Understanding 'Pride' as a Religion

 Ivan Provorov, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church who also plays hockey for the Philadelphia Flyers, is currently in the news because he refused to promote the so-called ‘LGBTQ+’ agenda foisted on players by the NHL.[1] ‘Pride,’ an emerging infertility cult, is dead-set against true Christians and any who refuse to advocate on their behalf.  The response of Pride supporters to Provorov exposes Pride as a religion.

Both fertility and infertility cults make sexuality a central component of their dogma and rituals, but Pride’s infertility cult centres on sexual identities and relationships that are contrary to marriages that would naturally bear children (between a man and a woman).  Fertility cults in the Ancient Near East, like that of Baal and Asherah, practiced intentionally adulterous sexual acts as part of their rituals at high places and under green, leafy trees, but as acts celebrating fertility, not infertility.  Pride separates sexuality from fertility, reducing it to mere sexual acts.

As a religion, Pride (1) makes universal claims about its dogma.  Some religions go further and (2) insist that all submit to its dogma under duress; in this regard, Pride and Islam are similar (although the latter does not promote Pride’s sexual deviances as part of the religion).  The two religions also have in common (3) an understanding of evangelism (or dawah) that is very often forceful and coercive, and religious devotion that is understood in terms of submission, as opposed to love. 

Furthermore, religions attempt to (4) train their children up to respect and commit to them.  The Pride religion does this very aggressively but in regard to other people’s children with literature, queer story hour, school sex education, and bodily mutilation.  It seeks to indoctrinate children and make their education dependent on submission to its tenets, over against parents’ authority and wishes.  In some religions, (5) dissenters may face very serious consequences.  Furthermore, (6) both Pride and Islam have ways to claim buildings and spaces belonging to others or to the general public, considering them as conquests for their religion after public acts of ‘consecration.’  Draping a Pride flag on a church, for example, claims the church for the Pride religion, just as reading from the Koran in a church would for Islam.  Foisting a Pride uniform on an entire hockey team is a similar exercise of religious seizure through coercion.  (7) Religions also have public rituals and celebrations. Some of these fit a 'liturgical' calendar--Pride Month.  Pride, with its public marches or queer story hours, provides religious rituals that are also meant (8) to produce conversions.  (9) Both Islam and Pride are religions that draw no distinction between the religion and the state.  In the view of Pride, Christian religious institutions should be required to hire their devotees if the latter receive any state aid (an interpretation of Title IX in the USA).  They have fairly successfully waged a campaign to become a state religion by not presenting themselves as not a religion.  (10) Religions also provide a worldview that supports a particular morality.  The Philadelphia Flyers organisation indicates this in their public statement, saying that the ‘organization [note the institutional identity speaking officially on behalf of its members] is committed to inclusivity and is proud to support the LGBTQ+ community.’  The values of diversity, equity, and inclusivity form the fabric of the religion's ethics, as it does various post-Christian groups.

Of course, religions in various ways make metaphysical claims and involve ultimate realities, including an understanding of deity.  This is where some would question an understanding of Pride as a religion, and probably most devotees, since this is a Western religion, are atheists or agnostics.  Yet Pride certainly believes in (11) an ultimate, supra-physical reality in the sense that they prescribe absolutes not based on science that must not be opposed or held loosely, even more than in some religions.  In this, they are more like the Roman emperor cult than other Roman religions. While the Roman Empire was somewhat tolerant of various religions, its coercion and oppression of others came through its empire cult, which required oaths and sacrifices to the emperor on pain of death.  Belief that the Emperor was a god was not the key issue; sacrificing to him was.  Acts of honour and respect for a man holding an office were elevated to the level of religious devotion.  One does not need a metaphysical belief system to invent a religion.  (12) Thus, the consequences of not giving enthusiastic support and devotion to the religion, whether the emperor cult or Pride, are central to these coercive types of religion, as illustrated in the incident of Provorov’s dissention.  At each step of Pride’s rise to the status of a national religion, it exercises more power to hurt unbelievers.

Provorov gave a simple explanation for his not donning the Pride uniform during a pregame warmup.  He insisted on his right not to participate in something that he did not agree with, and he explained that his alternative religion was Russian Orthodoxy (he might have said Christianity): ‘I respect everybody and I respect everybody’s choices.  My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion.’[2]  One part of this brief answer has to do with liberal democracy’s value of free choice and respect for a person’s conscience.  Freedom of conscience is a Christian belief that is grounded in Christianity’s doctrine of faith: coercion plays no role in Christian devotion to God.  Another part of Provorov’s answer involves a religious argument: you have no right to challenge my religious beliefs and practices.

Russian Orthodoxy may be vulnerable here, given its nationalistic identity and, at times, intolerance of other Christian expressions.  It is not the best expression of religious tolerance among Christians.  Yet, in its better moments, it is commendable for being ‘orthodox.’  By this I mean that it shares much with Christianity around the world, through the centuries, and affirmed by all true Christians.  (There are and always have been false teachers claiming to be God’s priests or prophets who aim reshape beliefs and practices in line with the culture, including now the Pride religion.)  As a Christian, Provorov saw that he was being asked to participate in another religion, and he quietly withdrew his support.  A few decades ago, the Christian ancestors of the Woke reporters and NHL that want to scourge Provorov for his silent non-participation in new and post-Christian religion would have stood with the hockey player, not their grandchildren.  Advocates of Pride, on the other hand, would, at best, make any dissenters second-class citizens and, at worst, remove them from our society completely, as one NHL spokesman angrily suggested.  If it were still shameful to dishonour one’s forebears, this new movement would better be called Shame, not Pride—and that for other reasons as well.

There are several issues caught up in this story.  First, what do we mean by freedom?  Second, what do we mean by the separation of church and state, particularly the freedom of religion from state control?  Perpetrators of Pride have sought numerous laws and regulations to establish their religion as that of the state (contra the First Amendment).  Third, what protection do citizens have from the oppression of any dominating majority?  Fourth, on what basis do those with some power in society (like the NHL) insist that others support their causes and threaten those who do not?

This last question is particularly in view in the case of Provorov.  The issue is not ‘freedom of speech’ but ‘required speech’ (the speech of wearing a Pride uniform to participate in society), as far as the Pride worshippers are concerned.  It is not about ‘freedom of religion’ but about ‘required religious performances’ of a particular religion.  The issue is not that a religion has its own hockey team but that anyone wanting to play NHL hockey is expected to be of the Pride religion.  (Thankfully, Provorov’s coach affirmed his right to be true to his choices and not to be coerced.)

Jews and Christians have stories in their Scriptures of coercive attempts to force another religion on them.  Those who remained true to God, even when persecuted or threatened with death, are the heroes of these stories.  So, of course Provorov would take his stand with such heroes of the faith, difficult as it might be under such pressure.  School children are also having to find the courage of faith to stand against the grain of Pride religion in the educational systems of Western countries. One such story is that of three Jewish captives, serving in the government of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Daniel 3).  The king decided to erect a 90 foot tall, 9 foot wide, golden image and require all his officials to fall down and worship it.  Any not doing so would be thrown into a fiery furnace.  When the three Jews refused to do so on the grounds of their religious belief that one should only worship the one, true God and not bow down to images of other religions, they were thrown into the furnace.  The story concludes with God saving them from the fire, with not a hair even singed.  The point of the story, however, is not that God will always save His people from the fire but that His people have such voluntary devotion and trust in Him not to be deterred by a coercive religion demanding devotion, even on pain of execution.  Faith is at the bedrock of Jewish and Christian religion.  Devotion is not the basis of coercion but faith, and therefore it is developed as submission to power but as voluntary belief and trust in God.

Thank God for Provorov’s testimony, his faith in God, and his refusal to bow down to the image (a Pride uniform) of an aggressive, coercive, alternative religion.  He has exposed Pride for the religion it pretends not to be but is so as to gain increasing power in an increasingly post-Christian world.  The proper way to address Pride is as a religion, not simply a 'community' or a collection of sexual attitudes different from most of history and certainly Christianity.  They are not the challenge to the rest of society of tolerance or inclusion.  They are, like Islam in particular, an aggressive, coercive religion that wants to be the post-Christian state religion.

 




[1] One article, among many, is that by Amy Nelson, ‘NHL blasted for woke push for player skips Pride event: “Nobody Asked for This,”’ Fox News (Jan. 19, 2023); online at: https://www.foxnews.com/media/nhl-blasted-woke-push-player-skips-pride-event-nobody-asked (accessed 21 January, 2023).

[2] Quote provided in Ryan Gaydos, ‘Floyers’ Ivan Provorov labeled “homophobic” as he faces backlash for boycotting team’s Pride festivities,’ Fox News (January 18, 2023); online at www.foxnews.com/sports/flyers-ivan-provorov-labeled-homophobic-faces-backlash-boycotting-teams-pride-festivities.

The Blessing of Same Sex Unions in the Church of England and a Prayer of Repentance

 

The Church of England’s bishops are about to ‘propose that “prayers of dedication, thanksgiving or for God’s blessing” are offered to same-sex couples following their civil marriages.[1]  This is considered the middle of the road option between opposing any version of same-sex unions on Biblical and historically Christian grounds, on the one hand, and advocating for such unions, including so-called ‘same-sex marriage,’ on the other.  Some bishops have already voiced their support of this innovation and affirmation of what Christians have always called ‘sin.’[2]

On one point, I would agree: we need prayer at this time; indeed, corporate, reflective, prayers either for blessing new ministries or for forgiveness as a diminished remnant remains with a wayward denomination.  I would applaud the suggestion to write prayers appropriate to the times that are sincere and Biblical.  To pray blessings on sinners and give thanks for sin, however, is blasphemous.

We need different prayers.  First, however, we need to be aware that God’s people do not pray for anyone and everyone.  This point is made in Jeremiah 5.16, where God tells the prophet not to pray for those making idols.  Again, in 11.11 and 14, God repeats that He would not listen to any prayers for this sinful people.  In 1 John 5.16-17, John distinguishes prayer for those committing sins not leading to death and for those committing sins leading to death.  He says, ‘All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.’  One should not pray for people whose sin leads to death (v. 16).  John is consistent with Jeremiah: some people’s sin devotes them to destruction, and we are wrong to pray that God would forgive them as they continue in their sin.  This is the same as asking God to bless them despite their sin, and it is another step further from Godly prayer to ask God to bless them in their sin.  In John’s epistle, one of the errors of those not continuing with the believing community (1 John 2.19) is that they claim to have no sin, no need for confession of sin, and therefore no need for Jesus’ death on the cross for sin (1.8-10).  The Church of England is shepherded by too many persons in this heretical camp.  From Paul, we know that homosexuality is a sin that excludes a person from the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6.9, 10).  Those wanting their sinful life in sexual debauchery, including adultery,  homosexuality, and invented, non-binary identities and practices, to be blessed by God are wrongfully praying for God to bless sin and include in His kingdom unrepentant sinners.

Another sort of prayer is one for God’s blessing over those who have left the Church of England and are part of a new ‘building project.’  As God-fearing Christians leave the Church of England to begin a new fellowship of churches under the authority of God’s Word and in continuity with the orthodox Church of the centuries, prayer is the appropriate beginning for this work.  Such a prayer would be in the tradition of King David’s prayer when God establishes a covenant with him.  This lengthy prayer is a prayer for God to bless what is a new venture (2 Samuel 7).  Similarly, David’s son, King Solomon, offered a solemn prayer for God’s blessing over the completed temple building (1 Kings 8; 2 Chronicles 6).  The prayer was that this house would be a place where people might find forgiveness for their sins, not a blessing of them.

A third kind of prayer, a prayer of repentance, is for those who plan to continue within the Church of England.  Such a prayer would be for any Protestant denomination, formerly Christian, that, as an institution, has turned away from God and has embraced heresies but still has Christians within its fellowship.  For such people, the prayer that is needed would be in the tradition of Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9 (cf. Tobit 13).  These prayers were prayed by the righteous within their sinful community of Israel.  Note, however, they are prayers to be prayed after God sends the people into exile for their sins.  They are premature prayers when people still embrace their sins and do not acknowledge God’s judgement upon them.  Once this point is reached, however, they are appropriately long, ‘teaching’ prayers that have weighty words and space for reflecting on truth.  They involve heartfelt confession of sin, contrition, and an appeal for forgiveness. 

The following prayer might be an example of this third kind of prayer.  It would be appropriate for Evangelicals remaining with the Church of England at this time.  It goes further than the prayers of Nehemiah and Daniel, especially in light of Christian teaching that God has already brought His salvation, reconciliation, and empowerment in Christ Jesus, and so we ask for consecration, transformation, and holiness.  I might add that the Lord’s Prayer is a much shorter example of this sort of prayer.  One might imagine oneself in exile for sin praying the Lord’s Prayer—the very context for Jesus’ ministry preparing sinful but repentant people for the nearness of God’s Kingdom.

 

A Prayer for Forgiveness, Consecration, Transformation, and Holiness[3]

Oh, God, You alone are Lord.  You made the world and established the ways in which we should walk.  You have been faithful in Your covenant with us.  You alone are righteous and just, holy and loving.  You have called us from the ways of this world and to renounce sin, the world, and the devil.  You have opened a way of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  You have given to us Your Holy Spirit to cleanse and empower us to live righteously and wholly for You.

Yet we have sinned.  Many are the examples of those who have in centuries past acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and not obeyed Your commandments.  Now we find in our day that we are no different, heirs to their wandering ways and rejection of You.  If You were not a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, we would have been left forsaken long ago, for You are holy and cannot abide sin.  

Yet You restore sinners, not simply by forgiveness but also by pouring out Your Holy Spirit upon us.  You transform our ways through an inward change of heart and instruct us.  May we be so changed as to desire with a great yearning Your goodness and righteousness.  

Yet, now we stand as people who have rejected instruction and determined to define good and evil for ourselves.  Children of Adam and Eve, we would be our own gods.  Inwardly disordered, we would make the world in our own image.  Our arrogance knows no limits.  We have shaken our first at the heavens.

Yet You have graciously sent Your servants to teach us Your Holy Word.  We know Your mercy full well, for we, though sinful and undeserving, have received grace upon grace.  Then we turned this grace into a license to sin more boldly.  We have made the Gospel of Grace a Gospel of Welcome to sin.  We have disobeyed Your commandments; we have sinned against Your rules, as though Your grace knows no boundaries and as though our love is a rejection of Your commandments.  We have not borne Your name or hallowed it but have defamed it among the peoples of the earth.  We have also sinned against others and against ourselves. 

False teachers have wormed their way into our seminaries, churches, and households, and we have listened to their revisions of Your Word so that we might not stand out as light on a hill at night or be the salt of the earth.  Instead, we have lived by the darkness of the world, wanting to fit in and be accepted by those who live contrary to Your will.  We have asked not to be taken out of the world so that we could enjoy the evil within it.  Claiming to be wise, we have become fools under the care of false shepherds leading us astray.  We have doubted and disputed the plain teaching of Your Word, rejecting it as outdated in our glamourous new age.  We have long dwelt in Sodom, unwilling to leave, arguing that light and darkness should walk together for the sake of unity.  

Help us, O Lord, to flee this place and not look back with lingering desire for what displeases You.  Like Elijah, may we agonise over so few remaining righteous.  Too many of us were mesmerised, staring into the fires of delusion and denying the plain teaching of Holy Scripture and the obvious truths in the laws of Your creation.

Instead of repenting for our sins, we celebrated them and gave approval to the sins of others.  Now we have even asked You to bless us in our sinfulness.  We have called evil good and good evil, put darkness for light and light for darkness, insisted that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter, and dragged along iniquity where ever we go with the cords of falsehood.  We have called men women and women men, so far have we strained from Your good creation of man and woman.  We have blessed same-sex, carnal unions.  We have pretended that gender is a choice and that the freedom to choose stands above Your righteousness and truth.  We have mutilated children and ourselves to try to look like the opposite sex even though every cell in our body bears the indelible print of our God-given sexuality and proclaims the wonder of Your creation.  We have entertained the impossibility that marriage could be other than between a man and a woman.  We have forbidden the pastoral care that helps people overcome besetting sin.  Some false prophets and priests have arisen among us, just as You warned, and many, thinking themselves to be wise, have followed after sensuality so that they might indulge their defiling passions.

Oh, Lord, save us from ourselves, from the depravity of our minds.  Help us no longer to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  Then will we know Your will.  Then we will recognise what is good and acceptable and perfect.  Yes, Lord, redeem us from the internal disorder of our desires, from living against nature, and from celebrating sin.  Consecrate us to Yourself that we might be set aside for purity and holiness.  May we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to You.  May our spiritual sacrifice be made holy and acceptable to You, O God, and no longer an abomination. Truly, all our righteousness is as filthy garments.  Sanctify our bodies, purify our hearts, Oh Lord. 

Did Jesus not say that our righteousness must exceed that of those who live only by outward show and do not seek the perfection of God in having a righteousness from the heart?  Did Paul not teach that, though we were beset with sin and slaves to unrighteousness, we have become obedient from the heart to the teaching to which we have been committed?  So, gracious Father, set us free from sin, impurity, and opposition to Your law that we might become slaves of righteousness leading to sanctification.  For, indeed, we affirm that we have been washed, sanctified, and made righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  Oh, Lord, help us to reclaim the truths of the Gospel that, by Your grace in Christ Jesus our Saviour, we have been both forgiven and are being transformed from one degree of glory into another, into the very image of our Lord.

Yes, Lord, make speed to save us, make haste to help us.  Bring us to a new place, that the world will not see itself in us but see You in us.  Send forth Your light and Your truth; may they guide us.  Let them guide us to Your holy hill from which righteousness is taught to the nations. Let us dwell secure before You, washed in the blood of the Lamb from all our sins.  May He who became sin and who knew no sin become the righteousness of God in us.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.

----------------------- 

[1] See the article by Tim Wyatt, ‘What Now for the Church of England and Gay Marriage?’ Christianity (19 January, 2023); online at https://www.premierchristianity.com/news-analysis/what-now-for-the-church-of-england-and-gay-marriage/14700.article?mc_cid=274bd1532e&mc_eid=4f0e58959f (accessed 20 January, 2023.) Also see ‘Draft prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God’s blessing for same-sex couples published,’ The Church of England; online at https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/draft-prayers-thanksgiving-didication-and-gods-blessing-same-sex (accessed 21 January, 2023).

[2] See https://anglican.ink/.

[3] A number of Biblical passages and some wording are in this prayer, as many will recognise, and it is meant to reflect a Biblical perspective throughout.

A Response to Bishop John Inge's Advocacy for Same-Sex Marriage

  Introduction

The bishop of Worcester in England has articulated his arguments in favour of same-sex marriage, anticipating a vote on the matter in February, 2023 in the Church of England.  I have quoted large segments of his open letter to his diocese, and his full letter can be read online.[1]  The average lay person may be impressed by the length of this letter or by its appearance of careful reasoning, and so I would like to correct that impression by engaging with his arguments one by one.  I take the opposite view of John Inge, but the reader is encouraged to consider the arguments themselves.

In what follows, I first quote Inge, sometimes indicating that I have left out some of his letter in the interest of space.  I do not believe that I have truncated any of his arguments in so doing.  My responses are placed in italics. Additionally, I have added some of my own comments within Inge's words and placed these in square brackets and in blue font within his text.  On just a few occasions, I have underlined some of Inge's words in yellow to draw special attention to them.

In my responses, I have given names to the various fallacies and errors in Inge's argument, offered a definition of them in quotes and italics, and then written a further explanation.  I find the extent of Inge's fallacious and erroneous reasoning astounding, to the point that I recommend this engagement to students as an exercise in how not to interpret and use Scripture and how not to do theology.

Quotations from and Responses to John Inge's Arguments in Favour of Same-Sex Marriage

Inge:

…. There were protests when, in 1901, the ‘heretic’ Gore was nominated for the see of Worcester. His offence? To suggest that not all the Old Testament – the Genesis creation accounts, the stories of Jonah and Job, for example – are literal historical accounts.

My Response:

The ‘Once, Therefore Always’ Fallacy: ‘People thought this or that about one thing, and they were wrong, so they must be wrong about other things.’

The answer to this obvious error is to suggest that we stay on topic and discuss the issue at hand.

Inge:

Most Christians would now take for granted the insights for which Gore fought and would consider those who hold to creationism a gift to atheists and vocal agnostics like Richard Dawkins. Those of us who accept the theory of evolution and still hold to the scriptures as being the inspired Word of God ‘containing all things necessary unto salvation’, find in the passages in question truth at least as profound as literal historical fact.

…. Though, as yet, there is no scientific certainty about what factors determine sexual orientation, there is general consensus that it is not a choice.  There is even stronger consensus that ‘sexual orientation change efforts’ (SOCE), sometimes called ‘conversion therapies’ for homosexual orientation are both ineffective and harmful.

My Response:

The Consensus Fallacy: ‘Because some have formed a consensus, this is what we should now believe.’

The Echo Chamber Error: ‘Because the group we have formed, whose members are our conversation partners, agree, this is what we should now believe.’

This shuts others out of the discussion, and in the case of the Anglican Communion, this shuts the larger part of the communion out of any discussion being held in the echo chamber of the Church of England and its friends.

Inge:

My understanding of Anglican polity is that we are bound by the scriptures, interpreted within the living tradition of the Church through the application of reason and experience. Reason and experience have caused me to come to the scriptures anew and reassess my reading of them. Scientific insight is part of that experience.

My Response:

The Equal Authority Fallacy: ‘Scripture, ‘living’ tradition, reason, and experience are equal authorities for formulating doctrine and ethics.’ 

This modern notion of theological authority allows interpreters to formulate various arguments against the Biblical text and the Church’s teaching, as in this case.  Interestingly, Inge invokes the ‘Wesleyan Quadrilateral’ of four authorities rather than the traditional Anglican ‘three-legged stool,’ which excludes experience.  Even so, the Church traditionally (and Biblical authors) never treat the Bible’s authority as on equal footing with other authorities.

Inge:

Alongside such engagement with the scriptures, over the years I have observed good, faithful, monogamous relationships between people of the same sex which I cannot believe to be inherently sinful. Equally affectingly, I have been moved by the pain inflicted on gay people by the Church.

My Response:

The Relationship (Experience) Fallacy: ‘Because I have had good relations with someone, I should accept their moral standards, no matter what Scripture says or the Church teaches.  Not to do so causes them pain, and that would be wrong.’

When hearing this argument, I first recall how the infamous doctor at Auschwitz experimented on his prisoners, but who also loved high culture and played with children.  It may be more helpful, though, to quote Paul:

‘I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”’

Inge:

That pain has remained constant even though society, in my view, has become more enlightened.

My Response:

The Enlightenment Fallacy: ‘We are more enlightened and therefore ethically superior to previous centuries.’

This argument might work in science, but not in theology and ethics.  When I hear this argument, I often think that the person putting it forward needs to spend a year reading classical literature.  Only those ignorant of the arguments in antiquity go around claiming that we are now more enlightened.

Inge:

… I believe the time has come for all of us to be honest about the convictions we have reached after prayer, study of scripture and theological reflection, often over many years. My prayer is that such honesty might lead us into a deeper understanding of one another and so into a richer unity.

My Response:

The Personal Piety Fallacy: ‘Because I/we pray, study Scripture, and reflect theologically over time and come to a view opposed to Scripture and the Church’s theological teaching, we should now oppose Scripture and the teaching of the Church over 2,000 years.’

One has to wonder whether Inge really believes that his personal piety gives him a right to oppose the teaching of Scripture and the Church for 2,000 years.  I suspect that this might be an argument of convenience—‘this might work on some readers.’  Insincerity is perhaps not as bad as pride.

Inge:

How can we expect the Spirit to lead us into all truth if we are less than honest with one another?

My Response:

The ‘Spirit’ Fallacy: ‘By appealing to the Spirit’s guidance, we can make Biblical and established Church teaching fluid and therefore consider contradicting something long established in orthodoxy to be good.’ 

The doctrine of the Spirit’s inspiration, however, is that the Spirit inspired Holy Scripture.  It is not that the Spirit guides us to change Scripture.

Inge:

…  In reassessing my understanding of what they have to say to us on this issue I have been helped by the brilliant Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann, who tells us that we should start ‘with the awareness that the Bible does not speak with a single voice on any topic. [But he does not say this about homosexuality.  His argument is that Scripture clearly teaches a single view: that homosexuality is sinful.  His opinion is that this should not be authoritative.] Inspired by God as it is, all sorts of persons have a say in the complexity of Scripture, and we are under mandate to listen, as best we can, to all of its voices.’

My Response:

The Postmodern Hermeneutic Fallacy: ‘Different voices exist within Scripture, therefore Scripture is complex, with “all sorts of persons” having their different statements in Scripture, leaving us to pick up the unresolved discussion of authors within Scripture.’ 

There are several errors in this postmodern view, some having to do with an understanding of canonical authority, some with interpretation of specific and actual texts, and some with an understanding of the reader’s role in interpreting authoritative texts.  One point to emphasise is that even Brueggemann accepts that all the relevant Biblical texts consider homosexuality to be sinful, but Inge attempts to use Brueggemann’s postmodern interpretation to argue something else that postmodern interpretation affirms: truth is local and constructed, not universal and revealed.

Inge:

… [This part oddly begins with a reference to R. T. France, who actually was arguing the opposite of what Inge does and who was making an important point about hermeneutics.]

The fact is that we all view the scriptures through a particular lens. As Walter Brueggemann puts it:

All interpretation filters the text through life experience of the interpreter. The matter is inescapable and cannot be avoided … we read the text according to our vested interests. Sometimes we are aware of our vested interests, sometimes we are not. It is not difficult to see this process at work concerning gender issues in the Bible.

This process enables some of us who would think of ourselves as ‘Bible believing Christians’ to question the teaching of what others would describe as ‘the plain meaning of scripture’.

My Response:

The ‘All Interpretations are Subjective’ Fallacy: ‘Because readers have vested interests, their interpretations are their own.  Therefore, we cannot claim that we know the plain meaning of Scripture.’ 

Apart from such an argument undermining all theological arguments, even Inge's, one might think for a minute on how such an argument might stand in running a household, let alone a Church.  Anarchy does not work, even if it is supported by a bad hermeneutic that we are locked in our own subjectivity.

Inge:

For example, what St Paul says about women not praying with their heads uncovered (1 Corinthians 11.1-13) and not speaking in Church (1 Corinthians 4.34-35). It is very difficult to reconcile these passages with women taking an equal part in church worship, let alone being ordained. Taken at face value it would mean all Christians who are female wearing head coverings in church or in prayer. It is necessary to point to other texts and produce arguments to suggest that these should carry more weight. In fact, looking at these passages together with what Paul says elsewhere about there being neither male nor female in Christ, it becomes more difficult for Christians to use the texts to bolster patriarchy or even to subjugate women.

The same is true of the remarriage of divorcees, which Jesus specifically prohibits in St Mark’s gospel (Mark 10. 1-12, especially verses 11-12), thereby contradicting Moses. There is what is referred to as ‘the Matthean exception’ (Matthew 5.31-32) which further complicates the picture. Which teaching of Jesus do we follow?

Some would say that whereas the scriptures are ambivalent about divorce and the role of women in the leadership of the Church, they are unequivocal in their condemnation of homosexuality. I do not think that is true. I do not think that the oft quoted passages in Leviticus and Paul refer to anything comparable to the faithful, monogamous same-sex relationships which some of us are suggesting the Church should celebrate. Among others, I have found the pastoral theologian David Runcorn particularly helpful in summarising how these texts can be interpreted and I use some of his insights below. 

It must be admitted that wherever instances of same-sex sexual activity are found in the Bible they are unequivocally condemned but what I believe the Bible condemns is something that every gay person in the Church today would also condemn - abusive, oppressive, exploitative relationships.  

The Bible never explains why same-sex sexual activity is condemned: it may well be the exploitative nature of the activity described. [This is actually a false statement at several levels.  For one thing, there is a Biblical ethic of sexuality and a Biblical understanding of marriage in which the rejection of homosexuality fits perfectly.  For another thing, Paul’s statement in Romans 1.26-27 understands homosexuality as ‘against nature’ and a rejection of the Creator’s design.] Leviticus 18 is a case in point and 1Cor 6.9 is another. Both texts are difficult to translate with any certainty but one clue of how to do so may be the other vices on Paul’s list. They are all examples of abusive, domineering, self-seeking, exploitative and even criminal behaviour, which are rightly condemned. [Here, again, is the Ladder of Abstraction Fallacy.  But it is also an interpretation error: the sin lists are very concrete in what is forbidden, not abstraction.] Paul clearly has Leviticus in mind.  [Yes, indeed, he does in 1 Cor. 6.9 and 1 Tim. 1.10.  This shows Paul’s affirmation of and consistency with Lev. 18.22 and 20.13.  Inge seems confused with what he is saying here.]

My First Response:

The Ladder of Abstraction Mistake: ‘Move away from concrete and particular statements to more general and abstract principles in order to create some view of one’s own.’

This is a mistake that appeared in the late 18th century and continued throughout much of 19th and 20th c. Modernity.  Modernity intentionally moved away from the specific teaching in Scripture to a much more general and abstract teaching.  In ethics, Modernists worked with principles or values, preferably one or two only, and rejected specific teaching in laws, sin lists, or other statements in Scripture.  This mistaken view—really just an assertion that made sense to Modernists—claims that, whatever specific thing a Biblical text actually says, we can move up the ladder of abstraction from the concrete to the more abstract, using values and principles to counter it.  This is often done as people reject concrete statements in Scripture on the grounds that they are not loving.  ‘Love,’ or some other value, is invoked as the principle giving one license to do this.  Scripture does not use values this way, however, and even Jesus’ statement that the Law is summed up in love of God and love of neighbour involves not the rejection of the moral teaching of Scripture but the affirmation that the moral teaching of Scripture is loving: in these two commandments the Law and the prophets are fulfilled.

My Second Response:

The Authoritative Voice Fallacy: ‘By citing the opinion of a few voices that some might accept as authoritative (e.g., Runcorn) while ignoring others, we might simply trust their opinions and not concern ourselves with the details of actual arguments.’ 

This also works when the few authoritative voices say that the text is obscure so that we might ignore it.  This might be called ‘The Lazy Audience’ Gammit, since it depends on people justifying their not paying attention to details.

Inge:

[In what is omitted, Inge attempts to address some of Paul’s texts.  (He does not, incidentally, even mention all the relevant Biblical texts, and he never attempts any exegesis of them.)  This is a good demonstration of his lack of research and understanding of the passages.  I have written elsewhere on these passages at length.]

… Paul had discovered a dif­­ferent kind of freedom. It was based not on bodies but on wills. Freedom in Christ was about the transforma­tion of the mind.

The condemnation of homo­sexuality and, in fact, all sexual acts save those that were necessary to procreate, followed because to in­­dulge in them was gratuitously to exercise your freedom as if you were rejecting the new freedom of mind and will to be found in Christ. This is what Paul focused on.

My Response:

An Interpretation Error:

While a larger discussion might emerge from Inge's statement at this point, perhaps the better response is to recommend focusing on 1 Corinthians 6.12-20.  Paul addresses the error that Inge makes.  The Corinthians were trying to push a view of freedom that allowed them to avoid any body ethics, such as going to prostitutes.  Paul concludes, ‘Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?  You are not your own [so drop the abstract, ‘freedom’ argument], for you were bought with a price.  So glorify God in your body’ (vv. 19-20).

Inge:

Nowadays, the slave economy has gone, at least as an official policy. In a liberal society, no one has the right to anyone else’s body. Similarly, the Church no longer teaches that the best sex is no sex, as it did for much of its first 1500 years.

My Response:

The Faulty Church History Argument:

These peculiar, two sentences sit oddly in Inge's argument, but they raise the question, ‘What about Church history?’  Protestants, including Church of England Anglicans, often do not even engage Church history in theological arguments or ‘play’ with it.  This is possible because few are actually interested in history, and even more do not know their history, so interpreters can either ignore it or do what they wish with a bit of it.  This is exactly what Inge does a few times with Church history in his letter.  In Inge's second sentence, he suggests that the Church opposed sex in its 1500 years and, further, implies that the Church now affirms sex without restrictions.  Inge is, at best, playing with Church history and, at worst, misinterpreting it.

Inge:

Those who adhere literally to Paul’s injunctions have, therefore, lost sight of the spirit of the gospel. Christian freedom, based upon will, is now commonly ex­­pressed in the notion of consent. Love is the basis for sexual re­­lation­ships, not ownership. Cele­brating sexual love is now to witness to the freedom to be found in Christ.

My Response:

Mischaracterisation, Moral Abstraction, and ‘the Gospel is freedom’ Errors:

This paragraph is difficult to address inasmuch as it introduces three errors in just three sentences.  First, it mischaracterises those who would argue in favour of reading Paul the way he intended to be read.  Would Paul agree with Inge that anyone who took him literally was missing the spirit of the Gospel?  One can see behind Inge's error here some memory that Paul did contrast the Law and letter with the Spirit (as in Rom. 7.6; 8.2 and 4; Gal. 3.2; 5.18; 2 Cor. 3.3 and 6), but he really needs to do some reading on these passages rather than set Paul up for self-contradiction.  Once again with Inge, we see his moral abstraction along the lines of Situation Ethics: do the loving thing, whatever that means in the situation.  If ‘love is the basis for sexual relationships,’ we could reintroduce pederasty and celebrate polygamy and consenting, incestuous relationships.  Finally, any discussion of the Gospel in terms of freedom should proceed from Galatians 5 and Romans 6, which would offer a quick correction to Inge.  Paul actually argues the opposite of what Inge says.  The freedom gained in the Gospel is a freedom from sin and a freedom to obey God, which was not possible when under the power of sin.

Inge:

Equally, Paul is not talking about what we would term sexual orientation, a very modern concept[This is a prideful: ‘We now know better.’  More reading in history and more self-awareness could correct this.  In fact, classical literature discussed orientation in a variety of ways: as an understanding of ‘desire’; in terms of cultural influence (Phrygian influences, e.g.); in discussions of nature versus nurture; in particular, philosophical discussion about living according to nature versus against nature; orientation and astrology; etc.  The term ‘malakos’ in particular, which he mentions briefly, is not, as he claims about sexual acts but is a term of ‘soft’ orientation.] ArsenokoitÄ“s and malakos describe roles being adopted in same-sex sexual acts. To be a man in the ancient world was to be assertive and dominant; to be a woman was to be passive and receptive. Men who were malakos in the relationship were a scandal, ‘effeminate’ and mocked. [Oddly, Inge drops this line of thought.  He is really referring to the Greek word, malakos, here.  It means ‘soft’ and had a rich meaning in antiquity (cf. Latin, mollis).  Much could be said about this word, often misunderstood, but Inge has not said enough to both with a response here.] When Leviticus 18 specifically condemns lying with a man ‘as with a woman’ there seems to be a similar concern with roles. [This is a mere assertion; no argument is offered.  In fact, Lev. 18.22 and 20.13 make no distinction between partners in the homosexual act, such as a dominant and passive role.  He shows an ignorance of the text and its interpretation and is comfortable with his own assertion, as though it should carry weight in itself.] God willing, we don’t nowadays understand love-making and sexual intimacy in terms of active and passive roles, with men as active and dominant and women as passive. Surely a Christian understanding of love and relating is about mutuality and partnership? I would suggest that gospel teaching about love redefines ancient assumptions about hierarchy and role, both socially and theologically.  [Assertions and opinions not giving enough argument for a reply.]

I believe Walter Brueggemann is right when he writes that the reason the Bible seems to some to speak ‘in one voice’ concerning matters that pertain to LGBTQ persons is that ‘the loud voices most often cite only one set of texts, to the determined disregard of the texts which challenge vested interestSerious reading does not allow such a disregard, so that we must have all of the texts in our purview.’

My Response:

The Ad Hominem Fallacy: ‘My opponent can be accused of something else (loud voices, vested interests, unserious reading), therefore his or her arguments on this topic are wrong.’

Of course, this is an inaccurate claim about orthodox scholars who reject the revisionist arguments of Western progressives.  Even so, the argument is fallacious as it is ad hominem.

Inge:

Jesus made no mention of homosexuality, though the fact that he refers to a man leaving his father and mother and cleaving to his wife in the same passage as he prohibits divorce (Mark 10. 7-10), with a reference back to Genesis, leads some to suggest that the marriage of one man to one woman is a creation ordinance. But Jesus is here answering a specific question about divorce. The trouble is that there is no such thing as a fixed ‘biblical’ view of marriage. We know that the Bible countenances men having quite a few wives – Solomon, we are told, had 700  –  so the witness is mixed, to say the least. The number of marriages in the Bible which can be held up as examples of what we would understand to be a ‘good’ marriage is surprisingly few.

My Response:

The Biblical Theology and Ethics Error: ‘A confusion of the unity and diversity of canonical teaching on themes.’

In this case, the key problem is the argument put forward about how texts relate to canonical theology and how Biblical theology involves clarity on the unity and diversity within Scripture about certain themes.  Contrary to his argument, Jesus is addressing a creation theology about marriage when speaking about divorce in Mark. 10.7-10, but Inge claims that ‘there is no such thing as a fixed ‘biblical’ view of marriage.  His support for this claim is that Solomon had 700 wives.  In fact, the Bible does not put this forward as a Biblically endorsed morality.  Much could be said about these two passages, but the point that needs to be made here is that he displays poor exegesis and an inadequate grasp of Biblical theology.

Inge:

Sophisticated arguments concerning which parts of scriptures must be taken literally are made to deny affirming monogamous homosexual relationships. So, for example, the prohibition in Leviticus on ‘a man lying with another man’ is said to form part of the moral law whilst other prohibitions in Leviticus can be disregarded – tattooing, for example!  Such an approach involves intellectual gymnastics to produce an interpretation which avoids the ‘plain meaning’ of scripture and explain why some injunctions can be ignored, which is exactly what some suggest I am doing concerning same-sex relations. 

My Response:

The False Conjunction Fallacy and Contextually Ignorant Exegesis: ‘Because one law (against tattoing) is no longer a prohibition for Christians, other laws (like that against homosexual acts) should also be dismissed.’

In his example, Inge shows himself to be contextually ignorant.  Tattooing had to do with (and in some cultures still does) devotion to a deity, as it also had to do with marking a slave as belonging to a master.  What it is prohibiting is not bodily artwork, and it is just as relevant today as in its original context.  The Levitical laws against homosexual acts relate to abominable, sexual practices that were in Canaanite and Egyptian culture but were forbidden by God against cultural norms.

Inge:

It is also suggested that Genesis 2.24-26 concerning a man leaving his father and mother and being united to his wife is a ‘creation ordinance’. That is to say, it is one of the principles that God gave to humanity at the beginning of creation before the fall.  I have come to think that we tend to overplay the significance of gender in God’s scheme of things. In Genesis we read ‘male and female he created them, in the image of God he created them.’ It is not gender which is essential in reflecting the image of God, though. God has no gender and both men and women are equally made in the image of God. This was recognised by the Church Fathers. Gregory of Nyssa went further, arguing that physical bodies would have been radically different before the fall, that male and female coexisted with the image of God, and that sexual differentiation came about only as the representation in the flesh of the fall from grace.

My Response:

The 'Reading Out of Context' Exegetical Fallacy: Inge's problem here is bad exegesis, but the view he is:‘While Genesis speaks of gender, we ‘tend to overplay the significance of gender in God’s scheme of things.’ 

Here is an attempted justification not to look at the text and interpret it because it says something we do not want to hear.  It is a mere assertion of opinion, but against the Biblical text.  In fact, the reason for introducing gender in both Genesis 1.26ff and 2.24ff is precisely to clarify how gender relates to marriage.  It does so as it is what is required to be fruitful and multiply (procreation) and because the female is uniquely able to form ‘one flesh’ with the male, being taken out of the male (from his side, in the story).  This is quite a remarkable paragraph in his letter in that it takes texts specifically speaking about gender and, by ignoring the verses’ context, claims the opposite.

Inge:

…. [The omitted part of the argument here is another sweeping claim regarding history, quoting Thomas Laqueur.  I would just note that nobody should let this kind of argument pass.  It involves sweeping generalizations, unsupported assertions, and no academic engagement with different scholarly views.  Such arguments only function in essays to create the illusion of academic engagement and argumentation.]

Equally, neither sex nor gender have eternal significance. Jesus tells his hearers that ‘at the resurrection they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, they will be like the angels in heaven.’ (Matt 22.30) This correlates with what Paul writes to the Galatians, that ‘in Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, no slave nor free, no male nor female’. (Gal 3.28) St Paul gave his life’s ministry to enable Gentiles to be fully accepted as Christians. It was not until the Nineteenth Century that – as now seems obvious to us – the fact that slavery is an abomination became clear to Christians.  I feel the Spirit is now convicting us of the truth of the third proposition.

My Response:

The ’Universals over Particulars’ Error: ‘At the root of this error is Plato’s favouring of universals over particulars in his philosophy.  Stoics and Cynics, on the contrary, argued for living ‘according to nature.’  One version of this error that the Church met already in the 2nd century was Gnosticism, a mythical philosophy and heresy that attached itself to Christianity.  It disparaged the body.’

This kind of argument takes many forms, but it essentially denies the relevance of the body in favour of more ‘universal’ values.  (It is related to the Ladder of Abstraction fallacy, noted above.)  In Inge's case, ‘being like the angels’ in the next life eliminates body ethics in this life.  Also, Paul’s dismissal of ethnic, economic, and gender (only male and female, note) distinctions in Gal. 3.28 is taken as a license to eliminate social and physical distinctions altogether.  Such an interpretation is impossible in the immediate context (read v. 27—Paul is arguing about identity in Christ versus all other identities, not denying other identities), and in the larger context of Paul’s writings (he obviously does accept social and physical distinctions and even argues ethically in regard to these, as in 1 Cor. 11.2-16).

Inge:

…. Since then, I have come to see that all the traditional ‘goods of marriage’ except procreation can be enjoyed by those in a same-sex marriage. The latter, in any event, is bracketed out in the Common Worship rite and, as we all know, not all heterosexual marriages produce children. The other two ‘goods of marriage’ that, after Augustine, are mutual love and support and sexual intimacy, are available in a gay relationship.  If the Church were to accept equal marriage it could hold to its teaching that sexual activity properly belongs within marriage and it could give all the support it gives to heterosexual couples to homosexual ones.  

My Response:

The Definition of Marriage Error: ‘By describing what is ‘good’ in a marriage as procreation, mutual love and support, and sexual intimacy, and then accepting that not all marriages result in procreation, a definition of ‘marriage’ as love and support with sexual intimacy is created.’

Why did the Bible reject this definition and what Inge makes of it (which is obviously not what Augustine intended)?  Also, this argument could endorse incestuous marriages.

Inge:

The word ‘homosexual’ was first used in the Revised Standard Version of 1946 to translate biblical words and phrases referring to various forms of same-sex sexual activity (specifically 1Cor 6.9). Other translations soon followed suit.

My Response:

The Translation Red Herring: ‘Homosexual’ was first introduced in 1946 in the RSV translation and then by other translations, and it was a pejorative term. 

This is a red herring argument, as various languages do use various terms appropriate to the era to capture the meaning of a text.  ‘Homosexual’ is an appropriate rendering of arsenokoitÄ“s in 1 Cor. 6.9 and 1 Tim. 1.10. 

Moreover, English previously used ‘sodomites’ for homosexuals, as well as other terms.  Greek and Latin had quite a variety of terms for homosexuality, in part because it discussed different presentations of this internal disorder, and Paul apparently is the origin of the term ‘arsenokoitÄ“s’ (based on Lev. 20.13).  ‘Homosexual’ is a good English word for this term.  However, Inge's introduction of this is a red herring in the argument about same-sex marriage, taking us all off topic.

Inge:

It’s worth remembering that homosexuality was treated as a mental illness or simply a criminal offence at that time [19th, 20th c.]. It’s sad that, in the absence of any examples of faithful, loving, gay relationships in the Bible, gay Christian desire and relating have become indelibly associated with all that is judged as most godless and abominable in the Bible. [The issue is not a lack of examples of this in the Bible but that it is lacking in the Bible precisely because it is condemned.]  We need to recognise that gay Christians today, seeking to live consecrated, faithful lives in the way of Christ, simply do not find themselves described in these texts. They do not advocate or practise those exploitative sins of which Paul speaks. Indeed, the suggestion is deeply offensive. This must be taken with full seriousness. What they want is something different, very different: for the Church to bless their monogamous, committed, loving, faithful relationships. Withholding such blessing is experienced as punitive, and understandably so:

In refusing to bless our relationships, it says there is nothing good in them – that we are unable to reflect the love of God in the same way that heterosexuals are. It says that we are somehow, innately, disordered. We are ‘less than’. Our love and its human expression is something that needs to be ‘excused’, something we should be slightly embarrassed about.’

[Inge is asking the Church to redefine sin so that people committing that sin will not be considered sinners and would instead be welcomed.  Adulterers and pedophiles would like the same license, no doubt.]

Those who articulate a conservative approach to sexuality need to understand that, though they may not intend to be homophobic, they are often heard to be so. [This is ad hominem.  It is also a category error: someone who argues that something is wrong is not dealing with a phobia but making an argument.  The word ‘conservative’ is inadequate here.  The issue is a desire simply to ‘conserve’ but to be Biblically faithful Christians.] It’s analogous, for me, to the way in which women not being allowed to be ordained can come across to some of them as branding them second-class citizens, whatever sophisticated biblical and theological reasons are given.

My Response:

The Analogy Fallacy: ‘Comparison to another issue allows one to transfer arguments from one to the other.’

Inge here begs the question, ‘Is ordination of women’ comparable to same-sex marriage?  The Bible does not clearly speak to the issue of ordination itself.  It does speak to male and female roles and relationships, though.  It does not handle these as moral issues in themselves.  By this I mean that, e.g., to say a woman should not teach or have authority over a man is a view expressed that is likely (in my view) a concern about a particular heresy addressed in 1 Timothy.  Even if it were a more universal concern, the statement is not presented as though it would be a sin if a woman did this.  What is meant is that this will produce good order in the church.  This is nothing like the verses about homosexuality.  1 Cor. 9-11 twice says that people who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Good polity in a particular context is hardly the same as moral failing that will have eternal consequences.

Inge:

That said, I have a great respect for those who hold to a traditional view of marriage and am convicted that, whatever else happens, this view should continue to be honoured in the Church.

My Response:

Virtue Signalling:

This is a kind of virtue signalling.  Having accused persons opposed to his view as ‘homophobic,’ he tries to virtue signal that he has the virtue of ‘respectfulness.’

Inge:

….

I was very struck by what the Archbishop of Canterbury said in a magisterial address at the Lambeth Conference prior to our consideration of the ‘Call on Human Dignity’….

…. So let us not treat each other lightly or carelessly. We are deeply divided. That will not end soon. We are called by Christ himself both to truth and unity.

My Response:

The Unity Error: Being divided on this issue does not preclude unity.  People who hold contradictory views about whether homosexuality is to be affirmed as a good or is a practice that will lead to eternal damnation should put their differences aside in the greater goal of ‘unity.’

This claim simply does not fit any Biblical text, whether one looks at the specific issue of divided views on sexuality or on the Biblical understanding of unity.  It does not fit any teaching in the Old Testament, which calls on Israel to reject the religions and practices of its neighbouring nations and those groups that previously occupied Canaan.  It does not fit any practice of Jesus, who condemned the Jewish leaders for their lawlessness and formed a group around himself, apart from them and distinct from the temple.  He cursed the fig tree in an action parable that condemned the religious leaders of his day for failing to produce a fruit of righteousness.  It does not fit any teaching in the rest of the New Testament, which calls for a rejection of false teachers (who often offered an ethic like Inge's) and a separation between sexually immoral people who call themselves ‘brothers’ (e.g., 1 Cor. 5).

Conclusion

This brings us to an end of John Inge's arguments in favour of same-sex marriage.  I am quite amazed at how many fallacies and errors he makes, and my purpose has been to draw attention to these.  I have not found a single argument of his with the slightest merit and hope that readers (and his poor diocese!) can see the weaknesses as easily as they jump off the page to me.  Insofar as the issue of same-sex marriage is discussed as a Biblical and theological matter and insofar as reasoning is used in the discussion, Inge's view is invalid at every turn.  My fear, however, is that the Bible and theology really do not count for the Church of England bishops, and this exercise is therefore irrelevant.  Arguments are of no value when a postmodern mindset suggests that truth is constructed and beliefs people that hold are merely the result of hidden assumptions and vested interests.  Inge, like many in this camp, holds such a view and yet tries to put forward an argument that he believes is right, which is itself a contradiction.  We shall see if my assumption is correct when the bishops vote on this matter in February.



[1] John Inge, ‘Open Letter to the Diocese of Worcester (9 January, 2023); https://www.cofe-worcester.org.uk/an-open-letter-from-bishop-john.php.

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