How to encourage bullying in the Church of England
In October 2022, Stephen wrote an article on Ian Paul’s blog Psephizo called ‘How to encourage bullying in the Church of England’. Stephen has become convinced that most of the crises within the Church of England can be traced back to basic problems with its culture. Within this article, Stephen focuses on the way in which the culture of the Church of England continues to facilitate bullying. Like its safeguarding failures, this is chiefly through the latitude given to anyone upholding and even exploiting its status quo and the corresponding viciousness shown towards anyone challenging this. In The Screwtape Letters published in 1942, C.S. Lewis used the device of a senior devil writing to a junior devil to invite his readers to reflect on the subtle ways in which the demonic was influencing the human capacity for self-deception. Stephen’s article was written in the style of a ‘Screwtape Letter’ inviting leaders within the Church of England to reflect upon the spiritual factors involved in just one aspect of the deeply problematic culture that they have allowed develop within it.