The Church of England, it seems, is hellbent on destroying itself from the inside out. Of the many objectionable suggestions coming from the Church these days, one of the more seemingly mundane may in fact do the most damage. I’m not talking about the ludicrous suggestion that we start referring to God in gender-neutral terms, though there’s a lot to say about that (what, for example, will the Holy Trinity become? Parent, Child, and Holy Ghost?). No, this is about something far less radical and deeply rooted in Christian tradition – what to give up for Lent.

The Anglicans don’t make life too hard. Lent was historically a fasting festival, but that tradition is now rarely observed in the Western world. Most Anglicans who observe the period do so by giving up a personal pleasure. Growing up, I was taught to give up something you like. Chocolate or lollies were easy options, though the ‘giving up’ part didn’t necessarily stick. In 2021, I gave up Zoom meetings, but really that was cheating, because no one likes Zoom meetings (I gave up other things too). The point is that for the period of Lent, you make a sacrifice in honour of the forty days and forty nights Jesus spent in the wilderness fighting Satan’s temptation. Immediately following Lent comes the most important day on the Christian calendar, Good Friday, on which many Anglicans, along with other Christians, do often observe the tradition of not eating meat in honour of Jesus’ crucifixion. Throughout Lent and on Good Friday, the purpose of Christians’ sacrifice is crucial; to honour Jesus and the ultimate sacrifice he made for mankind.

Last week, however, a Bishop in England proposed new purposes for the Lenten and Good Friday sacrifice – tackling climate change and helping the Church of England achieve its Net Zero targets. Ignoring the science about the emissions associated with the production of food other than meat, and the fact that a few parishioners giving up meat for a total of six Fridays in the year will do nothing to the volume of meat produced for human consumption, it was claimed that worshippers giving up meat on Fridays during Lent will help the Church reach its target of being Net Zero by 2030.

There are so many questions. Why does the Church have a Net Zero target? Why is the Church counting the emissions associated with its worshippers’ diets as its own? That’s a stretch even for Scope 3 emissions. Is the Church aware that in becoming Net Zero will make no discernible difference to global greenhouse gas emissions? Why, as The Times reports, does the Church of England have an Environmental Working Group? Do I pay for this through my contribution to the collection plate when I am in England? And why, most importantly, is the Church prepared to use the traditions of its most important and sacred days to indulge some misguided Woke agenda that every organisation under the sun must be Net Zero?

It’s no secret that the Church of England’s congregation numbers are dwindling, and really, it shouldn’t be a surprise. In 1948, William Inge, the former Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, warned that ‘nothing is so reactionary as being up-to-date. Marry the spirit of your own generation and you will be a widower in the next’, and this is exactly what we are seeing. The Church has embraced almost every facet of Woke culture, and the consequences are starting to show. Worse still, some within the Church are now making it abundantly clear that Christian sanctity, traditions, and in some cases, beliefs, are up for sale to the woke brigade. As the Very Rev Professor Martyn Percy, former dean of Christ Church, Oxford, wrote last year that ‘…the senior leadership of the CofE have been remortgaging the actual identity of the Church for some time.’ Of course people aren’t sticking around.

One of the most well-known individual benefits of religion is having something to believe in that gives life purpose. For Christians of all denominations, the belief that Jesus sacrificed his life for mankind is absolutely fundamental. Taking traditions associated with that belief and using them to appease woke demands undermines their importance and, quite frankly, appears contemptuous towards those who continue honour Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. It’s easy to see how belief and a sense of purpose could easily be quickly corroded.

Without a strong congregation and an unshakable set of fundamental beliefs and values, the Church stands no chance against the very anti-establishment culture it is seeking to placate. Yet, it persists with trying to serve one part of society instead of teaching service and sacrifice to its own congregation and driving away worshippers in the process. After reading the ‘meat-free Friday’ suggestion, I even thought about converting to Judaism…until I had Mum’s roast pork.