Delighted atheist
Sir: Michael Trend's article (4 February) about the controversy over baptism engag- ing the Church of England at present has disturbing echoes of one of the most famous doctrinal disputes to convulse the Anglican Establishment in the 19th cen- tury. This was the celebrated Gorham case and the doctrine of baptismal regenera- tion.
In 1847 the Reverend Mr Gorham was not instituted to his living by the relevant bishop because he believed he held heretic- al views about baptism. These consisted in the belief that baptism could only be efficacious if it was preceded by an act of prevenient grace. In other words baptism itself was not important but the state of mind which preceded it was. How an infant could possibly be expected to make an act of repentance was just one of the awkard questions raised by this cause célèbre. The Court of Arches upheld the bishop's rul- ing, but when the defendant appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Coun- cil it overturned it.
Many clergymen were dismayed by this result, because it illustrated conclusively that the state and not the Church could determine theological questions. Some prominent divines, in particular Manning, seceded to Rome.
One wit attempting to explain this phe- nomenon said that the problem with the Church of England was that in its old age it had got religion. Are we now seeing re-run of this tendency? As a convinced atheist I am delighted that the number of registered baptisms has dropped from 604,000 in 1920 to a present day 188,000. I get immense pleasure from reading about the tortuous position the Church gets itself into over various theological issues, and shall read your columns avidly for further instalments.
Peter Bacos
25 Stanley Road, London E12
Previous page
