America still works

Some interesting comments on the US religious situation from Michael Lind in Prospect. His article sets out to dispel some myths about the future of the US, one of which being the idea that America is likely to be taken over by ‘fundamentalists’. He sees the religious right as ‘as much an ethnic and regional movement’ in the white south, and detects longer term trends likely to take the US in a European, secularised direction.
This seems to me to be a useful piece of deconstruction of some of the more doom-laden predictions, and sits usefully alongside the job done by Philip Jenkins in his God’s Continent, (Oxford, 2007) which examines the prospects of an Islamic takeover of Europe with a similarly sceptical eye.

Who owns the cathedrals ?

Another example of the tension between the historic importance of the cathedrals as buildings and the present-day priorities of the communities that use them: recent disquiet expressed by the Dean of Salisbury over English Heritage guidelines (Times, 9th February, and a reply from Simon Thurley)
There is some useful background to the relationship between the cathedrals and EH in an obituary of Raymond Furnell, Dean of York.

Crown appointment of deans

I note that Prospect (Feb 2008) noticed the quiet announcement of the government that it is to withdraw from the appointment of cathedral deans, thus removing one of the last planks of the establishment of the Church of England. A brief check suggests that this hasn't been picked up by the main press. (See some comments from the Dean of Guildford back in October, and the Church Times on the matter back in July.)
The article notes the concern among some that allowing the bishops to appoint their deans would lead to appointments in their own image, and thus a more factional church. Whilst that is of course possible, it has always seemed to me that deans operate in a relatively isolated way, and if the parishes want to ignore their cathedral, they can. Much more powerful in this respect is the appointment of the archdeacons, which (I believe) has long been in the bishops’ hands.
The writer also suggests that an end to the ‘dependency culture’ might be a positive change from the church’s point of view, and I broadly agree. Although crown appointments have rarely been very proactive, and generally haven’t foisted an unwelcome candidate on the church, it is an important symbolic change nonetheless.

Media and Values

An interesting new book on Media and Values has appeared, which looks to be a blending of focus group research on, and historical background to, the demise of the Reithian idea that the media were a ‘pilot’ through moral and social uncertainty. I’ve yet to see a copy, but it is reviewed in Prospect (Feb 2008). It makes some mention of Mary Whitehouse; a figure on whom rather more research is probably needed.

New blog under construction

Posts should begin to appear here over the next few days.