95 per cent of Britons are going to hell, according to a speech given by Wycliffe Hall’s Principal.
A video of the Reverend Dr Turnbull’s speech given at the annual Reform Conference was released on the Internet last week, provoking accusations from prominent members of the Anglican community that he is encouraging intolerance within the Church and exploiting his position as Principal to promote his own theologically conservative views.
Speaking at the conference held by Reform, an evangelical organisation who oppose the ordination of women to the priesthood and who advocate a conservative view of homosexuality, Turnbull warned that the vast majority of Britain’s population would go to hell unless they were converted. “We are committed, are we not, to bringing the gospel message of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Jesus. And in this land that is 95 per cent of the people, and 95 per cent of the people in this country are facing hell unless the message of the gospel is brought to bear.”
Turnbull also openly criticised more liberal approaches to Christianity. “We are all aware of the challenge that liberalism brings to the Church at large. I want to warn against the nature of liberalism within our own midst. What I mean by that is this whole idea of what it means to be evangelical being broadened so that it encompasses everybody and everything”, he said.
In 2005 the council of Wycliffe banned meetings by the local student branch of Reform while the issue of whether or not it had a place within the evangelical firmament of the Church of England.
Turnbull has confirmed that he has never been a member of the organisation and added that he was not aware of any regulations imposed on the Hall’s student branch. “This has not been discussed during my time here”, he said. He declined to comment on the content of his speech or any of the allegations which have been made against him since then.
A Wycliffe Hall student who wished to remain anonymous voiced her concerns about the intolerant attitude towards Anglo-Catholicism and liberals at the Hall. “The Church is supposed to be a body, in other words different parts working together, and it worries me then that from Dr Turnbull’s speech there seems to be an aim to push forward evangelicalism at the expense of other parts of the Church.’.
In his speech, Turnbull also spoke of the “strategic nature” of his decision to take on the role of Principal of Wycliffe Hall. “I am sometimes asked why I took the post of Principal of Wycliffe where I have been for only just over a year. Well there are all sorts of answers one could give to that but one of the answers is that I view the post as strategic because it will allow influence to be brought to bear upon generations of the ministry”, he said.
Balliol College’s Christian Union Representative, Jonathan Bish, has accused Turnbull of exploiting his position of power. “The reasons he presents for taking over as Principal are nothing short of seeing the study of theology as an opportunity to indoctrinate students with a narrow and doctrinaire opinion that does not reflect the broad range of opinions within Christianity. This is completely the wrong approach, whether one is coming from a liberal or conservative, or high or low church perspective.”
Wycliffe’s SCR President, Adam Atkinson, has voiced his and the SCR’s full support for Turnbull. “Wycliffe Hall has a remarkable Principal in Richard Turnbull. Students here share Richard’s stated passion ‘to bring the gospel message of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Jesus’.”
Atkinson added that he did not feel that Turnbull’s speech was offensive. “To state the fact that 95 per cent of the people in the UK do not know the gospel of living life to the full for today and a sure and certain hope of life beyond death is surely to state the obvious. That this gives offence has been the case for the last two thousand years largely because we humans have to do something we hate: accept we are in the wrong.”
Iona Bergius
