Church Society and Antisemitism: When justice goes missing

Church Society claims it has been exonerated from the charges of tolerating antisemitism and dishonesty. But there is no basis to this claim. The allegations remain unanswered.

In April 2021, Rev Andrew Towner sent this letter to Church Society members on behalf of the Church Society Council (we have circled the most important parts):

Rev Towner’s letter to Church Society members is misleading. The fact that we declined to cooperate with Church Society’s proposed investigation certainly does not amount to the exoneration of Church Society and its Director.

Here is a timeline showing what has happened:

1. In November 2020, we criticized Church Society for its willingness to tolerate antisemitism in the constituency it represents, and for the dishonesty of its Director (Rev Dr Lee Gatiss). Our detailed and thoroughly-substantiated criticisms can be read here.

2. After receiving ‘external advice’, Church Society offered ‘to appoint an independent external investigation to consider the accusations’ (letter from Rev Towner received on 11 February 2021).

3. We said in reply that we would prefer Church Society simply to respond on a point-by-point basis to our November 2020 article. We explained our thinking in a letter to Rev Towner dated 2 March 2021.

4. Church Society did not accept that invitation to engage with our article. Instead it claimed our unwillingness to cooperate with its investigation represented ‘exoneration’ for both Church Society and Dr Gatiss (letter from Church Society Council to members, 1 April 2021, reproduced above).

As mentioned in point 2 of the timeline, Church Society’s own external advisor had said our criticisms deserved an independent investigation. Church Society could have gone ahead with that investigation without our involvement. All of the relevant evidence is included in our November 2020 article. Going ahead with that investigation would at least have provided some semblance of justice, and yet Church Society chose not to do that. Church Society has denied the allegations without ever engaging with them. Any serious-minded observer can see that it has no basis for its claim to be exonerated.

Many British Christians are hoping that the recent Thirtyone:eight review concerning Jonathan Fletcher will lead to real change in the culture of British conservative evangelicalism. But Church Society’s April 2021 letter makes it hard to be optimistic. One of the words used throughout the Thirtyone:eight review is ‘manipulation’, which can be defined as ‘unscrupulous control of a situation or person’. We consider Church Society’s April 2021 letter to be manipulative. We had called for a point-by-point response from Church Society in place of an independent investigation — a very reasonable request. But Church Society not only refused to provide that response, it also omitted any mention of our request in its letter to its members. It implied that we were not prepared to stand by our criticisms, and that therefore Church Society was exonerated. ‘Manipulative’ is an apt description of these tactics.

It remains the case that Church Society has not publicly corrected a single detail of our November 2020 article. The longer that silence continues, the louder it becomes.

Rev Bernard Nicholas Howard Pastor, Good Shepherd Anglican Church NYC

James Mendelsohn Senior Lecturer, UWE Bristol Law School