The Uniqueness of Christ – Who Voted No?

Last week we saw the terrific debate in General Synod on the uniqueness of Christ which I live-blogged on. The motion that was eventually passed reads as follows:

That this Synod warmly welcome Dr Martin Davie’s background paper ‘The witness of Scripture, the Fathers and the historic formularies to the uniqueness of Christ’ attached to GS Misc 905B and request the House of Bishops to report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.

We now have the voting details and we can find out who the eight people were who voted “no” to the motion, which essentially endorsed the traditional catholic understanding of the role of Christ in salvation and the need to tell all those we meet of his work. Before I reveal who the eight were, it’s worth pointing out that there might have been a number of reasons they voted no:

• They didn’t like Martin Davie’s paper
• They didn’t believe that Christ was unique in the way that Scripture, the Fathers and the formularies make clear
• They didn’t want to burden the House of Bishops with the task of producing yet another report

So, without further ado, here are the eight who voted no.

• Revd Canon Gill Calver – Gill is the Rector of All Saints Staplehurst in Canterbury Diocese. She is a member of Inclusive Church and is also Area Dean for the Weald. She is a Chaplain to the Queen.
• Mr John Dinnen – Hereford. No other information
• Mrs Vasantha Gnanados – Mrs Gnanados has been at the forefront of the move to make membership of the BNP prohibited to clergy and other senior posts. She works for the Metropolitan Police.
• Revd Alma Servant – The Rector of the Church of the Ascension, Hulme, Alma is on the Council of Westcott House, the liberal seminary in Cambridge. She is reputed to have an excellent working relationship with Ft Simon Killwick of Moss Side who heads up the Catholic wing in Synod and is a leading light of Forward in Faith (this relationship is an excellent example of how traditionalists can work with their female colleagues).
• Mr Tom Sutcliffe – Southwark. He is a known liberal and highly supportive of ECUSA, having moved amendments on debates in connection with the Covenant in support of the American church. On the first day of Synod he was literally “hauled off the microphone” for speakking about matters that were not on the agenda. Described in New Directions in 2006 as “notoriously unsound on matters of faith”.
• Revd Miranda Threlfall-Holmes – Chaplain of University College, Durham, Miranda was the member of Synod who introduced the single clause measure to make women bishops with no accomodation for traditionalists.
• Revd Simon Tillotson – Simon is the vicar of All Saints Whitstable, Canterbury. Like many, he is hard to pigeon-hole though he comes from an Evangelical background. This is his sermon following the Synod vote, and this is one on sexuality he preached back in June 2008 shows how he has become more liberal on the issue, but not to the same extent as the pro-gay groups.
• Dr Brian Walker – Winchester. I’ve covered Brian Walker’s views on other faiths before.

I’m genuinely intrigued by why these eight people voted no, so much so that I’m going to try and contact them and find out why they voted no. If anybody has contact details for them do please let me know.