However, there is, perhaps, no more outspoken or outrageous proponent of a worldly church than Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong of Newark, New Jersey. In Arnold's poem, the world becomes a colder, less intelligent, more dangerous place. SOFN traces its origin to Don Cupitt, Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England. His 1980 book Taking Leave of God was an attempt to build upon the work of Anglican bishop John Robinson, whose 1963 book Honest to God stated that belief in a Supreme Being such as the God of the Bible is no longer possible. SOFN grew out of discussion by those sympathetic to Cupitt's views.
Religion is claimed to be the invention of the people of a particular time and location.
For his part, Bishop Spong attacks not only all of Scripture and all of the specifics of the Gospel of Jesus Christ but all Christian creeds as well. Indeed, in 1994 the Rev. Anthony Freeman was removed from the Anglican church at Staplefield, England by the Bishop of Chichester for publishing a book that promoted SOFN beliefs. The real strength of such individuals today lies not in their numbers or in the influence of their organizations, but in their ability to fit neatly into the intellectual environment of the secular world. Clark Pinnock considers himself part of the evangelical community even while challenging a traditional understanding of the doctrine of God. Just as Augustine came to terms with ancient Greek thinking, so we are making peace with the culture of modernity. . .