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| Female bishops row: where could feminist Christians defect to? | Female bishops row: where could feminist Christians defect to? |
| (4 months later) | |
| When, in 1992, the Church of England voted to allow women to be priests, some people, in anger, defected to the Catholics. The movement was called Cost of Conscience (they're affiliated with Reform – to the bafflement of outsiders, this is what conservatives within the church call themselves.) As Sue Dowell – author of Dispossessed Daughters of Eve: Faith and Feminism – says: "An awful lot of them snuck back again because they couldn't hack it. Having the pope and all that …" | When, in 1992, the Church of England voted to allow women to be priests, some people, in anger, defected to the Catholics. The movement was called Cost of Conscience (they're affiliated with Reform – to the bafflement of outsiders, this is what conservatives within the church call themselves.) As Sue Dowell – author of Dispossessed Daughters of Eve: Faith and Feminism – says: "An awful lot of them snuck back again because they couldn't hack it. Having the pope and all that …" |
| Twenty years later, the rage and disappointment is on the other side. But where would feminists defect to, if they had finally had enough of being the bottom tier of an archaically two-tier system? | Twenty years later, the rage and disappointment is on the other side. But where would feminists defect to, if they had finally had enough of being the bottom tier of an archaically two-tier system? |
| "Well, we're not touting for new business," said Anna Drew, spokesperson for the Methodist church, "but certainly, we have had women ministers since the 70s." There is no differentiation between the sexes in the Methodist church structure, and since Methodism came from Anglicanism, it's possible that you could change church without noticing a huge change in the style of worship. | "Well, we're not touting for new business," said Anna Drew, spokesperson for the Methodist church, "but certainly, we have had women ministers since the 70s." There is no differentiation between the sexes in the Methodist church structure, and since Methodism came from Anglicanism, it's possible that you could change church without noticing a huge change in the style of worship. |
| "The core beliefs are the same," Drew explains. "Methodist communion service would not include alcoholic wine, whereas an Anglican one would." But nobody goes to church to get hammered (apart from Catholics, right?). There might be more singing in a Methodist service, or there might not, depending on how strong your previous congregation was on hymnody (that's partly FYI, and partly in case I never get the chance to use that word again). | "The core beliefs are the same," Drew explains. "Methodist communion service would not include alcoholic wine, whereas an Anglican one would." But nobody goes to church to get hammered (apart from Catholics, right?). There might be more singing in a Methodist service, or there might not, depending on how strong your previous congregation was on hymnody (that's partly FYI, and partly in case I never get the chance to use that word again). |
| However, these very similarities might be more of a bar to new entrants than an enticement – if you were really disaffected with the rigidity of the Church of England, the differences of Quakerism are more profound. | However, these very similarities might be more of a bar to new entrants than an enticement – if you were really disaffected with the rigidity of the Church of England, the differences of Quakerism are more profound. |
| Their spokesperson Anna Van Staveren explained: "If I said to you we don't have priests, what's more accurate is that we don't have laities. We believe in the priesthood of all worshippers. Equality is hugely important to Quakers, right from the early days of the 1650s." Van Staveren was raised an Anglican, and came to the Quakers via a variety of ecumenical churches. I asked her whether she would find it hard, now, to worship in a church that didn't see women as equal. It's a bit more complicated than that. "Once you get used to stillness – it's not silence, it's a very deep stillness, listening to one another and listening to God – I would find it hard to go back to somebody telling me what page number to turn to." | Their spokesperson Anna Van Staveren explained: "If I said to you we don't have priests, what's more accurate is that we don't have laities. We believe in the priesthood of all worshippers. Equality is hugely important to Quakers, right from the early days of the 1650s." Van Staveren was raised an Anglican, and came to the Quakers via a variety of ecumenical churches. I asked her whether she would find it hard, now, to worship in a church that didn't see women as equal. It's a bit more complicated than that. "Once you get used to stillness – it's not silence, it's a very deep stillness, listening to one another and listening to God – I would find it hard to go back to somebody telling me what page number to turn to." |
| Baptists are another equality conundrum again – since the 70s, women and men have been indistinguishable in the offices they could hold. But female representation is very low in the Baptist church – across the board, one in 10, and at senior, regional level (it's like a Baptist diocese), only one in 13. Jonathan Edwards, the general secretary of the Baptist union, explained that, whatever their policy on gender equality, Baptists are more evangelical than other churches, which means they're more Bible-centred, which means they are more likely to have a conservative interpretation. "Paul does say women should keep quiet. There will be those who believe that that is God's word for us today." He adds: "Many of us take the view that that was Paul being sensitive to his conservative followers, and hold that, in Christ, there is neither slave nor free, male nor female." | Baptists are another equality conundrum again – since the 70s, women and men have been indistinguishable in the offices they could hold. But female representation is very low in the Baptist church – across the board, one in 10, and at senior, regional level (it's like a Baptist diocese), only one in 13. Jonathan Edwards, the general secretary of the Baptist union, explained that, whatever their policy on gender equality, Baptists are more evangelical than other churches, which means they're more Bible-centred, which means they are more likely to have a conservative interpretation. "Paul does say women should keep quiet. There will be those who believe that that is God's word for us today." He adds: "Many of us take the view that that was Paul being sensitive to his conservative followers, and hold that, in Christ, there is neither slave nor free, male nor female." |
| Lutherans would be a safer bet, simply because there is an established affiliation between the Church of England and the Lutheran church (the Porvoo declaration of 2010) and the UK Lutherans (although they weren't part of Porvoo, for reasons you will thank me for not explaining) ordained the first female bishop to serve in any British church, Jana Jeruma-Grinberga, in 2009. | Lutherans would be a safer bet, simply because there is an established affiliation between the Church of England and the Lutheran church (the Porvoo declaration of 2010) and the UK Lutherans (although they weren't part of Porvoo, for reasons you will thank me for not explaining) ordained the first female bishop to serve in any British church, Jana Jeruma-Grinberga, in 2009. |
| But of course the first decision is whether or not to leave the Church of England at all. Sally Barnes, of Women and the Church, held a demonstration in St Paul's with Dowell, among others, to bring about the female priest decision in the early 90s (famously, a load of officiates came to wrestle them out of the building, and Dowell said: "Take your hands off me, you gothic flunkies." They were a sort of proto-Pussy-Riot-meets-Occupy). Barnes has no fear of boldness or controversy, but points out: "One should never threaten to go. Always threaten to stay. We've always had that, no matter how tough the going. You're not going to change anything by leaving." She says the most likely scenario at parish level is not that feminists change churches, but simply that they stop going. Changing denomination is not as simple as a protest vote. "I love the Lutherans. I have great admiration for them. But you would have to look with integrity at the different strands of thought and belief, at whether or not it was your true home. You have to go because you really must go, not because of one issue." Dowell adds: "If you won't stay and fight, you're not in the wrong church, you're in the wrong bloody religion. Whatever Christianity offers, it is not a place of safety, where you remain unchallenged." | But of course the first decision is whether or not to leave the Church of England at all. Sally Barnes, of Women and the Church, held a demonstration in St Paul's with Dowell, among others, to bring about the female priest decision in the early 90s (famously, a load of officiates came to wrestle them out of the building, and Dowell said: "Take your hands off me, you gothic flunkies." They were a sort of proto-Pussy-Riot-meets-Occupy). Barnes has no fear of boldness or controversy, but points out: "One should never threaten to go. Always threaten to stay. We've always had that, no matter how tough the going. You're not going to change anything by leaving." She says the most likely scenario at parish level is not that feminists change churches, but simply that they stop going. Changing denomination is not as simple as a protest vote. "I love the Lutherans. I have great admiration for them. But you would have to look with integrity at the different strands of thought and belief, at whether or not it was your true home. You have to go because you really must go, not because of one issue." Dowell adds: "If you won't stay and fight, you're not in the wrong church, you're in the wrong bloody religion. Whatever Christianity offers, it is not a place of safety, where you remain unchallenged." |
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