by Andrew Tettenborn, Spectator
The Church of England is a past master of the well-meaning faux pas. On Monday, its General Synod waded full-on into the Middle Eastern mire, when it voted to “hear” (in other words, not seriously to disagree with) a document called Kairos II Palestine.
Shouldn’t the Synod accept that it is none of its constitutional duty to pontificate on matters worldly?
Ostensibly a cry for help from Christians in the Holy Land, this paper makes no secret of its starting-points. It talks, for instance, of “dismantling oppressive, racist systems” and the connected “genocidal war in Gaza”; about the need to extirpate “Zionist theology”; and of “creative resistance embodied in the popular Palestinian movements confronting occupation, settlement expansion, settler terrorism and apartheid.”
The Synod vote to receive it was overwhelming: Bishops 25-0 (five, to their credit, abstaining), Clergy 115-20 and Laity 113-27. The resolution also required church investors to review their investment policies “in the light of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 on the illegality of the occupation of Palestinian territory.”
This vote, which follows on from some incautiously partisan remarks dropped last month by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Bir Zeit about living with the realities of life under occupation, should worry any churchman concerned for the long-term health of the CofE.
It doesn’t matter whether Kairos II is a correct Palestinian J’accuse or (as pungently suggested by the Chief Rabbi) a gross travesty of Israel and the Jews. The official church should have taken steps to steer clear of it and the Middle Eastern mess lying behind it.
Why? Begin with practicalities, and forget the intellectual arguments in a stuffy meeting-hall in York. Taking sides on a loaded issue like this is not good for ecclesiastical life here, and certainly not good for bottoms on pews.
As a universal church, the Church of England is for everyone in England, of all social and political persuasions, and none: all are sinners and all need saving. In the light of this, the wise approach is for the official church to skirt gingerly round political powderkegs like Gaza and leave the strong views to individual bishops, clergy and worshippers.