Southwark Consistory Court: George Ch, August 1999
The petitioners sought a faculty to commission and install five oil paintings entitled 'Spirituality in the Wilderness" within the recesses of a folding screen at the back of the church dividing it from a community hall. Certain of the paintings were illustrative of aspects of the Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim religions. The petition was unopposed and had the support of the DAC, the archdeacon, the Diocesan Inter-Faith Group and the Church of the Living God which also used the premises. The Charterhouse Trustees, of whose community centre the church formed part, supported the proposal. The Bishop of Southwark did not indicate any theological concern. Accepting the practical arguments for the introduction of the paintings, the chancellor was mindful of the court's duty to 'safeguard sound doctrine'. He considered issues of religious pluralism, noting the Board of Mission's publication Communities and Buildings, Church of England Premises and Other Faiths (1996). He also noted the influence of comparative theology in extending Christian horizons, quoting from K Ward Religion and Human Nature (1998) and The Mystery of Salvation (1996), the latter being a report of the Doctrine Commission of the General Synod of the Church of England, published under the authority of the House of Bishops (see chapter 7 entitled 'Christ and World Faiths'). Whilst reaffirming that the Consistory Court might properly be styled a 'guardian of orthodoxy' the chancellor was persuaded that in the particular circumstances of this case, in a building which was not a parish church, in a multi-cultural inner city area, in a diocese with a 'reputation for open-mindedness and adventure in things theological", the paintings might properly be introduced. A faculty was granted accordingly.
(2000) 5 Ecc LJ 390
