Thinking about The Voice
As I promised last week, attached to today’s news are two articles written by two Sydney Anglican Ministers which I hope will be useful to you as we move towards a referendum on The Voice. They were written to fulfil the request of last year’s Synod to ‘educate all Anglicans about the Voice “From the Heart”’.
The first is written by Dr Andrew Errington (Senior Minister at Newtown) on behalf of the Social Issues Committee. It specifically seeks to reflect on the Uluru Statement from the Heart, with a generous openness to the proposal for a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament.
The second is written by Sandy Grant (Dean of the Cathedral) and is titled ‘No, not this way’. Sandy’s paper seeks to offer a Christian case for opposing the proposal for the Voice.
I am very thankful for our brothers in Christ who have made these contributions. Each author is irenic, considered and biblically and theologically reflective.
To the extent that they opt for one side of the debate, they have done so modestly, expressing that the matter is one that requires Christian wisdom and discernment rather than obedience on a matter of doctrine. They have avoided caricatures of contrary positions, and gratuitously inflammatory language.
In this, they set a good model for our ongoing individual conversations and are a great example of exactly what I spoke about in last week’s news.
I am prayerful you will find both these articles helpful as you consider your vote in the referendum.
