Betrayal of trust

Martin Bashir and Lord 'Tony' Hall

Inclusivity and diversity, the current watchwords of church and state were eagerly taken on board by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as is abundantly clear from their current output. 

Vacating his post as BBC Director General in 2020 Lord Hall said there had been "big, big changes" at the corporation since he took over in 2013. His tenure as director general began at a time the corporation was "in crisis".

He referred to "tense" negotiations with the government around dropping free TV licences for the over 75s, the 'n-word' controversy and gender pay equality.

Diversity of thought was needed within the BBC in addition to racial diversity, said Lord Hall.

What of integrity?  

The BBC has betrayed our trust.

The crisis referred to by Lord Hall pales in the light of the Dyson inquiry which found that the BBC fell short of "high standards of integrity and transparency" over Martin Bashir's 1995 interview with Princess Diana. Bashir was found guilty of deceit and breaching BBC editorial conduct to obtain the interview.

An internal investigation by Tony Hall before he became the BBC's director general was said to have been "woefully ineffective". There was a "covering up".  

Bashir joined ITV in 1999 but in 2016 he returned to the BBC as religious affairs correspondent, despite his apparent dishonesty and deceitful behaviour, qualities not unknown in the Church of England.

Described in the Mail as the 'pointless' Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby has been criticised for turning his back on a school chaplain who was reported to a terror unit after questioning his school's new LGBT policies

The Rev'd Dr Bernard Randall was sacked because he had delivered a sermon in which he told pupils they were allowed to disagree with the school's new LGBT policies, particularly if they felt they ran contrary to the Church's values.

The Christian Legal Centre, which has taken up Dr Randall's case, appealed for Archbishop Justin Welby, along with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and the Bishop of Derby, Libby Lane, to publicly support Dr Randall. All three senior figures declined to give Dr Randall their backing

So Dr Randall becomes yet another victim of a Church that has betrayed its traditional Christian beliefs for inclusivity and diversity.

Another betrayal of trust.

Archiepiscopal duplicity is no recommendation

Archbishop Justin Welby, C of E (right), with Archbishop John Davies, Church in Wales, Primus Mark Strange,
Scottish Episcopal Church and Archbishop Richard Clarke, Church of Ireland, outside St Patrick’s Cathedral 
in Armagh at the close of the 2019 European Regional Primates’ Meeting. Photo Credit: Church of Ireland.

Archbishops Welby and Davies with Primus Mark Strange, plus the Archbishop of Armagh and the new Archbishop of York wrote to the Financial Times recently warning the government that its new Brexit bill could set a "disastrous precedent". 

Anglican archbishops are well placed to speak about disasters given their performance, bringing the Anglican Church in these Isles to the brink of collapse.

Promises made to secure the ordination of women and their subsequent admission to the episcopate quickly evaporated after their goal had been reached. 

Not only have the unchurched lost their spiritual base but those going along with the notion that faith follows secular fads will also find themselves unchurched when Anglicanism collapses, probably within a generation.

Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan refused to appoint another Provincial Assistant Bishop after the retirement of bishop David Thomas so orthodox Anglicans have been left without spiritual oversight, contrary to promises implied in the Code of Practice, cunningly crafted by Barry Morgan's misandrist placement, Archdeacon Peggy Jackson.

Principle 4 states: 

• The Church in Wales therefore remains committed to enabling all its members to flourish within its life and structures as accepted and valued. 
• Appropriate provision for them will be made in a way intended to maintain the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church in Wales.

'Traditionalist' Anglicans were betrayed. 

There is no mutual flourishing. All Anglican churches in the South Wales dioceses of St Davids, Llandaff and Monmouth are now headed by women bishops. Society bishops are barred from entering Welsh dioceses so traditionalists seeking sacramental assurance are forced to travel to England for the Chrism Mass.

Many of the disowned faithful Anglicans are committed Christians who gave gladly of their time and money, helping to maintain parish communities. As extinction looms, their loss to the Church in Wales is not mourned by the bishops. Instead, extra senior staff are employed to enforce unwelcome change while clergy going along to get on take to social media to maintain a presence with Twitter trivia.

In the Church of England the House of Bishops made a similar declaration:

• Since those within the Church of England who, on grounds of theological conviction, are unable to receive the ministry of women bishops or priests continue to be within the spectrum of teaching and tradition of the Anglican Communion, the Church of England remains committed to enabling them to flourish within its life and structures; and
•  Pastoral and sacramental provision for the minority within the Church of England will be made without specifying a limit of time and in a way that maintains the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church of England. 

Unlike the Church in Wales, the Church of England has maintained episcopal provision for traditionalists through The Society but it stretches the imagination to regard such provision as 'mutual flourishing'. 

Women and the Church (WATCH) and their supporters constantly undermine attempts at mutual flourishing, as illustrated by the treatment of Bishop Philip North who was pressed to withdraw after being appointed Bishop of Sheffield. It was said his opposition to female priests would “cause significant pastoral and public damage to the church”. 

Such hypocrisy. Promises made at Synod and by the Church in Wales as a means of securing the necessary votes were false yet the Archbishop of Canterbury has the nerve to lecture others on justice and honesty. 

To a thinly populated House of Lords Justin Welby said: 

"What above all we are called to do in this country deeply embedded in our Christian culture and history is to act justly and honestly. We cannot do so if we openly speak of breaking a treaty under international law reached properly, on which peace in part of the UK relies....Politics, if it is to draw out the best of us, must be more than just the exercise of binaries, of raw majority power unleashed. It exists to seek truth, to bring diverse peoples together in healthy relationships.....In the Church of England, my Lords, we are all too clearly aware of the shame that comes with failing morally. Let us not make the same mistake at National level."  

Given their duplicity the archbishops are the last people who should be offering advice to others while making such a mess of the Anglican Church.

Northern Ireland politician, David Burnside wrote to the News Letter: The archbishop does not speak for Church of Ireland members like me when he attacks the UK internal market bill.

Eurosceptic MP Steve Baker said that Boris Johnson should consider cutting ties with the Church of England after the Brexit bill was criticised by senior figures of the church.

Sir John Redwood MP claimed that the five Anglican leaders were "misusing their position" in going against the wishes of the nation for the UK to be independent.

There will be many Anglican who share such sentiments.