Richard F. Holloway stopped believing in God in the mid ‘60s but this didn’t prevent his becoming bishop of Edinburgh in 1986 or Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1992. Who knows, perhaps it was a requirement.
He decided to become a “funny existentialist” and behave as though God does exist. Evidently he didn’t try too hard to pretend God exists, since he wrote a book called Godless Morality, where he argued: “It is better to leave God out of the moral debate and find good human reasons for supporting the system or approach we advocate, without having recourse to divinely clinching arguments.”
He is patron of LGBT Youth Scotland and supports abortion and legalised euthanasia.
All in all, a pretty typical Anglican bishop.
From here:
THE bishop who stopped believing in God, Richard Holloway doesn’t pray any more but his moving memoir makes it clear that he’s lost none of his faith in humanity
[….]
He lost his faith five years after he left Kelham. There had been struggles even when he was there – sexual urges didn’t go away, and even though these were heterosexual, his first real crush was for a fellow novice. (Although that relationship remained entirely chaste, when the two men met up decades later and reminisced, his colleague admitted that they must have been in love).
None of those early struggles, though, had been about belief itself. Yet in the mid-Sixties, when he was working in a parish in the Gorbals, his faith in God ebbed away. “I ended up with this funny existentialism – that there may be no God in the universe, but let’s live as though there is
Remind me again why I should be part of the Worldwide Anglican Communion.
Because Anglicanism at its best is beautiful, and because there are still large portions of it that are spiritually alive. My question is, remind me why I should care about being in communion with Canterbury?
The ‘bishop’ in question seems to have missed the obvious point that the moral thing for him to have done when he lost his faith was to have quit his job and found another career.
Kate, You are so right but then part of being in union with Satan is the urge to defraud and steal other people’s money which is exactly what this guy is doing by continuing to get paid for failing to do the job he was hired for.
2 Chronicles 18:21 tells how Satan ets people to speak for him:
Micaiah Prophesies against Ahab
…20″Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘How?’ 21″He said, ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and prevail also. Go and do so.’
Satan used to be able to stand before God and sneer about having followers like this guy but he isn’t allowed in Heaven these final days?
I would like to know where have been all of the other Bishops? Especially considering the last paragraph of this:
XXVI. OF THE UNWORTHINESS OF THE MINISTERS, WHICH HINDERS NOT THE EFFECT OF THE SACRAMENT.
ALTHOUGH in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving of the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ’s ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God’s gifts diminished from such as by faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ’s institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.
Nevertheless, it appertaineth to the discipline of the Church, that inquiry be made of evil Ministers, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences; and finally being found guilty, by just judgement be deposed.
Kate,
It’s Anglicans like you who keep me in. Thanks for the reminder.
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