The C of E's Rollercoaster Week

by Angus Ritchie

A week may be a long time in politics, but the Church of England usually moves at a statelier pace.  Not so in recent days.  This month, Anglicans have been on an extraordinary roller-coaster.  Firstly, they faced ridicule for the tortuous process of nominating a new Archbishop; then almost unanimous approval at the choice of Justin Welby – and then a mixture of despair, anger and contempt at the inability of their General Synod to agree a way forward on women bishops.

Fast-forward seven days, and the scene looks different again.  In the week since the Synod vote we have seen welcome signs of movement on the issue of women in the episcopate, alongside two powerful reminders of the value of a national church.

First came the Synod’s ringing endorsement of the Living Wage; a campaign which now commands striking cross-party support, and flows in large part from Christian social teaching on the dignity of labour.

Then Justin Welby made a bold and possibly decisive legislative intervention in supporting a cap on interest rates. Again this move was utterly rooted in Christian theology.  Like the Qu’ran, the Bible is unambigous on the evils of exploitative lending, and the moral limitations of the marketplace. 

Contra Paul Ryan, theology can be Biblical or it can be libertarian.  It can never be both. The successes of both of these campaigns are the fruit of years of prayer, testimony-gathering and action, by Church of England parishes and by other Christian denominations. In 2001, a delegation from Citizens UK, led by group of Catholic nuns, reduced HSBC’s Oxford Street branch to a standstill.  This was one of a series of actions which led the bank to become a Living Wage employer.  In July 2009, a rabbi, an imam and a priest delivered their three holy books to bankers at RBS, at the start of Citizens UK’s anti-usury campaign.  Early the next year, theologians published a Biblical ‘call for change’ on the issue.  At the same time, the alliance made the case for an anti-usury law and a national Living Wage to the Treasury spokesmen of the three main parties at a 1000-person assembly in the Barbican.

These successes – in the Lords and at the grassroots – show the vital role of faith in public life.  The National Secular Society needs to wake up to an unwelcome truth - neither the interest rate cap nor the Living Wage would have happened if Christians in Britain treated their religious convictions as a purely private phenomenon.

The combination of religious and civic voices was more powerful than either could be in on its own.  In the anti-usury campaign, a great deal of credit belongs to the tenacious work of MP Stella Creasy, and to the Labour and cross-bench sponsors of the Lords’ amendment.  Likewise, trade unions played a vital role in the birth of the Living Wage, now taken up by Ed Miliband and Boris Johnson.  In both campaigns, however, the Church also made a vital contribution to the discernment and promotion of a ‘common good.’  It spoke and acted with a genuine prophetic edge, and had the humility to act alongside others, rather than retreating into a sectarian ghetto. 

The last seven days has offered us a tantalising glimpse of what the Church of England looks like at its best.  Alongside the Synod debacle, we have seen the positive role the in institution plays in national life, articulating the experiences of local communities and the moral perspective of the Christian faith in a way that is constructive and prophetic.

Those who want the church excluded from public life dismiss it’s faith as divisive and irrational.  This week’s events, and the years of local action which lie behind them, belie the first accusation.  There is of course a further debate to be had on the second; on whether the claims of Christianity are rationally defensible.  If faith is to have a role in public life, it needs to be more than a socially useful fiction.  The result of that discussion may be equally surprising and discomfiting to Richard Dawkins and his allies.