The important qualification of no longer having my salary paid for by a Christian church or church-based organisation

This leaves me free to be totally honest and, if need be, brutal in my thinking without the very real fear that I could lose my livelihood were I to come to conclusions significantly different from that of the church or Christian organisation I worked for. This factor cannot be over-emphasised.

Having been in the employ of churches for twelve years I know how pastors think, and the subtle but very real pressure they are under to stay away from controversial issues. Many theologically trained pastors live under great tension. On the one hand they hunger to be able to be truly honest about what they believe and would love to broaden and challenge their congregations’ conservative thinking on some issues. Yet they know that if they did, they risk being out of a job. So the temptation to not rock the boat and to keep away from anything that might raise the ire of the self-appointed ‘heresy hunters’ (and every church has them) is immense.

This is true even for those working in the academic world of Christian theological education. One lecturer we spoke to working in a large ‘middle of the road’ theological institution told us how a vociferous group of conservative students tried to get him sacked for stating in a lecture that he believed the Adam and Eve story to be more symbolic than literal.

We have on New Zealand television an advertisement which features a number of car assembly workers praising the quality of the cars they build. After each one says their piece they give a grin and come out with, “But I would say that, wouldn’t I!” However, the final person who praises the cars’ quality is an independent engineer from a New Zealand wide motor industry watch-dog organisation, and his parting punch line is, “And I can say what I like!” Likewise for me. I can say what I like, and I will.