Sir, There are certainly, as Mary Ann Sieghart says (T2, August 13; see also letters, August 14 and 15), “tens of millions” of baptised persons who make no use of the powers and privileges they have been given, if indeed they have ever heard about them. But I do not believe that many of them stay away from church because they “feel excluded, unwelcome, judged and condemned”.

Some may, perhaps; but the vast majority simply do not feel the least need of what the Church, even in its most tolerant, inclusive manifestations, has to offer. Female bishops, gay marriages and whatever else the Putney phalanx has in store for us will make no significant difference.

On the other hand, there are active members of the Church of England who are not biblical fundamentalists. Many think that Jeffrey John was shamefully treated. But because they are committed to a Christianity which is biblical, traditional and reasonable — that time-honoured formula which describes classical Anglicanism — they are beginning to feel excluded, unwelcome and so on. There are not tens of millions of them; but there cannot be many parishes where no such people can be found.

Yours faithfully,
BRIAN FINDLAY,
The Bullpen,
Hallthwaites, Cumbria LA18 5HP.
August 15.

From the Reverend Shamus Williams

Sir, Mary Ann Sieghart argues persuasively that the “mild majority” of the Church of England should campaign against the narrow-mindedness of the minority. The difficulty of this will lie, I suspect, in the honourable tradition of quietism that characterises many a typical parish, which is focused on the less sensational, but far more vital job of trying to live out the faith in a local context. I do not think that I am untypical in finding few parishioners who wish to speak to me about gay bishops.

Yours faithfully,
SHAMUS WILLIAMS,
The Vicarage,
Church Street, Guilden Morden,
Royston, Hertfordshire SG8 0JD.
August 13.

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