The FP Interview: Rev. Richard Hall of Connexions

FP: Who is Rev. Richard Hall?

RH: I'm a forty-something (early-forty-something!) Methodist minister in Britain. Married with 2 daughters, 2 dogs, 3 degus and a little gang of stick insects. I am the Superintendent minister of the "Swansea & Gower Circuit" in South Wales and I've been here just shy of seven years. I did 5 years in a North Wales circuit before coming here. I trained at the Queen's College in Birmingham. Before that I worked in the co-operative movement, first at Daily Bread and then Northamptonshire Co-operative Development Agency.

FP: When and why did you start your Blog, Connexions?

RH: I started playing with blogging in November 2001. I was wanting to explore the various methods of communication that the web offers. The Church still hasn't really got hold of it, I don't think. So I set up a discussion board, a wiki, a blog and a mailing list. I didn't know anyting about blogging really and I didn't expect anything of it. Actually, I thought wiki was the thing that would really "take off". Never listen to my predictions! It was in February 2002 that I started blogging properly (I that's what I do).

I blog partly for my own benefit. It is good for me to write regularly. Partly, I suppose I do it because I'm a preacher, and which preacher can resist a pulpit with a more or less global reach? But mostly I do it for the interaction, the sense of community sans frontières. I've made some good friendships over the last 3 years.


FP: What led you to become a Methodist clergyman? Are you the first minister in your family? Were you born into the Methodist tradition?


RH: I was the first minister in the family, though my mother is a lay preacher. My father was always willing to take the pulpit too, though he never had any training. The family roots in Methodism go pretty deep on both sides of my family.

FP: Unlike many well known Ministers who blog, you are quite open about your identity on your blog. How does your congregation respond to your blog? Do you have any critics or just devoted readers?

RH: For a long while I didn't tell anyone in the church about it. There are a few who read it now, but I haven't received any major criticism. They might be think it of course!

FP: It sometimes seems that people in the UK are not quite as “in your face” about their religious sentiments as people here in the States. Is this a fair assessment? What else strikes you about religion, politics and culture in the US and UK?

RH: It is certainly true that Christianity is more mainstream in the USA than it is in Britain. I've only visited a small portion of the US on two brief visits, but my impression is that people there are much more willing to talk about matters of faith and church-going rates are much higher. On the one hand, I envy that. The church in the States is better-resourced and, I think, more highly respected. There is danger here too, of course. Christians in the US are powerful, and power does strange things to people.

Politically, the US is much more conservative than Britain though our politics are shifting rightward too, I find it hard to make a genuine distinction between the Democrats and the Republicans at any fundamental ideological level and I don't know that any "big idea" other than The American Dream has played much of a role in your political life. Correct me if I'm wrong! It makes me laugh when I hear a congressman or senator described as a "socialist". The very idea! And I was genuinely shocked to pick up a noticeable sneer in people's voices when they talked about "socialized medicine". In Britain there is almost complete unanimity that health care should be free at the point of use,

The other issue that completely divides our nations is the question of gun control. Britons are mostly completely perplexed by the US love affair with firearms. That's as much to do with emotion and self-identity as anything, I think.

FP: You’ve started a number of blog aggregators, but Un-Right Christian Blogs< is my favorite and something I read almost every day. First, thank-you very much for doing this. How did this come to be? Is it a big chore for you?

RH: I'm glad you like the UnRight blogs. That started by accident really. Originally it was for my own use, tracking those blogs I read regularly. Calling it the UnRight was a little (some say feeble!) joke. I decided to make it public out of frustration with the widespread perception that "Christian" is a synonym of "conservative". I wanted to show that there are other Christian voices that are not always heard. Now that it is set up, there is no work involved in it at all, except when a new blog asks to be included. I'm not very happy with the way it is hosted though, so I'm looking into bringing it onto my own (or someone else's) server where we can have more control over it.


FP: You wrote about the Downing Street Memo on May 1, 2005, the day the story broke.(We linked you here on May 3rd.) I enjoyed your recent post on this topic suggesting that just maybe we bloggers had some impact on raising the profile of this issue. Do you have any further thoughts on this?

RH: It would be nice to think that bloggers had some influence on raising the profile of this issue in the US media. One of the things I get "cheesed off" about is the constant carping I hear about how left-wing the media is on your side of the Atlantic. What rot! As an outsider, it appears that your TV and newspapers gave Bush a complete pass on Iraq. If blogs have forced your media to take this seriously, I'm glad. But my point is that a story of this seriousness should not need forcing. It wasn't exactly a secret.

I should say that I don't think bloggers are as powerful as some like to pretend. There are still loads of people who don't know what a blog is, even. But we are making a difference.

FP: What’s fun about your Blog is that it’s not only or even mostly about politics and religion. What other type of Stuff do you write about? What odd topic has drawn the most interest from your readers? What off-beat topics have you enjoyed writing about the most?

RH: I put on the blog whatever catches my eye and raises my interest. What's odd is that sometimes there are conversations that spin off the orinal post and become much more worthwhile than the post was. There isn't any particular subject that springs to mind -- anything daft is grist to my mill. One of the reasons there is a diversity of subjects is that it doesn't all depend on me. Bene Diction, Ivan the Crank, Mike, Joel and Swan have all done their bit and I'm grateful that they've shared their voices.

FP: Who are your favorite thinkers and writers in the area of politics, religion and theology?

RH: John Wesley is a firm favourite in all of those areas. You couldn't call him a theologian - too pragmatic - or a politician, but he saw clearly that Christian faith is about the social order as well individual salvation. Some of his writing is still very challenging, though I admit that the language can be difficult because of its age. I suppose my favourite theologians are Moltmann, Pannenberg and Leonardo Boff, though I wouldn't want to spend my whole day with them! I've recently discovered Miroslav Volf, a Croatian theologian with an interesting perspective who deserves to be better known. Academic theology isn't what excites me though. The real excitement is with ordinary people working out their faith in all the struggles of everyday life.

FP: Are there a couple of posts you are most proud of?

RH: The post that's given me the most pleasure is probably Band of bloggers musical collaboration with Godfrey. It still makes me smile. I must have another go at something similar again. I suppose I was pretty pleased with Grace? Amazing! andsome of the "creative witing" pieces like this one that I've been able to use in worship. But most of what I write is of the moment. It isn't intended for posterity.