An imperfect storm has just blown up in Brighton and Hove, caused by the careless use of a term which is much misunderstood. The term ‘cult’ was penned by a leading councillor in the city in a tweet about a free school which a number of people are trying to set up in Hove. I confess to knowing a small amount about the school as I was asked by one of the organisers for advice in preparation for the launch of their campaign. I have my own views about educational policy and have also experienced the challenge of choosing the right school for my own children. I have no wish to comment about the concept of free schools, I think that speaking in the abstract about such things demands a great deal of care, especially if one is a civic leader who is intended to provide leadership to all families in the city with the diversity of educational types that already exist here. 

Cllr Ben Duncan is the Cabinet member for ‘communities, equalities and public protection’ and in that sense one would think would be particularly careful over terminology when applied to groups included within the equalities brief and that he would consider the impact of words on these communities as well as those who read his words. One presumes that Cllr Duncan would not confuse the use of words such as ‘black’ and ‘coloured’ in describing ethnic groups, as each word has over time come to mean different things. The same one would imagine would be the case if words such as ‘gay’ and ‘queer’ were being debated. The use of language such as ‘gypsy’ and ‘traveller’ and the different types of travellers would hopefully be understood by Cllr Duncan. He would presumably understand why the phrase ‘cerebral palsy’ is used in the place of the word ‘spastic’ which was in common use when I was a child. This then leads me to wonder if his use of the term cult to describe a group of people, from a range of churches including the Church of England, Baptist Church and United Reformed Church has been used to be intentionally offensive or is simply a matter of ignorance.

The phrase cult was used in a tweet by Cllr Duncan who tweets as @KemptownBen where he wrote this morning at 10.25 ‘Campaign against latest Tory plan for cult followers to wrest control of education from state in #Hove’ and then provided a link to a website that explains why the authors believe the proposed free school is not a good idea.

I confess that in the early 1980’s I was described in the pages of the Leader newspaper as being a member of a local cult and I don’t think it was intended to cause offence (and indeed it didn’t) although it was inaccurate in its use. In the first century of the common era (or AD if you prefer) the followers of Jesus (ie the whole church) were known as a cult and so I think we should treat this in a light-hearted manner. However it is common practice in the 21st Century is to use the word cult as the Oxford Dictionary describes it ‘a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members’ Ben apparently prefer the definition in dictionary.com which does not have any of the pejorative sense about it and in many ways is closer to my own sanguine attitude in 1982.  If matters could simply be resolved by agreeing which dictionary we are all going to use, then applying equalities legislation would be so much easier for all of us. However as we all know the use of language is constantly changing and greater care is needed.

Before Ben declared his passion for dictionary.com with its inoffensive definition he explained in a subsequent tweet ‘Cult referred to particular brand of evangelical Christians!’ Whilst this might help some people to work out who he was trying to label, for those of us in the church it is not too useful. There are at least 7 widely accepted different definitions of the word evangelical and so Ben’s clarification could be interpreted as just another attempt to offend (or disclose his ignorance as equalities lead). 

I have not yet met Ben although in my correspondence with him he always seems civil, and so I am presuming he has used the term cult to describe ‘particular evangelical Christians’ in ignorance rather than offensively. With that assumption in mind it is particularly disappointing that he missed the opportunity to meet with 20 leaders of churches (including a few evangelical ones) from across the city on 24th January when Bill Randall along with some of the senior Council Officers met with us. Perhaps he could let me know when he would be available for a meeting with some church leaders and some of the people behind the free school (which we did discuss on 24th January).

As a final point Ben, although I don’t know all of the organisers behind the free school proposal I can assure you that they are not all Tories, but some may be. However personally I don’t find political tribalism any more edifying than religious tribalism so perhaps you could merely state your rejection (presumably on a personal basis) of the school in a way that avoids labels which simply demean people who are not like you!