighting
included <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/16/south-sudan-ethnic-targeting-widespread-killings">the targeting of civilians</a> and led to regional <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14678802.2020.1820161">rebellions</a> and the rapid rise of armed opposition. </p>
<p>Within five years, these wars had resulted in <a href="https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres/health-humanitarian-crises-centre">400,000 deaths</a>. <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/south-sudan-emergency.html">Millions were displaced</a>, and <a href="https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/108930/1/CRP_chiefs_courts_hunger_and_improving_humanitarian_programming.pdf">hundreds of thousands experienced famine</a>. </p>
<p>In 2018, <a href="https://docs.pca-cpa.org/2016/02/South-Sudan-Peace-Agreement-September-2018.pdf">a peace agreement</a> was signed by the South Sudan government and the largest armed opposition group. However, fighting continued between the government and groups who did not sign the agreement.</p>
<p>In early 2022, armed conflict resulted in the government gaining territory from opposition parties who had signed the peace agreement. At the end of 2022, violence broke out between political factions in Upper Nile state, and offensives were carried out in Jonglei state by groups historically aligned to the opposition.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kiir-and-machar-insights-into-south-sudans-strongmen-182522">Kiir and Machar: insights into South Sudan's strongmen</a>
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<h2>What’s been tried before?</h2>
<p>In the late 1990s, international and local church leaders engaged with <a href="https://www.cmi.no/file/3278-We-Have-Lived-Too-Long-to-Be-Deceived---RVI-2014-Juba-Lecture-Series-2015.pdf">South Sudanese chiefs and other local religious leaders</a> to try to end violent divisions. A meeting in the <a href="https://riftvalley.net/news/what-happened-wunlit-reliving-south-sudans-most-successful-peace-conference">village of Wunlit</a> was considered a success both because communities resumed peaceful relationships, but also because their political leaders were apparently forced to reconcile. This prompted churches to support dozens of similar processes <a href="https://riftvalley.net/publication/local-peace-processes-sudan">over the subsequent decades</a>. </p>
<p>From 2014, South Sudanese church leaders were official observers at the internationally brokered peace meetings. Church leaders have also publicly criticised <a href="https://www.catholicregister.org/home/international/item/25554-south-sudan-churches-decry-warring-factions-for-ignoring-people-s-needs">the warring parties</a> when they have not supported peace.</p>
<p>One part of <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013385/spiritual-contestations-the-violence-of-peace-in-south-sudan/">my upcoming research</a> describes how South Sudanese, over the last century, have often understood governments and warring parties as “god-like” because they claim to be able to arbitrarily show favour or destruction, without accountability. In such a context, religious authorities have a particularly important role in holding governments and warring parties to account. </p>
<p>To end these wars, church leaders need to take seriously the politics and potential violence of peace and forgiveness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197375/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Ruth Pendle receives funding from the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council and the British Academy. </span></em></p>Pope Francis will be part of a peace mission to South Sudan, where thousands have been killed in ongoing violence.Naomi Ruth Pendle, Lecturer in International Development, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1631472021-06-28T12:14:21Z2021-06-28T12:14:21ZControversy over Communion in the Catholic Church goes back some 2,000 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408448/original/file-20210625-28-1uvawe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C1011%2C676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When Pope John Paul II was beatified, Zimbabwe's ruler, Robert Mugabe, was in attendance and given Communion.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/zimbabwes-president-robert-mugabe-flanked-by-his-wife-grace-news-photo/457486158?adppopup=true.">Franco Origlia/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently approved drafting a <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2021/united-states-conference-catholic-bishops-vote-write-document-meaning-eucharist-life">document on receiving Communion in the Catholic Church</a>. It will include a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/catholic-bishops-debate-communion-for-biden-11623937299">section regarding standards</a> for politicians and public figures who support laws <a href="https://www.archstl.org/bishops-vote-to-draft-teaching-document-on-the-eucharist-6591">allowing abortion, euthanasia and other “moral evils</a>.” </p>
<p>The proposed document has already caused controversy. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995796836/vatican-warns-u-s-bishops-about-denying-communion-to-supporters-of-abortion-righ">The Vatican</a> has warned against exclusively focusing on abortion and euthanasia and cautioned that the document could further <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/us/targeting-biden-catholic-bishops-advance-controversial-communion-plan.html">divide U.S. Catholics</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/mathew-schmalz">Catholic scholar of religion</a>, I would argue that battles over Communion are nothing new in the Catholic Church.</p>
<h2>The importance of Communion</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408417/original/file-20210625-23-9t0k7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C0%2C2587%2C1690&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Archbishop Jose H. Gomez holds a Communion wafer during Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles in 2020." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408417/original/file-20210625-23-9t0k7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C0%2C2587%2C1690&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408417/original/file-20210625-23-9t0k7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408417/original/file-20210625-23-9t0k7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408417/original/file-20210625-23-9t0k7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408417/original/file-20210625-23-9t0k7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408417/original/file-20210625-23-9t0k7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408417/original/file-20210625-23-9t0k7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is debating which Catholics are worthy of receiving Communion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CatholicBishopsCommunionandPolitics/e0a310966abf4656bc4efd469229f175/photo?Query=United%20States%20Conference%20of%20Catholic%20Bishops%202021&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>In the Catholic Church, the Communion service is one of seven rituals called <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3E.HTM">sacraments</a> that have a primary significance. During this service, called <a href="https://www.usccb.org/offices/public-affairs/structure-and-meaning-mass">a Mass</a>, Catholics believe that the bread and wine, when specially blessed by a priest, become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Ritually consuming this bread and wine is a special way to “commune,” or be united, with Jesus Christ. </p>
<p>Catholics call both the celebration of Mass and the blessed bread and wine <a href="https://denvercatholic.org/the-eucharist-throughout-history-a-timeline/">the Eucharist</a>, from the Greek word meaning “thanksgiving.” Receiving Communion can also be called receiving the Eucharist.</p>
<p>The Catholic Church teaches that <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/10/30/explainer-when-can-someone-be-denied-eucharist">in order to receive Communion</a>, a person must not be <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P4D.HTM">conscious of a serious sin</a> – such as murder or adultery – that has not already been absolved through confession to a priest. </p>
<p>In early Christianity, rules about receiving Communion could be strict. Christians who were known to be guilty of serious sins were not supposed to receive Communion until they went through a process of reconciliation with a local bishop. In the <a href="http://cdn.theologicalstudies.net/16/16.4/16.4.1.pdf">Middle Ages</a>, very few Catholics actually received Communion at all, as many believed that they were unworthy to do so. </p>
<h2>The possibility of scandal</h2>
<p>In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Catholic Church <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/decree-on-frequent--daily-reception-of-holy-communion-2174">encouraged a more frequent – even daily – reception of Communion</a>. </p>
<p>Still, one of the main concerns surrounding Communion is that someone publicly known to be committing serious sins would receive Communion. Such cases create “scandal.”</p>
<p>In the Catholic Church’s terminology, scandal is “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P80.HTM">an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil</a>.” So, someone who accepts Communion while at the same time publicly continuing in sinful behavior encourages others to continue to do the same as well. </p>
<p>When it comes to public policy, the compendium of Catholic doctrine, the Catholic Cathechism, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P80.HTM">specifically states</a>, “they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice.”</p>
<h2>Denying Communion</h2>
<p>There is a history of the Catholic Church denying Communion to those participating in what is considered publicly sinful behavior.</p>
<p>One of the most famous examples is of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Ambrose">Ambrose</a>, bishop of Milan, who baptized the theologian Augustine of Hippo, who later became <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/">one of the most influential figures in Christian history</a>. Ambrose denied Communion to the Roman Emperor Theodosius in the fourth century. Enraged by the lynching of a leader of a Roman army garrison, Theodosius gave orders that led to a massacre in the port city of Thessalonica, which killed 7,000 citizens. <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/340951.htm">In a letter calling for Theodosius to take responsibility for his actions</a>, Ambrose wrote, “Are you ashamed, O Emperor?”</p>
<p>From 1208 to 1214, Pope Innocent III asked his bishops to place England and Wales under “<a href="http://magnacartaresearch.blogspot.com/2014/03/23-march-1208-interdict-is-laid-on.html#:%7E:text=On%2023%20March%201208%2C%20English,consecrated%20ground%20with%20religious%20ceremony.">interdict</a>,” or “prohibition,” which banned the performance of all sacraments – including the Eucharist – except for baptism and confession of the dying. The reason for this extreme act was said to be that King John had rejected Innocent III’s candidate for the important position of <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Archbishops-of-Canterbury/">archbishop of Canterbury</a>.</p>
<p>In the early 20th century, Irish bishops spoke against continuing acts of violence by Irish nationalists who opposed the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/aftermath/af06.shtml">Anglo-Irish treaty</a> of 1921, which established the Irish Free State and ended the Irish War of Independence. In <a href="http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000514373#page/1/mode/1up">a letter</a> published on 22 October 1922, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29742759?seq=36#metadata_info_tab_contents">Irish bishops</a> denied absolution and Communion to “irregulars” using violence against the “legitimate authority” of the government.</p>
<p>More recently, it was reported in 2011 that priests in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/may/28/malta-divorce-referendum">Malta were denying Communion to Catholics</a> who supported legalizing divorce. In the United States, presidential candidate John Kerry <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kerrys-communion-controversy/">was denied Communion in 2004</a>, reportedly for his support for abortion rights. The same issue saw Joseph Biden denied Communion in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-joe-biden-was-denied-communion-at-a-church-126171">2019</a> by a church in South Carolina.</p>
<h2>Communion controversies</h2>
<p>At the same time, the Catholic Church has also been questioned for not denying Communion to Catholic public figures who have behaved sinfully.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408421/original/file-20210625-28-ivnooy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pope John Paul II, left, with Chilean President Gen. Augusto Pinochet in Santiago, Chile on April 1, 1987." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408421/original/file-20210625-28-ivnooy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408421/original/file-20210625-28-ivnooy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408421/original/file-20210625-28-ivnooy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408421/original/file-20210625-28-ivnooy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408421/original/file-20210625-28-ivnooy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408421/original/file-20210625-28-ivnooy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408421/original/file-20210625-28-ivnooy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope John Paul II gave Communion to military dictator Augusto Pinochet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CHILEPINOCHETOBIT/bdb7c8cb600b4fd8a4ba3b79d8ef61c1/photo?Query=pinochet%20john%20paul&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Pete Leabo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/04/11/Pope-avoids-confrontation-with-Pinochet/8894545112000/">his trip to Chile in 1987</a>, Pope John Paul II <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/01/world/pope-on-latin-trip-attacks-pinochet-regime.html">criticized the military dictatorship</a> under the Army General Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet led a revolt that toppled the elected government. <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/1990/05/truth-commission-chile-90">Thousands were tortured and executed</a> under his rule. But <a href="http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2000b/060200/060200a.htm">the pope still gave Pinochet Communion</a>.</p>
<p>When Pope John Paul II was <a href="https://www.archbalt.org/holy-confusion-beatification-canonization-are-different/">beatified</a> – a crucial step in becoming named a saint – Zimbabwe’s ruler, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27519044">Robert Mugabe</a>, was in attendance. Among <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/09/robert-mugabe-1924-2019-a-liberator-turned-oppressor/">many human rights abuses</a>, Mugabe <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-mugabe-violence/mugabes-legacy-thousands-killed-in-rain-that-washes-away-the-chaff-idUSKCN1VR18H">sanctioned the killing of 20,000 people belonging to the Ndebele ethnic minority</a> who were loyal to his rival, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/07/02/zimbabwe-nationalist-joshua-nkomo-dies-at-82/da22452e-4238-4f0d-9dbf-96a21eb7ee1c/">Joshua Nkomo</a>. Nonetheless, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/88416/robert-mugabe-vatican-catholic-pope-zimbabwe">Mugabe was allowed</a> to take Communion at the Vatican, in St. Peter’s Square. Some in the African Catholic media called this a “<a href="https://www.scross.co.za/2011/05/mugabe-the-scandal-factor/">scandal</a>.”</p>
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<h2>The path forward</h2>
<p>Pope Francis <a href="https://www.vatican.va/evangelii-gaudium/en/files/assets/basic-html/page40.html">has stated</a>: “The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” And so one of the key issues that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ proposed document will surely need to address is when human weakness becomes serious sin and scandal.</p>
<p>While the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will issue guidelines for reception of Communion, it will be the task of individual bishops to decide how to put them into practice. And some Catholic bishops, notably Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington D.C., <a href="https://www.washingtonian.com/2021/06/21/washingtons-cardinal-wont-deny-biden-communion/">have said</a> they will not deny communion to President Biden in their jurisdictions.</p>
<p>At the present time, the Catholic Church in America is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/20/us/biden-abortion-catholic-church.html">highly polarized</a>. For his part, <a href="https://time.com/6074753/joe-biden-catholic-communion-abortion/">President Biden, who goes to Mass every week, has said</a> that he has no plan to change how he worships. In such a context, U.S. Catholic bishops will have to move forward very carefully. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408420/original/file-20210625-21-wy6b49.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="In a Jan. 20, 2021 photo, President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, attend Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle during Inauguration Day ceremonies in Washington." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408420/original/file-20210625-21-wy6b49.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408420/original/file-20210625-21-wy6b49.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408420/original/file-20210625-21-wy6b49.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408420/original/file-20210625-21-wy6b49.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408420/original/file-20210625-21-wy6b49.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408420/original/file-20210625-21-wy6b49.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408420/original/file-20210625-21-wy6b49.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Biden is an observant Catholic who regularly attends Mass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BidenCatholicBishops/0f62214fa4ac438aa9fc13f6398b661c/photo?Query=biden%20AND%20communion&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=8&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File</a></span>
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</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163147/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Schmalz is a political independent.</span></em></p>Biden is not the first public figure to whom the Catholic Church wants to deny Communion. Over the centuries, the Church has often come under criticism for either denying or giving Communion.Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1234342019-09-16T11:59:41Z2019-09-16T11:59:41ZBritish troops massacred Indians in Amritsar – and a century later, there’s been no official apology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292306/original/file-20190912-190002-cvd3j2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jallianwala Bagh, in Amritsar, India, where hundreds were killed on April 13, 1919, under British colonial rule.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Jallianwala-Bagh/528950b8b49f4cc6a1e031b0f1504c33/2/0">AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby recently visited the site of a brutal massacre that happened in 1919 under the British colonial rule in India and offered his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/10/justin-welby-apologises-in-name-of-christ-british-massacre-amritsar">personal apologies</a>. He expressed his “deep sense of grief” for a “terrible atrocity.” </p>
<p>Earlier in April, then U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May <a href="https://time.com/5566864/india-massacre-apology/">told the House of Commons</a> that the episode was “a shameful scar on British-Indian history.” However, she had stopped short of apologizing.</p>
<p>The massacre is still remembered in India as a symbol of colonial cruelty. Here’s what happened a hundred years ago. </p>
<h2>Killing unarmed protesters</h2>
<p>After World War I, the British, who controlled a vast empire in India, agreed to give Indians limited self-government due to India’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33317368">substantial contribution</a> to the war effort. </p>
<p>These reforms, named the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/gentlemanly-terrorists/reforms-of-1919-montaguchelmsford-the-rowlatt-act-jails-commission-and-the-royal-amnesty/D97CA2DF6D0AEBDD9AD2066DB1504C04/core-reader">Montagu-Chelmsford reforms</a> after the secretary of state for India and the viceroy of India, promised to lead to more substantial self-government over time.</p>
<p>However, around the same time the British had passed the draconian Rowlatt Acts, which allowed certain political cases to be tried without trial. And the trial was also to be conducted without juries. The acts were <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/gentlemanly-terrorists/reforms-of-1919-montaguchelmsford-the-rowlatt-act-jails-commission-and-the-royal-amnesty/D97CA2DF6D0AEBDD9AD2066DB1504C04/core-reader">designed to ruthlessly suppress</a> all forms of political dissent. </p>
<p>The Rowlatt Acts were designed to replace the constraints on political activity that had been embodied in colonial rules, known as the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4366436?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Defense of India Rules</a>, which had been in force during World War I. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, there were <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Gandhi.html?id=boDAE8MLAJMC">widespread public protests</a>, led by the noted Indian nationalist leader, Mahatma Gandhi. </p>
<p>As part of this nationwide agitation, some 10,000 individuals gathered in a park in the northern Indian city of Amritsar on April 13, 1919. Since this protest was in defiance of a curfew which prohibited political gatherings, Brigadier-General <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Butcher_of_Amritsar.html?id=XuQC5pgzCw4C">Reginald Dyer</a>, who was stationed in the nearby city of Jalandhar, decided to take action. </p>
<p>Troops under his command blocked the sole entrance to the park, called Jallianwallah Bagh. Without warning they <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/amritsar-massacre">opened fire</a>. The British <a href="https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/2019/04/12/jallianwala-bagh-100-how-many-people-actually-died-a-numbers-tale.html">officially estimated that 379</a> people died. The unofficial count was more. Close to <a href="https://www.thestatesman.com/india/100-years-on-britain-admits-jallianwala-bagh-massacre-a-shameful-scar-1502744574.html">1,200</a> were injured.</p>
<p>Dyer’s men stopped firing only after they had run out of ammunition. The soldiers did not offer any medical assistance to the wounded, and others could not come to their aid because of the imposition of a curfew on the city. </p>
<h2>An apology long overdue</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292308/original/file-20190912-190050-151f2x4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292308/original/file-20190912-190050-151f2x4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292308/original/file-20190912-190050-151f2x4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292308/original/file-20190912-190050-151f2x4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292308/original/file-20190912-190050-151f2x4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292308/original/file-20190912-190050-151f2x4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292308/original/file-20190912-190050-151f2x4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wall of the Jallianwala Bagh, the site of the 1919 massacre, with bullet marks on it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-US/6500ffc8801f48ec8daa8e49731ef339/6/0">AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford, convened an inquiry commission which led to Dyer being relieved of his command. However, upon returning to the United Kingdom, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/650872?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">he found support</a> for his actions among a segment of the British population. </p>
<p>In India, there was widespread shock and horror over this wanton use of force. The Nobel Laureate in literature, Rabindranath Tagore, protested by renouncing his knighthood, which he had received from the British Crown in 1915. <a href="http://dart.columbia.edu/library/tagore-letter/letter.html">Writing to the viceroy</a>, Tagore decried “the disproportionate severity of the punishment inflicted upon the unfortunate people.” </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">political scientist</a> who has written on the impact of British colonialism on India, I believe that the legacy of this episode, along with <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674027244">a host of other ugly events</a>, continues to trouble Indo-British relations.</p>
<p>Britain, for the most part, has failed to come to terms with its tragic colonial heritage in South Asia and elsewhere. In the wake of the the archbishop’s apology, I believe, it is time for the British government to follow suit. </p>
<p>An unequivocal apology to the memory of the victims is long overdue.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly receives funding from the US Department of State, I am a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.</span></em></p>A hundred years ago, peaceful Indian protesters were massacred under British colonial rule. A scholar argues why a formal apology is overdue.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1104712019-01-29T14:11:11Z2019-01-29T14:11:11ZBrexit shines light on Church of England rift between leadership and Anglican majority<p>Two recent statements from the leader of the Anglican church, Justin Welby, reflect a growing division in the church between a charismatic-evangelical party and a more mainstream majority. The latter are stronger in numbers but the former are now in power. </p>
<p>Welby’s <a href="https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/news/latest-news/statement-archbishops-canterbury-and-york">first statement</a>, issued jointly with his number two, the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, called for a “fresh and uniting vision for all in our country”. It came amid increasingly heated debate over Brexit and their much more neutral stance contrasts with the fervour with which <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/08/our-commitments-to-our-european-partners-cannot-be-lightly-cast/">both</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f-Y13JdWYQ">archbishops</a> backed Remain at the time of the referendum. </p>
<p>The second statement was more theological. Welby told a Christian radio channel that he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/21/i-pray-in-tongues-every-day-says-archbishop-of-canterbury">prays in tongues every morning</a>. Like a masonic handshake, this identified Welby to his fellow charismatic Christians as one of them. Both archbishops are part of this revivalist form of Christianity, which identifies the gift of tongues (praying in a language they believe is given to them by God) as a sign of possession by the Holy Spirit and of being “born again”. </p>
<p>This conflict in the Anglican Church is closely tied to wider divisions over Brexit that affect the UK as a whole.</p>
<h2>Conflicting beliefs</h2>
<p>The struggle between theological parties for control of the Church of England has been going on for decades. George Carey was the first charismatic-evangelical Archbishop of Canterbury. He was enthroned wearing a mitre emblazoned with tongues of fire – the symbol of the Holy Spirit that fell on the disciples at Pentecost and gave them the gift of “tongues”.</p>
<p>The current archbishops make no bones about the fact that they support the charismatic party in the church, both in England and the wider Anglican communion. Welby comes from the most powerful charismatic church in the Church of England, <a href="https://www.htb.org/network/">Holy Trinity Brompton</a>. And increasingly the House of Bishops, representing top clergy, reflects this preference and power has shifted that way.</p>
<p>Around England, the conflict is seen in the growing number of congregations that have a charismatic vicar appointed to oversee them. The “happy clappy” style of worship that they introduce sits uncomfortably with traditional Anglican bells, choirs and formality. Some Anglicans grin and bear it, others feel alienated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Happy clappy’ Christianity is increasingly popular.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blurred-christian-congregation-worshiping-god-big-1151734436?src=Nv7jf_Yg5d3RpfcBddLiAg-2-4">Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The struggle has come to a political head over Brexit. Analysis of exit polling by <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/09/20/how-anglicans-tipped-the-brexit-vote/">Linda Woodhead and Greg Smith</a> after the referendum found that two thirds of Anglicans supported leaving the EU, even when other factors like age and geographical location were taken into account. Remainers were in the minority among both regular and less frequent attenders. But, among evangelicals and charismatics, it was Remain that won majority support. </p>
<p>This shows how different English evangelicals are from their brethren who voted for Donald Trump in the last US presidential election. In England, evangelicals were far more likely to support the liberal cosmopolitan Remain position than their more mainline counterparts. In the US it was the other way round, with a striking <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/">81% of evangelicals supporting Trump</a>.</p>
<p>The difference is explained by the much more genteel profile of charismatic-evangelicals in the Church of England. Like their US counterparts they are predominantly white, but they are middle to upper class. A quarter earn more than £50,000 a year. They are concentrated in London and some, like Welby, are part of a metropolitan and global elite. </p>
<p>Given their internationalist mindset, British evangelicals are more open to immigration than their more mainstream Anglican counterparts. Reducing immigration actually makes English evangelicals less likely to support a policy or political issue, <a href="https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/faith-in-politics.cfm">found a 2015 poll</a>. </p>
<p>Katie Gaddini’s research, interviewing members of Holy Trinity Brompton, confirmed that immigration was a linchpin issue determining their vote for Remain, based on their belief that Christians are meant to welcome outsiders. It ties in with Anglican evangelicals’ sense of being part of a worldwide network of like-minded charismatic Christians, not least within the churches of the Anglican Communion.</p>
<p>In sharp contrast to the evangelicals, other Anglican voters in England cited immigration as a major issue persuading them to vote Leave, as they wanted to preserve England’s <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/That-Was-Church-England-English/dp/147292164X">cultural-ethnic identity</a>. Most important of all, however was their concern about excessive EU interference.</p>
<p>For now, the archbishops and and like-minded bishops are in power at the top of the Church of England, but without the support of most grassroots Anglicans. Their stance on Brexit makes this very plain. Traditionally the Church of England has been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25889828">“the Tory party at prayer”</a> and, in terms of votes cast, it still is. </p>
<p>But the “old guard” of mainline Anglicans is slowly dying out and the new breed of enthusiastic, charismatic-evangelical clergy are having more success in winning over some young people. Supporters of their approach – like the archbishops – say that speaking in tongues and other charismatic practices are the best way to revive the dying Church of England. Opponents say that they are likely to drive out the last remaining Anglicans and alienate their children. Either way, it will affect the political complexion of England as a whole.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two thirds of Anglicans supported leaving the EU but most evangelicals and charismatics voted Remain.Katie Gaddini, Researcher in Sociology, University of CambridgeLinda Woodhead, Director of Religion and Society, University of Lancaster, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/990002018-07-03T13:44:31Z2018-07-03T13:44:31ZMedieval tips to revive England’s struggling cathedrals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225935/original/file-20180703-116117-1jjly63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1254%2C0%2C1881%2C1345&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/adteasdale/12157033835/sizes/l">ADTeasdale/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In many parts of England, cathedrals face a financial crisis: they are expensive to maintain, often need renovations and are almost entirely self-funded – which means they are under constant pressure to raise more money and attract new visitors. If they don’t, they run the risk of spiralling into irrelevance and disrepair. </p>
<p>According to their own figures, Ely Cathedral costs <a href="https://www.elycathedral.org/visit">£6,000</a> daily to maintain; Winchester, <a href="http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/support-us/">£10,000</a>; Peterborough, <a href="http://www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/peterborough-900/make-a-donation.aspx">£3,700</a>; Worcester, <a href="http://worcestercathedral.co.uk/Support_Us.php">£7,500</a>; and Norwich, <a href="https://www.cathedral.org.uk/about/support-our-future">£4,000</a>. These figures do not account for additional conservation efforts. </p>
<p>Worse, many cathedrals are experiencing <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/2016cathedralstatistics_0.pdf">stagnating</a> or <a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/18-august/news/uk/visit-england-report-sharp-drop-in-visitor-numbers-to-churches-and-cathedrals">falling visitor numbers</a>, caused by rising secularity as well as in part by the sense that cathedrals are a bit old fashioned, and perhaps lack attractions that could appeal to young families. Yet in medieval times, cathedrals were fundraising powerhouses, drawing pilgrims (and donations) from near and far. Here’s how their centuries-old techniques can be applied today, to revive the fortunes of England’s cathedrals once more. </p>
<h2>Saints and the city</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225928/original/file-20180703-116135-9iujrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225928/original/file-20180703-116135-9iujrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225928/original/file-20180703-116135-9iujrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225928/original/file-20180703-116135-9iujrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225928/original/file-20180703-116135-9iujrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225928/original/file-20180703-116135-9iujrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225928/original/file-20180703-116135-9iujrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225928/original/file-20180703-116135-9iujrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thomas Becket, Canterbury Cathedral.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/16136026342/sizes/l">Lawrence OP/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Medieval cathedrals faced similar challenges to their modern counterparts: they also had to raise money from visitors in order to maintain and renovate their buildings. Their fundraising strategies centred around saintly relics: bodies, body parts or even items that had touched a holy person were central to many medieval devotions. Local communities created elaborate shrines, which attracted pilgrims, who donated money or gifts in kind to visit. </p>
<p>Many modern English cathedrals were founded by men and women who later became the patron saints of their communities. Patron saints were thought to protect the people of the city and its surroundings, and the presence of their bodies in the city often allowed it to reap financial and political benefits. For example, consider the rise of Canterbury as a tourist centre after <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/becket_thomas.shtml">the murder and burial</a> of St Thomas Becket there in the 12th century. </p>
<p>Smaller cities also held saints’ relics. The body of <a href="https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/heritage/collections/st-cuthbert-treasures">St Cuthbert</a> – patron saint of modern day Northumberland – lay at Durham Cathedral from the 12th century. Ely was home to the remains of its patron, St <a href="https://www.elycathedral.org/history-heritage/the-story-of-ely-cathedral">Æthelthryth</a> (also known as Etheldreda or Audrey), who founded the community in the 7th century. And Lincoln prided itself as the home of <a href="https://lincolncathedral.com/history-conservation/timeline/">St Hugh</a>, the 12th-century bishop and friend of King John. Cathedrals in Winchester, Gloucester and many other cities also served as burial places for illustrious <a href="http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/royal-connections/">royals</a>, <a href="http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/famous-people/st-swithun/">bishops</a> and <a href="http://www.thecityofgloucester.co.uk/things-to-do/st-oswalds-priory-p1103093">saints</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225931/original/file-20180703-116129-rju6at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225931/original/file-20180703-116129-rju6at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225931/original/file-20180703-116129-rju6at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225931/original/file-20180703-116129-rju6at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225931/original/file-20180703-116129-rju6at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225931/original/file-20180703-116129-rju6at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225931/original/file-20180703-116129-rju6at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ely cathedral: divine splendour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/garyullah/12859326563/sizes/l">Gary Ullah/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Medieval English communities often used their relics in pageants and processions. Miracle plays, which reenacted miracles performed by the saint, were performed on holy days within the cathedral grounds. Processions of the relics, including relic tours through nearby towns or around the city, were often performed immediately before or after a construction project, and raised funds for the cathedral. </p>
<p>Later in the Middle Ages, communities also performed mystery plays, where actors recreated scenes from the Bible. These plays were quite interactive, with audience participation, and could last for several days, bringing visitors from the surrounding regions into town and allowing for a wider community to participate in events within the cathedral.</p>
<h2>A modern-day miracle</h2>
<p>There are already indications that a return to processions, pageants and plays could help change the fortunes of modern cathedrals. York is well-known <a href="https://www.exploreyork.org.uk/the-original-york-mystery-plays-return-for-their-20th-year-this-september/">for its mystery plays</a>. Chester renewed its mystery plays, and has recently seen a <a href="https://chestercathedral.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Chester-Cathedral-Strategic-Plan-2018-2020.pdf">five-fold increase</a> in visitor numbers. Norwich also adopted mystery plays in recent decades, and currently <a href="https://www.cathedral.org.uk/docs/default-source/Strategic-Plan/norwich_cathedral_strategic_plan_2015-2020_-_low_res.pdf?sfvrsn=6">projects a budgetary surplus</a> for the 2018-19 financial year. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225929/original/file-20180703-116143-1725fw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225929/original/file-20180703-116143-1725fw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225929/original/file-20180703-116143-1725fw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225929/original/file-20180703-116143-1725fw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225929/original/file-20180703-116143-1725fw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225929/original/file-20180703-116143-1725fw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225929/original/file-20180703-116143-1725fw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chester’s mystery play, 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shricthism/2685424176/sizes/l">Shricthism/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cathedrals are places of worship. But they can also be sites of historical interest, alongside medieval castles, Roman forts and stately homes. Exploring the roles that cathedrals have played in developing English cities during medieval times has given <a href="https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/heritage/collections/st-cuthbert-treasures">Durham</a>, <a href="http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/cathedral-treasures/the-winchester-bible-details/">Winchester</a> and <a href="http://www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/home/campaign-objectives.aspx">Peterborough</a> cathedrals a financial boost, as they have built <a href="http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/conservation-action/kings-and-scribes-the-birth-of-a-nation/">new visitor centres</a> and opened <a href="https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/visit-us/open-treasure">permanent medieval exhibitions</a> in recent years, or are in the process of doing so today.</p>
<p>Reconnecting with their patron saints could also be financially beneficial for English cathedrals. These men and women often had an important part in establishing and building the city. And while the saints’ relics may no longer be in shrines – most of which were <a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/tudors/religion/">destroyed in the Reformation</a> – many cathedrals still commemorate the saint; whether with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelthryth">plaque on the floor</a>, a statue or a <a href="https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/history/bede">modern shrine</a>. </p>
<p>These articles can be used to bring history to life, in the form of processions or pageants – just like in medieval times. Performing tours with statues of the saints – especially if they are connected to existing heritage festivals – can remind residents of the important part the cathedral has played in their city’s history. </p>
<p>Connecting cathedrals to the city’s historical figures or events can help them retain relevance in an increasingly secular society. This, in turn, encourages more people to visit the cathedral itself. There’s no reason why cathedrals can’t still be big attractions, if local communities embrace the pageantry and rituals that celebrate their city’s history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99000/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Wiedenheft does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Medieval cathedrals were fund raising powerhouses – it’s time to let history live again.Elizabeth Wiedenheft, PhD in Medieval History, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/715352017-01-20T13:24:10Z2017-01-20T13:24:10ZFive of the most violent moments of the Reformation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153446/original/image-20170119-26563-10ik3uv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blood on the streets: the 1572 St Bartholomew's Day massacre. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Francois_Dubois_001.jpg">Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre by Francois Dubois via Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been 500 years since what is seen as the “start” of the Reformation, when the German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, challenging practices in the late medieval Catholic Church and ushering in a schism that led to the rise of Protestantism across Europe. </p>
<p>For the Lutheran and Catholic churches, the anniversary has been an occasion for attempts to bridge some of the divides of the Reformation, including a <a href="https://cruxnow.com/papal-visit/2016/10/31/catholic-lutheran-churches-pledge-work-shared-eucharist/">joint service</a> between Pope Francis and the Lutheran Church in Sweden, and Pope Francis’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37827736">acknowledgement</a> of the positive elements of Luther’s teachings. On January 17, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York released <a href="http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5826/reformation-anniversary-statement-from-the-archbishops-of-canterbury-and-york">a statement</a> expressing regret for the divisions of the Reformation. </p>
<p>During the seismic religious changes of the 16th and 17th centuries, atrocities were committed and martyrs were made. Episodes of violence had a profound impact on those who lived through them, and those who discussed, read about or have remembered them since. Here are five episodes of violence that shaped how Europeans saw themselves for centuries after.</p>
<h2>1. The German Peasant’s War (1525)</h2>
<p>Martin Luther’s search for a purer form of Christianity could appeal to different groups for different reasons. His doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, stressing the spiritual equality of all men in the eyes of God, was particularly powerful for those at the bottom of the hierarchy. </p>
<p>The attempts by peasants in the Holy Roman Empire to realise the Gospel message – a message which to them promised social as well as spiritual equality – led to one of the largest popular rebellions in early modern Europe, with rebel armies made up of as many as 40,000 in some areas. The violent actions of the peasants were met with violent condemnation by Luther <a href="http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/peasants1525.html">in print</a>, while harsh suppression by the authorities meant that tens of thousands lost their lives in the rebellion’s aftermath.</p>
<h2>2. The end of the Kingdom of Münster (1536)</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153448/original/image-20170119-26582-1sfi39a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153448/original/image-20170119-26582-1sfi39a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153448/original/image-20170119-26582-1sfi39a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153448/original/image-20170119-26582-1sfi39a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153448/original/image-20170119-26582-1sfi39a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153448/original/image-20170119-26582-1sfi39a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153448/original/image-20170119-26582-1sfi39a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cages still left on St Lambert’s Church in Munster, where the bodies of the rebellion’s leaders were displayed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ptwo/14847099269/sizes/l">ptwo/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just a decade after the Peasants War, the spectre of Reformation-inspired anarchy returned to the Holy Roman Empire. In Münster, a group of radical Anabaptists took control of the city and established a spiritual government. Its challenge to the religious and political status quo was considered immediate and grave: the practice of polygamy within the community was viewed as just one manifestation of all that was at threat. </p>
<p>When the new government began to collapse, the Catholic authorities moved in: the leading Anabaptists were put to the sword, <a href="http://www.executedtoday.com/2012/01/22/1536-the-munster-rebellion-leaders/">their body parts placed in cages on the outside of the cathedral</a>. For contemporaries, Münster and its bloody end was an argument for obedience to the secular and religious authorities. It also resulted in an enduring suspicion towards religious radicals: while not all Anabaptists embraced violent revolution, they became the target of hostility across Europe.</p>
<h2>3. The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day (1572)</h2>
<p>This massacre was perhaps the most notorious episode of religious violence of the Reformation era. On August 24, 1572, in the midst of celebrations of a marriage between a Catholic princess and a Protestant king, at least 2,000 French Protestants were <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/St-Bartholomews-Day-Massacre-Documents/0312413602">murdered on the streets of Paris</a>.</p>
<p>The news of events in Paris also sparked massacres in other French cities. While the direct role of the French monarchy in the massacre, and the exact numbers killed, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005493t">remain sources of debate</a>, the “popular” element of the violence was striking: victims were often known to perpetrators. Catholic powers praised the killings, and the French Protestant cause saw a wave of exile and conversions. </p>
<h2>4. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648)</h2>
<p>This war, or series of wars, is sometimes remembered <a href="http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/content/CXXIII/502/554.abstract">as the last of the wars of religion</a>. Some of its origins lay with tensions over the religious settlement offered in the Peace of Augsburg (1555), which allowed for Lutheran and Catholic territories within the Holy Roman Empire. A Protestant revolt against Catholic Habsburg rule in Bohemia spiralled into a conflict in which all the major powers of Europe became involved. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153581/original/image-20170120-5211-iqv774.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153581/original/image-20170120-5211-iqv774.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153581/original/image-20170120-5211-iqv774.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153581/original/image-20170120-5211-iqv774.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153581/original/image-20170120-5211-iqv774.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153581/original/image-20170120-5211-iqv774.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153581/original/image-20170120-5211-iqv774.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the etchings from a series called Les Grandes Misères, which depicted the destruction during the Thirty Years War.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Grandes_Mis%C3%A8res_de_la_guerre">The Hanging by Jacques Callot</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Parts of the German-speaking lands were utterly decimated – some areas lost between a quarter and a half of their population. The episodes of violence associated with both Protestant and Catholic troops in the war were legendary, and stories spread across Europe. </p>
<h2>5. Christian violence against non-Christians</h2>
<p>As the historian Nicholas Terpstra <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/european-history-after-1450/religious-refugees-early-modern-world-alternative-history-reformation?format=PB">recently argued</a>, the Reformation-era drive for purity was turned not only against rival Christian denominations, but also against non-Christian populations. </p>
<p>In this light, the victory claimed <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nk276">in 1492</a> by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, rulers of Castille and Aragon, over the Muslim populations of the Iberian peninsula with the fall of the Kingdom of Granada, is a more appropriate starting point to the Reformation than Luther’s actions in Wittenberg. </p>
<p>The “reconversion” of Spain to Christianity, and the expulsion of the Jewish and Muslim populations of the peninsula were hugely significant acts of symbolic and practical violence. And, beyond both 1492 and 1517, as Spain and other European nations acquired overseas empires, they also began to convert and subdue non-European peoples, sometimes with great violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katy Gibbons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have called for repentence for the divisions caused by the schism between the Protestant and Catholic faiths.Katy Gibbons, Senior Lecturer in History, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/665912016-10-06T14:16:29Z2016-10-06T14:16:29ZPope and archbishop hope ‘unity pilgrimage’ will calm their own warring factions<p>Pope Francis and the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, are on a pilgrimage together. It’s a long one – measuring in distance the thousand and more miles from Canterbury to Rome and a journey of more than 500 years in the making, but the two religious leaders hope that their respective churches will follow in their footsteps to a new, closer, relationship that heals ancient hurts.</p>
<p>“New Steps on an Ancient Pilgrimage: Walking Together from Canterbury to Rome”, is the title of the <a href="http://www.anglicannews.org/features/2016/09/archbishop-justin-welby-and-pope-francis-celebrate-closer-anglican-catholic-relationship.aspx">ecumenical summit</a> between the Anglican and Catholic churches, involving meetings in both religious centres. The pope and archbishop appointed 19 pairs of bishops tasked with going out and spreading the unity message. </p>
<p>The timing could not be more appropriate, as the communion among the Anglican church itself is under severe strain over <a href="http://ordinationtruth.com/2015/02/14/time-magazine-connects-wo-and-homosexuality/">ordination of women and gay clergy</a>, while the Catholic community faces serious allegations <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/insider/sex-abuse-and-the-catholic-church-why-is-it-still-a-story.html">about child abuse and related cover-ups</a>. What began as a joint statement of unity made in 1966 by Pope Paul VI and the then archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, has taken on more concrete roots in terms of the two churches strengthening each other’s perceptions of their shared faith. </p>
<p>Half a century of ecumenical pilgrimage has been littered with difficult conversations around doctrine, tradition and holy orders – many of which have been addressed, including some of the difficult questions around the understanding of the sacraments, scripture and priestly authority. Statements in the past have stressed the common understanding of baptism and eucharist (the taking of communion) and have encouraged Catholics and Anglicans to explore the possibility of worshipping together. </p>
<p>There have also been efforts in the past at co-operation between the two communities, particularly over social justice issues such as poverty and care for the environment. This was stressed in a 2007 <a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/angl-comm-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20070914_growing-together_en.html">Growing Together</a> document, released to mark four decades of this ecumenical pilgrimage. </p>
<h2>Thorny issues</h2>
<p>In the joint statement Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin frankly admitted the serious obstacles to unity among Catholics and Anglicans: the acknowledgement of committed same-sex relationships and the ordination of women. These are going to be thorny issues for both the heads of the church and neither is going to go away any time soon. </p>
<p>There have been several changes in the postures from the hierarchy with regards to the ordination of women. In the past those opposed to the ordination of women within the Anglican Church, the Church of England in particular, sought refuge in the Catholic Church – and the Catholic Church welcomed them into the fold. But since then the Anglican Church <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30974547">has introduced women bishops</a> and even the pope has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/12/pope-francis-consider-ordaining-women-female-deacons-catholic-church-commission">hinted at plans for the ordination of woman as deacons</a> as a possibility. </p>
<p>As far as same-sex relationships go, the issue is still causing <a href="https://theconversation.com/primate-row-over-sexuality-could-split-the-anglican-church-53005">serious rifts among Anglicans</a>, as some of the Anglican provinces have allowed openly gay clergy to be ordained and even consecrated as bishops, while others have condemned such a liberal stance. And while the pope has not publicly condoned same-sex relationships, he has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/26/pope-francis-says-christians-should-apologise-to-gay-people">suggested that the church should not discriminate</a> against gay people – instead they should apologise to them. So, by recognising these two issues as the main obstacles to their unity, the archbishop and pope have scored a major victory among the “catholic” (or small-liberal) in both traditions, who share their view. </p>
<h2>Shared pulpits</h2>
<p>The biggest challenge facing both churches is the speed at which Western societies are becoming post-Christian – with highly secularised values shaping the worldview of young people. Both churches have been struggling with a steady decline of membership and lack of young people coming forward for ministry. The perception is that the Catholic and Anglican Churches have lost touch with the young generation. </p>
<p>But Pope Francis, in particular, has reversed the fortunes of the Catholic Church due to his <a href="http://americamagazine.org/issue/pastor-his-people">pastoral approach to papacy</a>. Welby meanwhile, despite being from an evangelical – or conservative – branch of Anglicanism, has sown the seeds of “<a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/renewal-reform.aspx">renewal and reform</a>” within the Church of England to arrest this decline. The ecumenical summit could be seen as a natural movement towards not just pulpit swaps and shared retreats among the clergy but strengthening each of the two churches’ base communities. </p>
<p>While the efforts of the archbishop of Canterbury for unity have been welcomed by the “Anglo-Catholics”, the more evangelical churches within the Anglican communion, such as the Global Anglican Future Conferences (spearheaded by African bishops who are opposed to women and gay pastoral leaders) will find this dialogue difficult. The pope is also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/13/pope-endorsement-softens-stance-on-divorced-catholics">gradually softening some of the hardline Catholic teachings</a> on family and marriage, but <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/29/traditionalist-catholics-pope-francis-painful-confusion">not all are happy</a> about his reforms. </p>
<p>So while the ecumenical journey set in motion by the two leaders shows their desire to reconcile the two churches so that together they can address some of the common challenges faced by their communities, they must be hoping that this message for greater unity will be heard by the warring factions in their own churches around the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66591/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anderson Jeremiah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The two church leaders want to promote togetherness between Catholics and Anglicans, but their own churches are bitterly divided.Anderson Jeremiah, Lecturer in the department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/561732016-03-11T16:35:27Z2016-03-11T16:35:27ZIs it really not racist to oppose immigration?<p>In a wide-ranging interview about Britain’s relationship with Europe and the ongoing migration crisis, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/10/reasonable-fear-colossal-migration-crisis-justin-welby-archbishop-canterbury">said</a> that people who raise questions about the level of immigration into the UK should not be seen as racist. He said that to be anxious about “one of the greatest movements of people in human history” was “very reasonable”. He added: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is a tendency to say ‘those people are racist’, which is just outrageous, absolutely outrageous. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Arguments that anti-immigration views are racist <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-322-87330-9_23">are not new</a>. There have also been strong counter claims against this. One of the most famous was the Conservative party’s 2005 election posters which claimed: “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/mar/08/election2005.politicalcolumnists">it’s not racist to impose limits on immigration</a>”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114854/original/image-20160311-11302-xmox61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114854/original/image-20160311-11302-xmox61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114854/original/image-20160311-11302-xmox61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114854/original/image-20160311-11302-xmox61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114854/original/image-20160311-11302-xmox61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114854/original/image-20160311-11302-xmox61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114854/original/image-20160311-11302-xmox61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conservative party 2005 campaign poster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wrong/7337849/sizes/o/">Voyou Desouevre/flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether racist or not, referring to immigrants as a group to be fearful or anxious about can be dangerous and feeds into the current anti-asylum trends in the mainstream media and from some politicians. Immigrants are simply people who have moved from another country, and in the case of refugees they are those fleeing terrible persecution. There is no reason to fear them.</p>
<h2>Some convincing needed</h2>
<p>As immigration refers to people moving into a country from abroad there is always part of the discussion which deals with “outsiders”. This is because the incomers by definition are from a different background. Given that there are clearly <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21631076-rather-lot-according-new-piece-research-what-have-immigrants-ever-done-us">benefits</a> to immigration, the main economic argument against immigration does not stand up. So opposition to immigration may be based on something else – and that something is more than likely going to be about “keeping others out”.</p>
<p>As the psychologist Rebecca Barnes and her colleagues <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1348/0144666041501705/abstract">argue</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>‘Who’ can belong ‘where’ is a prejudiced topic of argument that requires an amount of discursive work to make it safely sayable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This means that whether racist or not, there is an element of discrimination behind a desire to keep immigrants out, which means that speakers need to convince others that this is not due to racism. </p>
<p>This is why a major feature of talk about immigration is the repeated denial that opposition to it is racist – for example by saying “I’m not racist, but …” </p>
<p>The linguist Teun Adrianus van Dijk <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Racism_at_the_Top.html?id=0W_aAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">has argued</a> that while denials of racism can work to present the speaker as not racist, they also draw attention to the possibility that what is being said could at least possibly be viewed as racist. </p>
<p>For example, people don’t tend to deny they are being racist when saying we should leave the EU, but they do when opposing immigration.</p>
<h2>Who gets into most trouble</h2>
<p>Much of my own <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon_Goodman3">research</a> has focused on denials of racism in talk about immigration. This is not because I believe it to be racist, but because I was struck by how denials of racism are such a common feature in conversations about immigration. </p>
<p>My research looking at members of the public, media and political debates has shown that there is <a href="https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/bitstream/2134/16518/3/goodman2.pdf">an overwhelming acceptance that opposing immigration is not racist</a>. In fact, making accusations of racism can get people into <a href="http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/journals/cadaad/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Volume-4_Goodman.pdf">almost as much trouble as saying something racist</a>.</p>
<p>People who do make accusations of racism tend to be accused of censorship and stopping debates. This is exactly what <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/archbishop-canterbury-congratulated-iain-duncan-7536541#ICID">Iain Duncan Smith</a> said in support of Welby. Those who support immigration often have to deny that they are making accusations of racism. What this seems to show is that, rather than an anti-immigration position being linked to racism, there is an acceptance that it is not racist. Instead, it is those that make accusations of racism that tend to get themselves into trouble.</p>
<p>Yet at a time when the plight of refugees in Europe is more prominent than ever, it is extremely dangerous to present “fears” about wider immigration as simply not being racist, as the archbishop has done. Whether people are racist or not, arguing against immigration in the present climate often means arguing to keep refugees stuck in terrible <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/feb/04/drone-footage-homs-syria-utter-devastation-video">conflict situations</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/calais-jungle-refugee-children-being-raped-in-camp-aid-workers-claim-a6912711.html">inhumane conditions</a> and to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/at-least-18-refugees-drown-after-boat-sinks-off-turkish-coast_us_56dc5186e4b0000de404f2b8">risk death</a> attempting to reach the safety of Europe. </p>
<p>There is an important distinction to be made between immigrants and refugees, however the reporting of these is often misleading and can <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17405900701464832#.VuLxqvmLSUk">conflate the two</a>, so anti-immigration arguments can be applied to refugees too. We must also remember that the “refugee crisis” is a crisis for the refugees, not for Europe in general which continues to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-portes/economic-europe-refugees_b_8128288.html">benefit from immigration</a>.</p>
<p>While arguing against allowing refugees to come to Europe or Britain may not technically be racist, it is hugely problematic and seems to be lacking in basic human decency. Perhaps we need a new term to describe people who argue against refugees; not racist, but inhumane.</p>
<p><em>This article was amended on March 12 to clarify that the 2005 Conservative poster said “It’s not racist to impose limits on immigration”, not “It’s not racist to oppose immigration”</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Goodman receives funding from the ESRC. </span></em></p>The Archbishop of Cantebury says it’s outrageous to label all those who question immigration as racists.Simon Goodman, Research Fellow, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/540212016-02-10T09:43:53Z2016-02-10T09:43:53ZCriticised for rejecting same-sex marriage, but is the Anglican church actually helping gay rights?<p>The recent decision by the leaders of the worldwide Anglican church to <a href="https://theconversation.com/together-but-at-what-price-anglican-ruling-against-same-sex-marriage-marginalises-us-church-53252">punish its US branch</a> for recognising gay marriage has, understandably, led many to feel the church is taking an anti-LGBT stance. But there is a silver lining in this story.</p>
<p>At their recent meeting, the Anglican church leaders did indeed decide to suspend the episcopal church for its “<a href="https://theconversation.com/together-but-at-what-price-anglican-ruling-against-same-sex-marriage-marginalises-us-church-53252">fundamental departure</a>” from the faith. It’s also true that the decision has come as a result of pressure from more conservative church leaders – not at least those from a range of African countries.</p>
<p>But one part of the <a href="http://www.primates2016.org/articles/2016/01/15/communique-primates/">official statement</a> that came out of this meeting has gone largely unnoticed – and that’s the section in which the church leaders “reaffirmed their rejection of criminal sanctions against same-sex attracted people”.</p>
<p>This statement is surprising. Many of the leaders come from countries in which same-sex practices are illegal – particularly those who sought sanctions on the US church. Gay men and women face being ostracised and even imprisoned in countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Nigeria and Rwanda – all of which were represented at the meeting.</p>
<p>The Anglican churches <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/church-of-uganda-spokesperson-explains-support-for-controversial-anti-homosexuality-law-117718/">in Uganda</a> and <a href="http://anglican-nig.org/the-whole-armour-of-god-a-necessary-weapon-against-evil-primate-okoh/">Nigeria</a> have even supported introducing new, fiercer anti-homosexual legislation in their countries.</p>
<p>They could do so without facing any “consequences” for their role in the Anglican Communion, while the US church is now being sanctioned for its support for, and blessing of, loving relationships between people of the same sex.</p>
<p>The inclusion of this statement may very well testify to the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/15/the-guardian-view-on-the-anglican-communion-archbishop-welbys-holy-smoke-and-mirrors">extraordinary diplomatic skills</a> of Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion.</p>
<p>One can imagine the bargaining taking place at such a meeting. Welby and others may have insisted on including this statement after the conservative bishops had got what they wanted – sanctions against the US church.</p>
<p>Yet one wonders what this statement is worth. How are the primates, the churches they represent – and the Anglican Communion as a whole – going to follow up on their stated goal?</p>
<h2>New allies</h2>
<p>Homosexuality is <a href="http://antigaylaws.org/">criminalised</a> in 77 countries around the world. A total of 40 of these countries are part of the Commonwealth – and their penal codes date back to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/10/30/the-british-colonial-origins-of-anti-gay-laws/">colonial period</a>. But while Britain updated its laws to end criminalisation between 1967 and 1982, other countries have lagged behind.</p>
<p>Might it be possible for the Anglican Communion – itself a byproduct of British Empire – to join forces with human rights activists to change the anti-sodomy laws that many countries inherited from the same empire?</p>
<p>Apart from in South Africa, marriage equality has never been on top of the agenda of African LGBT activists. So they may not be much bothered by the doctrinal definition of marriage that is being used as an argument to suspend the US church. Decriminalisation of same-sex practices, on the other hand, is a <a href="http://www.blacklooks.org/2011/05/african-lgbti-manifestodeclaration/">top priority</a> for them, for which they seek global support.</p>
<p>There is a growing momentum for greater LGBT rights in Africa. Only a year ago, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-33342963">Mozambique</a> dropped the colonial-era clause outlawing “vices against nature” from its penal code, effectively allowing for same-sex relationships. Prominent figures such as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15368752">Festus Mogae</a>, the former president of Botswana, and the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, <a href="http://www.christiantoday.com/article/tutu.supports.decriminalisation.of.homosexuality.worldwide/30333.htm">Desmond Tutu</a>, are advocating for decriminalisation. In the same trend, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2014 adopted a <a href="http://www.achpr.org/sessions/55th/resolutions/275/">landmark resolution</a> on preventing violence and other human rights violations against people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.</p>
<p>If the church leaders are serious about their rejection of criminal sanctions against same-sex loving people, African LGBT and human rights activists around the world have found important allies.</p>
<p>In that case, the outcome of the Canterbury meeting would be more positive than appears at first sight. It’s up to the primates – and the archbishop of Canterbury as their <em>primus inter pares</em> – to show that all this isn’t just wishful thinking. We have to take these church leaders at their own word, and call them to account if they fail to act on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adriaan van Klinken does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Anglican church has been criticised for standing against gay marriage, but it has taken a positive step on an issue that many activists see as more important.Adriaan van Klinken, Associate Professor of Religion and African Studies, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/477242015-09-18T13:17:20Z2015-09-18T13:17:20ZDiversity not divorce: Anglicans must aim for a broad church if they can’t agree<p>The Times has suggested that Anglicanism is facing its “<a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/faith/article4559325.ece">biggest crisis … since Darwin</a>”. Differences over women priests and bishops, sexuality – and more besides – have certainly <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/archbishop-of-canterbury-urges-breakup-of-divided-anglican-communion">exacerbated pronounced differences</a> between those parts of the Anglican Communion found in the developing world, and those from the developed world.</p>
<p>To the outsider, Anglicans have a strange way of doing business. The ground rules for doctrinal debates always guaranteed inclusion for participants and most reasonable points of view – even those one might passionately oppose. All sides could always claim a victory, since final decisions were seldom reached. </p>
<p>But in recent years the issue of sexuality and gender has exacerbated, rather than soothed, the vast differences. So is Anglicanism about to slide into extinction? Depending on which newspaper you read, the crisis is either temporary or terminal. For The Times, it is a dramatic “crisis”, for The Guardian, it’s a “loosening of ties”. But how might Anglicanism respond?</p>
<p>To my mind, there are three possible options – <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/11/religion.uk">options that have faced the church for some years</a>. First, there is the “Carry on Disagreeing” option – plenty of slapstick, but minus the humour. A second option would be to divide from those you no longer agree with. The third option would be to recognise that geography mean less today and that congregations and churches are increasingly related by their shared affinities and agreed moral coherence. Might the Communion become a kind of federation, in just the same way that the British Empire has become a Commonwealth?</p>
<h2>Global mansion</h2>
<p>Anglicanism is undoubtedly global, but may now be too diverse to be centrally or collegially governed in a manner that guarantees unequivocal unity. So, overlapping might work for a church that has always valued pluralism. Some congregations (note, not all the people living in a parish) that can’t accept women priests or bishops in the Church of England already have this option.</p>
<p>If I read the archbishop’s proposal correctly, he is inviting his fellow archbishops to quietly drop the chimera of “<a>Communion</a>” to become more like a family of churches. Much like the Baptist family name – with prefixes such as Southern, American, Reformed, Strict and so on. If that’s ok for them, why not for Anglicans – Conservative, Liberal, Traditional, Progressive and so on?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754632597">Many years ago I argued that</a> the Anglican Communion could be visualised as vast mansion, with the addition of Evangelical and Catholic wings. It remains a large stately home – albeit one in which the vast rooms are now being made into self-contained flats, like many grand houses today. Everyone still has the same official address and shares the imposing exterior and frontage: but different internal relations within the “storied dwelling” mean the union is not as it once was. Essentially, this is an argument about the ownership of the Anglican family name and who is allowed to divorce who and on what grounds. And, of course, who gets the house.</p>
<h2>Reform and alienation</h2>
<p>That said, the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/archbishop-of-canterbury-urges-breakup-of-divided-anglican-communion">Archbishop of Canterbury’s initiative</a> seems to be characteristically direct and forthright, and potentially perilous – a risk he himself acknowledges. In his very short period of office, he has moved quickly <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9583672/gods-management-consultants-the-church-of-england-turns-to-bankers-for-salvation/">on a range of reforms</a> in the Church of England, with many of these lacking in requisite consultation.</p>
<p>Reforms in theological education, leadership training and simplifying Canon Law have produced both dismay and demoralisation. The emphasis on numerical growth and management has downplayed broader definitions of mission and ministry and undervalued the centrality of pastoral care. Bishops are increasingly seen as managers and setters of targets – not as pastors and teachers. Clergy are increasingly alienated from their own church, and the leadership driving such reforms.</p>
<p>So, I have three concerns about the apparent proposals. First, there is no sign of the <a href="http://www.anglicancommunion.org/structures/instruments-of-communion/acc.aspx">Anglican Consultative Council</a> being referred to. The archbishop’s initiative feels like it might be born out of impatience, frustration and exasperation – even though it is being marketed as potentially visionary. Holding complex tensions and competing convictions together is what archbishops are supposed to do. We need them to model patience and wisdom, not terminate tensions through executive managerial shortcuts.</p>
<p>Second, the <a href="http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/">notice from Lambeth Palace</a> seems to place the stress on the Bible, when “properly interpreted”. This is a tetchy phrase – Anglicans all agree what the Bible says, we just don’t always agree on what it means – and it raises questions about coded affirmations and denigrations being buried in the text. There is no explicit acknowledgement of the role of reason and tradition in shaping church polity (or the role of the Holy Spirit in these).</p>
<p>Third, the assumption in the Lambeth statement is that our distinctive cultures, though different from country to country and continent to continent, are homogeneous in their own local and regional contexts. They are not, of course, as many of our cities and towns support a highly varied ecology of parish churches – some that are passionately conservative, others avowedly liberal, and others just mixed. In any parish, anywhere, some parishioners are happily married; some in civil partnerships; some straight, some gay. Parishes are just a microcosm of the wider Communion and of the society in which they live.</p>
<p>We need bishops and archbishops who can hold these tensions together – rather than allowing divisions to grow, people to go their separate ways and tribal enclaves to develop. What we are aiming for? Is it a United Kingdom of confessional diversity, or a post-war Balkanisation of differences? Whatever the primates decide in January, my guess is that a degree of separation will not necessarily mean schism, let alone divorce.</p>
<p>A slight loosening of the ties could help the Anglican churches. Those family members that want the space to individuate should perhaps be given some licence. Eighty million members, in 38 provinces, all living under one roof, might be a bit too stifling for the 21st century. Instead of a single Communion, might we develop a broad “family” of Anglican churches? Instead of trying to paper over our differences, can Anglicans agree to live slightly apart, but still as friends and neighbours?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martyn Percy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The church is too diverse to be governed from Canterbury and should agree to disagree on issues such as women priests and bishops and sexuality.Martyn Percy, Dean, Christ Church, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/367452015-01-29T15:26:49Z2015-01-29T15:26:49ZWomen bishops at last – but the Church of England still stands by homophobes<p>“Don’t go all Anglican on me!” quipped Archbishop John Sentamu, as he teased the congregation into a louder affirmation of Libby Lane’s consecration as the Church of England’s first woman bishop on Monday.</p>
<p>Save for the embarrassing intervention of a lone protestor, it truly was a joyous event, and seemed to convey the spirit of a Church growing in confidence. Perhaps it is no coincidence that, with the issue of women bishops finally resolved, the Church of England has lately appeared emboldened to speak out about <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11344889/Archbishop-of-York-Dr-John-Sentamu-income-inequality-is-the-biggest-problem-in-Britain.html">inequality</a>. But for many people, this is still a difficult message to stomach from the church.</p>
<p>It seems unlikely that Archbishop Sentamu will venture the same joke at the consecration taking place next week. As has been well documented, Sentamu will lead a number of other Bishops in exercising <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tale-of-two-bishops-36670">“gracious restraint”</a> during that ceremony. He and several others will not touch traditionalist Philip North to affirm him when he becomes Bishop of Burnley because those hands have ordained women to the priesthood.</p>
<p>It is usual for all bishops and archbishops present at a consecration to lay their hands on the candidate and pray for them. However, to appease the traditionalists and preserve the legitimacy of Philip North’s consecration, those bishops who have ordained women are to keep their hands off him.</p>
<p>This is, so we are to understand from <a href="http://www.archbishopofyork.org/articles.php/3204/forthcoming-consecrations">Sentamu</a>, not to imply a theology of “taint” around women priests, although you could be forgiven for thinking that some kind of theological lurgy must still be lingering in the air.</p>
<p>It is certainly remarkable to be instructed on the notion of taint by Sentamu. This February he will reportedly <a href="http://churchofuganda.org/info/international-celebration-of-abp-janani-luwum-day-launched">preach</a> alongside Archbishop Stanley Ntagali in Uganda. Ntagali is a vocal <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2014/08/04/ugandas-anglican-leader-doubles-anti-gay-law/">supporter</a> of the anti-homosexuality bill that would mean life imprisonment for gay people in Uganda. When this bill was struck down on a technicality last year, he called the decision a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/04/stanley-ntagali-anti-gay-law_n_5648648.html">disappointment</a> for the church and for religious leaders, urging the Ugandan parliament to push the bill through to protect children and families from Western-imported homosexuality.</p>
<p>Gay Ugandans are being <a href="http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2014/11/28/breaking-ugandan-activist-attacked-by-mob-in-intensive-care/">attacked</a> by mobs and living in fear for their lives under a pernicious culture and climate of homophobia encouraged by their <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/01/26/david_kato_s_funeral_how_uganda_s_leading_gay_activist_was_laid_to_rest.html">church</a>. Unless Sentamu is going to deliver a sermon disowning the hateful ideas of his hosts, he will find that this appearance will assuredly leave him tainted indeed.</p>
<p>Sentamu had to leave Uganda in fear for his own life under the brutal rule of Idi Amin. In response to a recent <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9415152/archbishop-john-sentamu-on-why-politicians-are-like-men-arguing-at-a-urinal/">question</a> on whether he thought Christians are persecuted in the UK, he replied “I know what persecution looks like. What is happening at the moment in England, it ain’t persecution.”</p>
<p>Well, what is happening to gay people in Uganda plainly is persecution, and Archbishop Sentamu is going to stand side-by-side with the persecutors. If ever there was a time for exercising gracious restraint, an invitation to preach alongside Stanley Ntagali should be high on the list for anyone who opposes inequality and persecution.</p>
<h2>Singing from the same hymn sheet?</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has not been exercising restraint in talking about inequality. </p>
<p>In his homily at Trinity Wall Street during a recent visit to New York, Welby <a href="http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5482/archbishop-of-canterburys-homily-at-trinity-wall-street-new-york">asserted</a> that Jesus “does not permit us to accept a society in which the weak are excluded (whether because of race, wealth, gender, ability, or sexuality).”</p>
<p>Maybe Sentamu didn’t get the memo. And indeed, it is still rather difficult to stomach lessons on the evils of inequality from an an established church that has locked itself out of <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/our-views/marriage,-family-and-sexuality-issues/same-sex-marriage/same-sex-marriage-and-the-church-of-england-an-explanatory-note.aspx">equalities</a> legislation.</p>
<p><a href="http://faithdebates.org.uk/research/">Research</a> carried out by Lancaster University shows that when people see the Church of England as having a negative effect on society, it is precisely because it appears to oppose equality, particularly for women and gay people. In their concessions to “traditionalists” and by continuing to collude with LGBTI persecution around the world, the church still has a huge problem with credibility when it comes to this subject.</p>
<p>Broadcaster Stephen Fry is due to take part in a debate this week at the University of Cambridge. Surprisingly, he will oppose a motion for disestablishing the Church of England. Given his support for LGBTI rights around the world, it will be interesting to see how he will argue in favour of maintaining the Church’s privileges of establishment.</p>
<p>As church historian Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch stated at a recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITanPvhaLyg">debate</a>: “If it is perceived by the bulk of the population of this country as taking sides with evil rather than good, then it has forfeited its continuing right to established status.”</p>
<p>Despite the joyful occasion of Libby Lane’s consecration, the “gracious restraint” of the bishops next week, along with Sentamu’s sermon with Ntagali, prolongs the perception that the church still hasn’t decided which side it is on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36745/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Reader does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>“Don’t go all Anglican on me!” quipped Archbishop John Sentamu, as he teased the congregation into a louder affirmation of Libby Lane’s consecration as the Church of England’s first woman bishop on Monday…Simon Reader, Research associate, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/164392013-07-26T13:54:29Z2013-07-26T13:54:29ZWelby’s Wonga wobble as he takes on the financial sector<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/28164/original/zw5q58fs-1374837601.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Goodbye Wonga, hello credit co-ops?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Catholic Church (England and Wales)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has become increasingly involved in debates about the UK financial sector. The <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1855c6bc-f544-11e2-b4f8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2a9Pm8Nnl">embarrassing revelations</a> that the Church has invested indirectly in payday lender Wonga are unlikely to stop his campaign against costly forms of consumer finance. </p>
<p>The archbishop was a vocal member of the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/banking-report-suggests-a-cure-for-stupidity-epidemic-15328">Parliamentary Commission on Standards on Banking</a>, pushing for a consideration of the bottom end of the banking market. This meant the commission’s report, released last month, did not just focus on making the big banks safer; there was also a call to ensure the poor have access to finance at rates similar to the middle classes.</p>
<p>The recommendations for reforming the bottom end of the financial market have been largely overlooked in the wake of the report. But the archbishop has launched his own mission to take on the financial bottom-feeders, becoming an outspoken critic of payday lending. And he has very good reason to take aim at elements of this part of the industry, as it offers short-term loans to often poor consumers. It uses complex <a href="https://theconversation.com/wonga-is-watching-you-how-payday-lenders-follow-your-online-trail-14541">consumer surveillance techniques</a> to offer loans quickly, at huge levels of interest (<a href="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2345670/Wonga-pushes-typical-APR-5-853-cent--says-borrowers-pay-payday-loans.html">5000%+ APR</a> ). As the recession has pushed many people to the financial brink, they have turned to loans from such lenders and the result has been a rapid growth in the industry - from £900m in 2008/9 to <a href="http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/Credit/oft1481.pdf">£2.2 billion in 2011/2</a>. </p>
<p>This might sounds like a nice growth story in these dark economic times. But there is increasing evidence it has come with significant social costs. A recent <a href="http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_index/press_20130528.htm">survey by the Citizens Advice Bureau</a> found evidence of some lenders offering loans to underage people, inadequate checks on borrowers, taking more than is owed, harassing borrowers, draining bank accounts and refusing to agree repayment plans. In addition, a charity advising indebted people has found there was a 300% rise in people approaching them with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/dec/04/problem-payday-loans-rise-300-per-cent">problems with payday loans</a>.</p>
<h2>More than a malcontent</h2>
<p>But the archbishop is more than just an ecclesiastical malcontent. After all, he has a background as an oil executive. In a recent <a href="http://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/384457/archbishopand39s-move-can-welby-restore-faith-in-the-church.thtml">wide-ranging interview</a>, the archbishop announced he hoped to compete payday lenders out of existence. </p>
<p>This does not mean the church setting up its own bank, but it does mean it will help to support credit co-ops. They will provide these community organisations with access to church spaces across the country, the expertise lurking among parishioners, and a big potential pool of customers sitting in the pews. The hope is this support will help to build the strength of these co-ops that provide finance to poorer borrowers at far lower interest rates (a maximum rate of 42.6% APR).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/28165/original/vcdn7s2h-1374838097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/28165/original/vcdn7s2h-1374838097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/28165/original/vcdn7s2h-1374838097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/28165/original/vcdn7s2h-1374838097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/28165/original/vcdn7s2h-1374838097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/28165/original/vcdn7s2h-1374838097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/28165/original/vcdn7s2h-1374838097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Church plans to compete.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ewan-M</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Taking on payday lenders addresses an important tension in the government’s new banking policies. The Banking Standards report contained an important paradox. It pointed out banks need to become safer. This means holding more capital and having larger risk functions, something that can only be done by large banks. </p>
<p>The cost is often lending to more risky clients, such as individuals and small businesses, who are often pushed into the arms of payday lenders. Welby’s proposal to support credit co-ops will help to create more credible alternatives to these lenders.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that alternatives are strangely lacking in the industry. The past decade has seen the increasing consolidation of a few large banks which the public appears to mistrust. At the same time there have been significant advances in technology which allow us to use money in different ways. Taken together, these trends have created very fertile ground for innovative business models. </p>
<p>But what is surprising is that so few people have taken up the challenge. And many these innovations have come from the margins – a retailer who started Metrobank, the faceless hackers who lauched Bitcoin, the social activists experimenting with crowdsourced funding, and of our the technology entrepreneurs involved in online payday lending. With the appearance of these alternatives, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/100887636">some claim that</a> banking is about to face an “iTunes moment”. This will involve companies adapting digital business models to do the same thing a large established business was already doing – but more conveniently and at a fraction of the cost. Just like the entry of Apple into the recording industry, digital challengers are likely to change the way banking works.</p>
<p>But what remains to be seen is how these would-be digital challengers might offer a product that is hip and cheap but also ethical and safe. Perhaps this is where the church’s support of credit co-ops comes in. It could harness its community reach, coupled with its own expertise, to support real credible alternatives. </p>
<h2>Wading in</h2>
<p>Yet wading into the world of finance does not come without its risks. The revelation that the Church of England’s pension fund had invested in a North American venture capital firm that in turn <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23459932">invested in Wonga</a> has certainly done some damage. The amount involved is small – £75,000 compared with an overall fund of £5.2 billion. But the damage this might cause to the archbishop’s campaign as well as the church’s reputation could be larger. </p>
<p>Indeed, this has already highlighted some important gaps in the church’s ethical investment policy. Probably the most surprising was that under this policy, the church’s fund can invest in a company which holds up to 25% investment in industries such as porn, gambling, payday lending, and 10% in weapons. The Wonga news will spur a change in the policy, but it could mean the church loses some of the moral authority which its leader is currently trading on in his mission to reform the industry.</p>
<p>The second big risk comes from bounded rationality. The church is certainly full of smart people, some of whom have significant financial acumen. But contemporary financial markets are exceedingly complex, and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/34732/12-917-kay-review-of-equity-markets-final-report.pdf">recent research suggests</a> it is almost impossible to identify who owns which shares in the UK economy. This means despite how much the good bankers of the church try to locate all “sinful” investments on their balance sheet, it will be almost impossible. The result is that a diligent sin-stock seeker will always be able to find something untoward among the church’s investments. Getting more involved in the financial markets is likely to bring these complexities into greater public focus.</p>
<p>The final significant risk the church faces is mission creep. If it gets occupied with matters financial, it could find that its precious attention gets taken away from its core role. And one thing we do know is that when organisations begin to focus on non-core activities, then they can start on a slippery slope towards failure. One way to mitigate this danger is to ensure that any forays into financial issues remain clearly connected to the purpose of the church and what it is actually good at doing.</p>
<p>There is an important social justice dimension to the struggle to reform the consumer finance market. This is the exact sort of issue where the church can make, and traditionally has made, a positive impact. If the archbishop can maintain moral authority while sticking closely to the campaign’s goals, then this fight is there to be won. An embarrassing investment should not put him off.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/16439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andre Spicer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has become increasingly involved in debates about the UK financial sector. The embarrassing revelations that the Church has invested indirectly in payday lender…Andre Spicer, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Cass Business School, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.