Bishop Gregory Cameron - 'I am (a) liberal'

Finding value and meaning in the world has puzzled humanity for all its existence.  Humanity’s answers have been hugely diverse, bringing healing and hope, violence and harm.  Among these myriad voices, I believe also that God’s Spirit speaks to the world and to humanity, encouraging us to find the reality and meaning which he writes into creation.  Two approaches stand out – a dogmatic approach, which wraps itself in a mantle of knowing the truth and coercing or cajoling others into it, and an approach which is forever open to the wisdom and experience of others.  The first is ultimately sterile.  It inhibits authenticity and exploration and tentativeness and integrity, and becomes a play about power.  The second is about hospitality and generosity, about discovering the echo of the Spirit’s whisperings in unexpected places, about affirmation and growth.  The growth into such wisdom begins with a liberality of soul; this is why I am “liberal”.

Gregory K Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph, Trustee of Gladstone’s Library