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People

These are the names and a brief personal statement from the current members, in alphabetic order.

Adrian Roberts

I studied mechanical engineering at Surrey University, where I met Paul, graduated straight into the 80s recession, then spent thirty years as a Psychiatric Nurse, retiring in 2018 (jolly glad I got out before the Covid!). Now work Monday-Wednesday as a Trade Plate driver. Politics: I've been everything, but generally default to the Left. Too much of an individualist to be a good socialist, but probably I'm what the Daily Mail calls a Metropolitan Liberal. Religion: I was an increasingly liberal Evangelical Christian until I was over 50, but looking back the cracks were appearing at least fifteen years before that. The issue of human suffering is far more of an issue for me than creation vs evolution. I stop short of identifying as an atheist: for one thing I'm not going to swap one dogma for another; also the Argument from Design is still a strong one, and just occasionally I still wonder if the hand of God is on my life (Paul inviting me here?). But if there is a God, he she or it is very far removed from the evangelical one. Agnostic Humanist is my most appropriate label; in terms of religion I go with the Unitarian position of valuing Reason rather than Revelation. I am open to the possibility that This Is Really All There Is.

Brian Monahan

My background is in Pure Mathematics (BsC) and Computer Science (PhD) - and, despite working in computing and IT in one way or another for over 40 years, I still think of myself as a bit of a mathematician.

Although brought up in a Christian family (Anglican), I became a skeptic on the topic of faith and religion in my early teens, as many do.  If I bothered to think anything about it at all at that stage, I would probably have called myself an agnostic and be done with it. However, a bit later at University during the late 70's - early 80's, I would go with the general flow and start calling myself a strong atheist - and I stayed that way for nearly 40 years.  However, it must be said that I was the sort of "strong atheist" who also bought books on Christian belief as well, from time to time.  Temprementally, I have always thought of myself as someone who desires to understand the deeper aspects of the universe and our place in it.

Politically, I'm very left of center - and vote tactically against right-wingers of all stripes.  Although at various times, I have been a member of both Labour and Lib-Dem parties, I'm not particularly active politically, at least not at the moment.

Back in 2016-17, after a particularly traumatic time with both family and work (then at HP Labs in Bristol),  I found myself calling into question the whole point of it all.  Then, following my friend Richard's gentle prompting, I began to realise that I had merely assumed that God didn't exist - and then further realised that there could never be proof of God's non-existence as such.  My certain belief in atheism rapidly fell apart at that point.   Various other experiences then followed, and I was baptised as a Christian in April 2018.

I still remember when I first met Paul - it was at a Christians in Science discussion group one Friday evening, probably in summer 2017?  All I remember is that Paul resolutely made abundent sense and yet was clearly also both devout and knowlegable about Christianity - a sensible Christian!   (Mind you, that would probably describe everyone else there as well.)   I am very glad we met!

Don Baker

My Mum was a staunchly loyal Catholic who never went to church, my Dad was gnostic and eventually became an atheist.  We lived on a small council estate in Farnham Surrey.  I am a baby boomer, was one of 44 in my Junior School class.  Despite my parents’ efforts to do their best for me, I did not have a happy childhood.

When I was 11 I joined a boys club based in a Brethren Church (Assembly) and at 12 found faith in God, I simply fell in love with him.  A moment I will never forget, the turning point of my life.  The leaders encouraged us to think and understand our faith.  Sadly, the intellectual rigor wasn’t there, it was basically fundamentalist, and from joining the sixth form until I was 23 I had huge doubts, seriously wondered if God existed.  It took those years to painfully tear down the old structure and put my faith back together piece by piece.  Dismantling that fundamentalist approach is something I am constantly working on - it went very deep.  I don’t like superficial answers to profound questions.

When we got married, I was looking for something different to the Brethren, my wife was brought up a Baptist.  I was never going to be a Baptist, my wife refused point blank to be Brethren, so we compromised and joined Redland Parish Church when we married, 43 years ago.  At the time ‘it was all happening’ in the Anglican church and the Brethren were in serious decline, Baptists didn’t seem to be going anywhere either.  The CofE and its traditions is not in my DNA, but its where many of our friends and our roots are.  I don’t describe myself as Anglican, but I am a member of Redland Church.  I belong to a Men’s Bible study in the church, an amazing group.  It runs itself without a formal structure, we are sometimes thought of as mavericks.  Decisions ‘emerge’ bottom up not top down.  A grass roots enterprise.    

I went into teaching through a sense of social responsibility.  Since then I have worked in Engineering, IT, Leyhill Prison and Bristol Drugs Project.  My wife went to Bangladesh with TEAR fund to teach the Bangladeshi midwives just after Bangladesh became independent of Pakistan.  She worked as a Health Visitor in a very socially challenging part of Bristol.
 
We have four sons, three married, one with a long-term partner. Three have an active faith, one hasn’t.  All have a profound sense of social justice.  One son works as a youth worker in a church in Balham, his drive is to reach out to the non-churched youngsters in the area and has done a lot to integrate the minority groups into the church.  Another son works for a charity for the homeless.  He turned down the option of working in the commercial world in order to follow his vocation in social justice.

I am officially ‘retired’, my pension enables me to keep working in a variety of social action settings, predominantly 1-2-1.  My heart is in walking with others sharing our lives including my faith and striving to bring about social justice, even if at a very micro level.

Mark Collins

I met Paul and Adrian at Surrey University while studying Electronic Engineering. I shared a room with Adrian in my final year and a house with Paul & several others for a year or so after graduation.  I became a Christian at a rather old fashioned (and to me deeply unpleasant) grammar school in Tunbridge Wells, where the meetings were a bit of a refuge from the playground where I was a victim of bullying.  I was an enthusiastic evangelical for many years, and a keen member of the Surrey University Christian Union.  I was a late developer and during my time there realised that I was gay which was clearly a major problem with the beliefs I was seeking to align with. I did seek some help at that time, but was prayed for and advised strongly to 'live in the good of my healing'.

I and several friends later moved to join a house church in Cobham (under the leadership of Gerald Coates), where I was later approached by my future wife (a girl friend I had previously split with). Again I sought advice and advised to live out the truth my healing (interestingly no one asked me if I actually loved her or was attracted to her). So we were married. We had two children, but life became increasingly difficult with a sex life that amounted to almost zero, with frustration and disillusionment on both sides.  I remained convinced that following my marriage vows was important, and began to once more seek help with counselling.  After a few bad starts with 'Christian counsellors' who were more like 'Christian tellers', I was recommended by a very dear Christian friend (Noel Moules) to a Christian pastor who used humanist counselling techniques and means such as art, imagination, story telling and complete honesty.  In many ways it was him (and Noel) to whom I owe the freedom in which I now live. He basically gave me permission to be the person I am without pretence.   My wife could clearly see the writing on the wall and decided that divorce was now the way forward (against my wishes incidentally), and with two young children the next year or so were a very difficult and traumatic time indeed. But in retrospective I am grateful to my my wife for ending what was a grotesque lie.

After the divorce was agreed, I felt able to properly explore relationships with men and for some years continued to believe.  Strangely the man I have spent the past two decades with (Civil Partner for the last 10) turned out to be friends with some of the people in my church, one of the elders had grown up with his previous partner.

My experience in the church had become increasingly difficult, conversation and dialogue almost impossible with the approach the leadership took, and failed completely the day an elder arrived to tell me that I couldn't take part in a repeat trip to help in an orphanage as they were concerned what I 'might do to the young boys'. I asked him to leave my house and left the church too.

For some years I was in a state of thinking and working through what I believed, the words ascribed to Jesus about 'by their fruits you will know them' and about how his followers would be unified were a touchstone to reality. Looking in from the outside gave me the time, space and freedom to think and discuss things that within the church would be described as 'divisive', or 'betraying a bad attitude' or 'lacking in humility'.  As time progressed I realised that my faith was far more a product of the environment I was born into (had I been born in a Muslim country, the likelihood of being a Christian would be negligible).  I am now of the view that few of our decisions represent the result of 'freedom of choice' but are rather the product of our genetic starting point and life experience (conditioning).  So entirely a matter of luck.  As such personal accountability for actions in an ultimate sense is meaningless, again deconstructing the whole basis of redemption, atonement and the judgement of God.  

So I now describe myself as an agnostic atheist, agnostic in terms of theism, atheist in terms of the specific claims of particular religions.  My foundational moral belief is in the Golden Rule, treat others as you'd wish to be treated. Mainly for pragmatic reasons, people who are treated well are more likely to treat me well, but also because life lived with everyone being mean to one another is a pretty horrific vision.  I think that the Gods people actually follow are man made, all the many thousands that have been worshipped throughout recorded history.

When I was in the church, like Paul I probably most admired the Anabaptist tradition, a tradition that a least tries to be consistent and to follow the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount to their logical behaviour implications.  I accept that this was a constant source of friction with the evangelical churches I participated in, and perhaps was one of the factors involved in my departure from belief.

Politically I find the political compass a more useful tool than simple left/right discussions.  Every time I have done the evaluation I find myself fairly close to the bottom left hand corner (left wing libertarian).  I resent having to vote tactically, and again like Paul have believed that electoral reform is probably the most important item that should be on the change agenda.  The recent dangerous and appalling rise of intolerant populism in the UK and US has I believe been almost entirely enabled by the First Past the Post system.

I am now retired, living in a rural part of Wales in a barn that we have converted from a derelict ruin over the past few years. We are engaged in the community and loving the quiet way of life.  Thinking about the future is uncertain as my partner has been diagnosed with Parkinsons, but we are determined to live positively day by day engaging with life's challenges head on.

The only thing I miss from religious engagement is the music. I am currently building a 9 rank pipe organ in our home!

Paul Hazelden

I'm married, with three grown-up boys.  Sue and I both grew up on South East London, in what is now Greenwich.  I studied Mathematics with Philosophy at the University of Surrey, in Guildford, and then some years later gained a MTh in Applied Theology at Spurgeon's College.

My employment history includes selling books, 20 years in IT, Christian training and 14 years running a charity helping homeless people.  Currently trying to set up a project called Local Friends to address the increasing problem of social isolation in our society.

Voluntary sector activity includes setting up the Bristol Homeless Forum and FareShare South West, helping to set up the Voice and Influence Partnership and establish Bristol City of Sanctuary as a CIO, and serving on the board of Voscur (Bristol's Council for Voluntary Service) and the Bristol Multi Faith Forum.

I identify myself simply as someone who is seeking to follow Jesus; when pressed, the tradition I most closely align with is Anabaptist (which has no priests, no saints, no festivals, no liturgy and no creeds, but the Anabaptist Mennonite Network offers seven 'core convictions' which I find helpful).

Politically, since childhood I have seen electoral reform as the most important political issue we face, so I have always belonged to (and generally voted for) the party which has the greatest chance of pushing that reform through.  No voting system is perfect (not an opinion: a mathematical fact) but our present 'first past the post' system benefits the establishment, frequently prevents the will of the people from being heard, and (I believe) leads to increasing disenchantment with democracy and alienation within society. 

Rebecca Boden

I'm an accounting professor who met Paul through his wife when I was the volunteer treasurer in the charity where his wife works. Right now, I work part-time running a research programme at Tampere University in Finland called New Social Research. Most of my own research is on social justice issues and money - be that in education, taxation or welfare policies. I'm Jewish, but not religiously so  - I am a member of the Humanists. I am a lifelong feminist. I am renowned for my political analyses and commentaries amongst those who know me - and am at times quite active in the media.

Roger Allen

I came to Bristol when I was 21 to train as a teacher (History and PE). I taught for 12 years (6 in Bristol and 6 in Zambia).

I married Angie in 1991 and we have two young adults (Kat 23 and Jack 20)

I did an MA in Development studies while in Zambia and in 1999 came back to UK to raise awareness and campaign on global justice issues, working with Christian Aid and TEARFund, on issues such as Jubilee 2000 and MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.

Since 2007, I have been networking (part-time) across the Christian community and collaborating with people of good will for the good of the city. This is now call Together4Bristol, transforming Bristol together: https://www.together4bristol.org.uk/

I live at Lee Abbey community house in Knowle West in South Bristol. I am also a life coach and love helping people find their purpose!

Steve Smith

I have worked in teaching (Primary schools/ church/ piano) for most of the last 40 years. For some of that time I was paid to do churchy stuff.

I did a Philosophy degree at Bristol, graduating in 1980

I am very interested in non-dogmatic exploration of theological/ philosophical issues, centring around what it means to be human, which I think should be humankind's (and especially: church's) most pressing and important question.

I have lots of struggles with issues around church, though I have felt very close to God for most of the past 40 years. Currently I attend a local weekly housegroup.

Politically I am a default leftie, but with little enthusiasm for any of the current political parties or trends. By way of contrast, I think the bible has great things to say around justice issues.

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