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Chester Cathedral has decided to revoke permission for the Unitarian church to conduct an annual service there.
Chester Cathedral has denounced the Unitarian Church for heretical views and banned its ministers and members from holding their annual service there.The service, the high point of the Unitarian Church’s General Assembly, has been held three times at Chester since 2001. It has also taken place at Guildford Cathedral.
I have some questions, if I may: Why was it allowed in the first place? What finally caused the powers that be at Chester Cathedral to look into the theological beliefs of Unitarianism?
For the first question, apparently the cathedral was just trying to be hospitable. That's commendable, of course, but permitting a non-Christian worship service seems a bit much. Would a service of Gaia worship have been permitted?
The answer to the second question is a killer.
Unitarians have been excluded after the Bishop of Chester, the Right Rev Dr Peter Forster, a leading evangelical, received a complaint about the unorthodox beliefs of some Unitarians.
Someone sitting in a pew complained? I seem to recall there was a time when church leaders took a more pro-active approach in dealing with unChristian teachings in the church. And what's this about the "unorthodox beliefs of some Unitarians"? The name of the denomination was coined as a conscious rejection of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity! Granted, there may be a few members of the Unitarian church who in fact accept the Trinity; but they should seriously consider worshipping Christ in the fellowship of his people. There's this to think about, too.
The Unitarians are hurt by the Cathedral's decision.
Jeffrey Teagle, general secretary of the Unitarian Church, said: The decision to rescind our booking has come as a great shock to our membership and has caused much dismay. Although Unitarians differ widely in belief and seek their religious inspiration from many sources, a sizeable proportion of our members are firmly of the view that they are part of Christianity.
I'm sure the Unitarians are very kind and generous people, but this is fundamentally a theological issue: Their beliefs do not comport with orthodox Christianity in general or the Thirty-Nine Articles in particular. As for the firm view of some Unitarians that they are Christians, unfortunately it takes more than one's own firmly-held view to make it so. Lots of Mormons firmly believe they're Christians, too.
