{"id":1690,"date":"2012-12-08T22:43:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-08T22:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/in-theology-as-in-politics-conflict-is-not-only-real-it-is-necessary.html"},"modified":"2012-12-08T22:43:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-08T22:43:00","slug":"in-theology-as-in-politics-conflict-is-not-only-real-it-is-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/in-theology-as-in-politics-conflict-is-not-only-real-it-is-necessary.html","title":{"rendered":"In theology as in politics, conflict is not only real, it is necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

The difference between the politics of the church and the real world of party politics is that in the church people are nice to each other in public and nasty to each other in private, whereas in real politics it\u2019s often the other way round. But the church is so dysfunctional that it prefers the rhetoric of unity to its reality. Thus those debating female bishops in General Synod fell over backwards to couch their speeches in terms of generosity. But\u00a0outside observers saw something very different \u2013 a snake pit of seething animosities. And outside\u00a0observers were basically right.<\/div>\n
The origins of this particular dysfunctionality stem from the fact the Church of England doesn\u2019t have a proper appreciation of the unavoidability, and thus the necessity, of conflict \u2013 of what the political theorist Chantal Mouffe has called \u201cagonistic pluralism\u201d. Though the C of E was conceived in Henry VIII\u2019s loins, it found its purpose in life following the English civil war as a project of national togetherness. The big idea was to make sure people would never again rip each other\u2019s guts out in the name of\u00a0religion<\/a>. It was a worthy aim. And so a style of Christian religion was invented that emphasised common prayer and pastoral care over theology itself, with all its dangerous divisions. It was the dinner party rules version of\u00a0Christianity<\/a>\u00a0where, in the name of some greater harmony, we all agree not to discuss politics or religious ideology. Its most cringeworthy product was the non-religious priest \u2013 like the priests of\u00a0Jane Austen novels who are more interested in riding around the parish on their horse than talking about God. Such\u00a0priests believed so little they were never going to be a danger to society.<\/div>\n
Both Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals reacted against such anodyne central churchmen, and understandably so, but nonetheless these non-religious priests fundamentally shaped the C of E and how the very idea of Englishness developed from the early 18th century onwards. We saw ourselves as the world\u2019s natural compromisers. Unlike those of continental Europe, we prized ourselves on being uncomfortable with ideology and strong feelings. The big idea was the big tent. All are welcome as long as they leave behind passionate religious and political differences. That was the price of social togetherness. And that, indeed, was the value of established religion to the state.<\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The difference between the politics of the church and the real world of party politics is that in the church people are nice to each other in public and nasty to each other in private, whereas in real politics it\u2019s often the other way round. But the church is so dysfunctional that it prefers the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIn theology as in politics, conflict is not only real, it is necessary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The difference between the politics of the church and the real world of party politics is that in the church people are nice to each other in public and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/in-theology-as-in-politics-conflict-is-not-only-real-it-is-necessary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In theology as in politics, conflict is not only real, it is necessary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The difference between the politics of the church and the real world of party politics is that in the church people are nice to each other in public and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/in-theology-as-in-politics-conflict-is-not-only-real-it-is-necessary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-08T22:43:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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