PROLOGUE
A true story ......
The cemetery chapel was closed for repair, so the members of the small non-conformist Christian
group were sitting in the adjacent church that had been made available instead. Outside, the
funeral hearse was driving slowly down the road followed by the car carrying the close relatives of
the deceased. At the door of the church stood their lay minister ready to receive the sad party and
to escort the coffin into the church so that the service could proceed.
But as the hearse drew up at the door the local vicar appeared, and entered into earnest
conversation with the minister. As a result the driver was told not to unload the coffin; the
congregation in the church were ushered out again, and the whole procession proceeded directly
to the cemetery, where the service was eventually conducted in a public shelter.
What was the reason for the sudden change of plan?
It was caused by one inflexible rule of the vicar. "I will not allow any to use my church who do
not believe Christ to be God", he said. His conversation had established that this particular
Christian group did not believe the doctrine of the Trinity, and so he applied this sanction.
Such an attitude is understandable, you might think, even if it was a little hard and uncharitable to
insist on such a rule at an event like a funeral. If a belief in the Trinity is a such a basic teaching of
Christianity, the vicar was justified in excluding from his church those who do not believe it.
But should the belief that Christ was God actually be a teaching of the Christian church at
all?
That is what this book sets out to explore.
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