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Herd mentality: how a church story got sensationalised

In February you may have read the story of a curate at St. Nicholas’s Church in Sevenoaks, whom the national press declared had ‘outraged his congregation’ after preaching that wives should submit to their husbands.

The teaching on male headship by the curate in question, Mark Oden, who happens to be my brother-in-law, is from 1 Peter, and is regularly preached from pulpits across the country in biblically-faithful churches.

Depressing

It is a difficult and controversial teaching among Christians, but it was depressing to see the sensationalist response of the national media after the local newspaper had picked up on the story.

Most of the national dailies ran it, with headlines such as ‘Priest splits congregation’ and ‘Vicar says women should shut up’. Female members of the congregation were reported to have cancelled their direct debits to the church.

The truth was, of course, far less exciting. One member of the congregation had complained. There was no split, no burning of bras by women at St. Nick’s, and no decline in giving.

In fact, most of the women at the church would agree with the teaching.

I doubt any of the journalists who wrote these stories listened to the sermon.
They will have been under pressure from a news editor yelling them to get the ‘sexist vicar’ story for tomorrow’s edition.

The truth versus a good story

All the stories copied the local paper’s quotes from the sermon, which probably appeared on a news wire, one saying marriage in crisis, and another encouraging wives to submit to their husbands.

The context in which these quotes appeared in the sermon were ignored, and facts such as whether there really was a split at the church were not verified. But as an old colleague of mine once said, ‘Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story’.
The response highlighted the herd mentality of the press today, and the difficulties faced by clergy in this type of situation — engage with the media or lie low? Sadly, the former may give them more rope to hang you with.

Vindictive attacks

The story was picked up on many blogs, where the anonymity of cyberspace allowed many bloggers to post vindictive attacks on Mark.

Of course it’s not hugely surprising that the secular media and British society today do not agree with the Bible’s teaching on male headship, or understand how this reflects Christ’s relationship with the church, and does not mean women are to be treated as doormats.

Feral beast

But, having seen the stress this whole episode placed on my brother-in-law and sister and their family, it shows the extraordinary power of the national media to both misrepresent and cause distress.

I don’t often agree with Tony Blair, but his description a few years ago of the media as a ‘feral beast’ which hunts in packs certainly seems to ring true in this case.

Ed Beavan

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