Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Primus non pareil

The former Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Richard Holloway, is in NZ. According to the following it is difficult to work out whether he constitutes a (temporary) Anglican Down Under or ex-Anglican Down Under:

"While they might seem like odd bedfellows, [Richard] Holloway actually has much in common with [Richard] Dawkins, who is famous for his outspoken views about the non-existence of a supreme being and the irrational nature of religious faith. Holloway has written 12 books, including Godless Morality, which was controversially denounced by the then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey after its publication in 1999 for daring to suggest it is not necessary to be religious to be moral.

Holloway left the church in 2000 after suffering a crisis of conscience. Although he now refers to himself as a "Christian agnostic", he still keeps some ties with his erstwhile profession.

I'm still a member of the Christian community as it carries many beautiful values, tropes, metaphors and narratives. I've changed my mind so many times in the past that I now handle what I say with a certain provisionality. I'm not done yet - who knows where I'll end up? - but one of the things I have learned is the virtue of uncertainty. If you absolutely know the mind of that mystery you call God then it leads you to do terrible things because, of course, God is on your side." (Hat-tip to a commenter below; Titus One Nine).

I hasten to add that it is not the church which has brought him here.

Of course, notwithstanding the sincerity of his remarks above, we can be absolutely certain that Richard Holloway will not end up a conservative evangelical!!!!!

1 comment:

Doug said...

The cynic in me ponders how much easier it is to leave the church when it's started paying you a nice pension, instead of being honest while it's paying you a stipend