Why I took a stuffed parrot to CofE Synod

The General Synod of the Church of England has engaged over decades in a cycle of groundhog-day debates about human sexuality. Members employ the same stories and arguments over and over again.

Living in Love and Faith (LLF), the eight-year-long project of listening to one another, learning from the Scriptures and looking at current practice, ended in February this year. LLF was declared to be dead, to the relief of nearly half of those on General Synod. Others believe LLF is just resting. A new private member’s motion, brought by Helen King, stirred up yet another debate this July.

A stuffed parrot in a cage...

As a relatively new member of General Synod, I wanted to speak on this political dynamic and propose a different way forward.

The Old Testament prophets got their message across using visual props, so I carried a stuffed parrot in a cage for the first four days of General Synod.

The prop stirred bewilderment and curiosity: “Why a dead parrot?” I’d reply, “If I am asked to speak, I’ll explain.”

Lots of people got the cultural reference. “Is it a Norwegian Blue?” Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch involves two grown men in an argument over a parrot. One says it’s dead. The other says it is resting. The humour relies on the absurdity of an argument over the obvious – the parrot is dead. On General Synod, the argument over LLF is not funny, it is painfully absurd for everyone.

The pain felt from this political debate is now also being felt in the wider Western political realm as the democratic arena is used to foster debates over contentious matters.

John of Salisbury

We might be able to learn from John of Salisbury, who stood against the passionate and powerful rule of 12th-century King Henry II, who asked, “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?”, leading to the murder of Thomas Becket. Henry also put his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, under house arrest for 15 years.

In his seminal work, Policraticus, published 60 years before Magna Carta, John of Salisbury accuses the King of tyranny, a strong word.

Tyranny, according to John, is the exercise of power according to vices, desires, passions and reason to create laws which advance the personal goals and happiness of those who hold that power. Is this not the increasing reality of Western politics? It’s not just debates on sexuality and marriage in the General Synod – are not personal goals and happiness what lie behind trans rights, assisted suicide and abortion, for example? The debates are painfully absurd, like arguing over a dead parrot.

John holds that the King and his court are not the creators of law but subjects to the law of their Creator.

'The law is king'

Later thinkers, like 17th-century Scottish theologian Samuel Rutherford, a contemporary of tyrannical Charles I, captured the theory of Policraticus in two words: Lex, Rex – the law is king.

The Helen King motion, which called for General Synod to agree that there is nothing incompatible between stable, faithful, intimate same-sex relationships and Christian discipleship, might have felt like a small step forward for some. It would actually be a step backwards for us all.

In a world of increasing political polarisation, where bitter ideological battles are being fought and victories are secured by the slenderest of majorities, the Church of England has a vital role to stand against a return to any form of ideological tribal politics and instead, with all humility, cooperation and love, maintain the principle, Lex, Rex.

In an episcopally-led Church, we can pray that the bishops will seek the truth in the Word of God, set us free from the painful absurdity of a political Monty Python circus and unite the church in joyful obedience within the love and grace of Christ our King.

Lex, Rex.