by Andrew Tettenborn, The Critic
The Church of England is confusing irrationality with inclusivity
With pews emptying, finances collapsing, and the tide of the sea of faith long gone out, the Church of England’s government remains less interested in forwarding the propagation of the sound doctrine than breast-beating and dreary introspection. Typical is a paper up for discussion at this week’s Synod, on the Church’s relation with people with mental issues. Dry it may sound, but it encapsulates a great deal of what is wrong with the Church.
The essence of the paper, produced by a working group with “a range of neurodiverse lived experience”, is that the C of E is currently seen as a barrier to such people. The neurodiverse need to be seen as representing the “beautiful biodiversity that God has woven throughout the tapestry of creation” and “minority ways of processing the world”. And when it comes to clergy the Church needs to get rid of the idea of the “vicar look” and challenge the “neurotypical environment”. Instead it must recognise that neurodivergent leaders offered “prophetic wisdom for a re-imagined church” and bring in “visible neurodivergent role models in leadership”.
This all slips down nicely at first sight. It’s certainly true that people with mental issues must be no less part of the church than every other sufferer or sinner: the church is for everyone. It’s also true that priestly styles vary, and a lot of us actually prefer the retiring style of priesthood to the aggressively outgoing and evangelical: if this quietism is due to a touch of autism or aphantasia rather than personal modesty, so be it.
Read between the lines, however, and that’s not what’s being called for in this report. Instead there is a radical agenda being put forward that is not so much un-Christian as non-Christian.