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At The Wardman Wire we will be publishing a series of articles about the Von Hugel Institute Centre for the Study of Faith in Society report “Moral, but No Compass”. Over the next several weeks, we will be publishing a number of articles - hopefully from a range of viewpoints - aiming to get beyond the initial reactions which many commentators have felt obliged to come up with without reading the document itself. Most of these initial reactions seem to be attempts to create narratives supporting existing positions; a criticism that I would extend to all viewpoints - including those I agree with who have indulged themselves.

There is much there relevant to the policy research and formation process with respect to the Third Sector, as well as the position of Christian churches in the UK, and their relation to government. I’m hoping to obtain a very wide range of perspectives in this second “online symposium” (out first was about MP Pay and Expenses).

This post - the second in our series about the “Moral but No Compass” report commissioned by the Church of England looking at the role of the Church in the public square, is a repost of the initial reflections from Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham.

The article was originally posted on Bishop Alan’s blog on Monday 9th June.

This report from the Cambridge Von Hugel Foundation, excellently summarized with extracts by Ruth Gledhill, raises key questions about how the Church of England serves everybody in this country, and the assumptions political elites often make about it.

Introduction by Matt Wardman

At The Wardman Wire we will be publishing a series of articles about the Von Hugel Institute Centre for the Study of Faith in Society report “Moral, but No Compass”. Over the next several weeks, we will be publishing a number of articles - hopefully from a range of viewpoints - aiming to get beyond the initial reactions which many commentators have felt obliged to come up with without reading the document itself. Most of these initial reactions seem to be attempts to create narratives supporting existing positions; a criticism that I would extend to all viewpoints - including those I agree with who have indulged themselves.

There is much there relevant to the policy research and formation process with respect to the Third Sector, as well as the position of Christian churches in the UK, and their relation to government. I’m hoping to obtain a very wide range of perspectives in this second “online symposium” (out first was about MP Pay and Expenses).

We start off with an overview from Simon Barrow, Co-Director of Ekklesia, which is this weeks Thinking Aloud column.

Speaking to a councillor at a Local Authority, I realised a couple of minutes into the chat that it wasn’t really a conversation - he was simply asking loaded questions to get a ‘vicar supports council policy’ answer out of me.

This post - the third in our series about the “Moral but No Compass” report commissioned by the Church of England looking at the role of the Church in the welfare delivery, is an initial response by David Keen, who writes a column here each week.

David Keen is a Church of England Vicar in Yeovil. He blogs at St Aidan to Abbey Manor.