Bishop: ‘middle class’ church too obsessed with sexuality to notice anger in poor areas

Dec 3, 2016 by Jill

by John Bingham, Telegraph:

The Church of England is so middle class dominated it can barely see beyond its arguments over issues such as sexuality even to notice the concerns of the poor it should be serving, a prominent bishop has claimed.

The Rt Rev Philip North, the Bishop of Burnley, said the Church had largely been taken by surprise by the result of the Brexit referendum in June because it had become out of touch with life in deprived areas.

Instead of listening to the concerns which drove many to vote to leave the EU – and boosted support for Donald Trump in the US – many have since just jumped on a “middle-class Establishment bandwagon of outrage and horror”, acting “as if set to auto-pilot”, he added.

In a scathing critique published in the Church Times, Bishop North characterised clergy as increasingly embarrassed by ideas once promoted by the Church such as patriotism, family values and the virtues of hard work.

He said the referendum result was less of a backlash against immigration than a “patriotic vote from people who were fed up with having pride in their nation, its flag, and its armed forces misrepresented as intolerance or racism”.

Read here

Read the Church Times piece by Philip North here

and

This feature on the retiring Chair of the Trussell Trust, who oversee more than 400 foodbanks.

and

This link to details on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s new book: ‘Dethroning Mammon: Making Money Serve Grace’

Read also: Bishop of Burnley: CofE’s agenda is set by academia, moneyed elites, and sections of the secular media by Archbishop Cranmer