What do clergymen really believe?

In an episode of “Yes Prime Minister” in 1986, senior civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby states that the bishops of the Church of England are split fairly evenly between those who believe in God and those who do not. According to Sir Humphrey, the Church is a social organisation rather than a religious one, and personal belief is a side-issue when it comes to gaining high office in it.

“Yes Prime Minister” was a BBC sitcom, and so must not therefore be regarded as providing a completely accurate account of public affairs and institutions, but it always retained at least a grain of truth. It would appear that Sir Humphrey’s opinion is now getting some backing from the real clergy of the Church of England.

A poll has found that 2% of Anglican clergy in Great Britain (1500 were questioned) accept the view that God may be no more than a human construct, and the number expressing that view included at least one bishop.

Although 83% of respondents do believe in a personal God, 3% would only go as far as belief in “some sort of spirit or life force”.

Nearly 10% say that it is impossible to define the nature of God, which implies that they would not feel able to give a definite answer to a parishioner who asked for guidance on this question.

What can we make of this?

No doubt many people will be shocked to learn that there are professing members of the Anglican clergy who do not accept the words of the creed that they recite on a regular basis in their church, given this says nothing about belief in “some sort of spirit or life force”.

Others might be encouraged by the idea that today’s clergy include a substantial number who are prepared to think for themselves about what is and is not a reasonable belief, even if their conclusion is contrary to the official line.

If the poll is accurate, and given that there are 18,000 active paid clergy in the Church of England, it means that 360 of them have very serious doubts about the existence of God outside the heads of believers, and would therefore agree with the proposition that Man has created God in his own image, rather than the other way round.

Are these 360 people not therefore being hypocritical when they stand in front of church congregations and say the precise opposite of what they actually believe?

© John Welford

iv>