Bishop of Oxford

13/11/2023

Following the State Opening of Parliament on Tuesday 7 November, the House of Lords is debating the content of the King's Speech. The Bishop of Oxford, spoke on climate and artificial intelligence – both areas of existential risk in this decade.

10/11/2023

Peace is far more than a truce: an absence of conflict, violence and war.

Peace is the presence of human flourishing, of well being, of harmony, of lives well lived from childhood to old age.

Shalom describes the world we long for; the world we pray for Sunday by Sunday; the world each of us is trying to build.

Read my latest blog post on why peace making is our inheritance and how peace making is our vocation.

Peace is far more a truce. Peace is the presence of human flourishing, of well being, of harmony, of lives well lived.

06/11/2023

It was very good to welcome 500 people at the Peace Vigil in Oxford last night. The images that we're seeing on our screens every day disturb all of us. They move us with grief and compassion. We are also concerned that hatred must not be bred here in the UK, so it's vital to bring people together in friendship and love.

01/11/2023

Please join me and many other faith and community leaders from across Oxfordshire for a Vigil for Peace this Sunday.

The invitation is open to all people of goodwill.

Posters, postcards and further information can be found on the website at oxford.anglican.org/vigil

17/10/2023

Bishop Steven and Imam Monawar Hussain hosted faith and community leaders from across Oxfordshire last night. The group will meet regularly in the coming months to give a collective voice in promoting understanding, peace, and strong community relations across the area.

They say:

"We are horrified by the violence that we are seeing in lsrael and Palestine, and the suffering of ordinary people who have lost loved ones and who fear for their own lives and for friends and family members. We hold all the victims and their loved ones in our prayers.

"We stand together here in Oxford as religious and community leaders to say that we must continue the good work of community and relationship building that has taken place over many years.

"We support and encourage all those working to facilitate honest and respectful conversations and to strengthen the network of good relations, friendships and trust between our communities of which we in Oxford are so proud.

"Violence and hatred can never be the solution.”

with the The Oxford Foundation

12/10/2023

It has been deeply shocking to observe the suffering of this last week in Southern Israel and subsequently in Gaza. Words are insufficient to describe the horror perpetrated through acts of terror. The ensuing trauma and consequences are deeply personal and local, drawing many vulnerable people into the conflict, but are also shared internationally through our common humanity.

We all need to be vigilant in extending love and care to the Jewish communities across the diocese at this time, and also in continuing to build strong interfaith relationships and strong communities in our own towns and cities. Now is the time to reach out to Jewish friends and neighbours with words of support.

As a diocese we add our prayers to those of our Archbishops and broader faith communities for all who have been affected either directly or indirectly through the terrible violence. Amidst the profound sense of shock and loss our hearts cry out to God for comfort, security and the rebuilding of community.

08/09/2023

One year ago, the nation and the world grieved the news of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s death. The late Queen was our last link to the generation which endured war years. She carried our sense of national identity. We each lost one of the measuring sticks of our own lives and that of our families.

The Queen’s strength, humility and courage came from her Christian faith, and was so great because she paid attention to her inner life.

Our King, who has prepared all of his life for his role, has become a rich blessing to our nation and Commonwealth and the world offering stability and a deep, reflective wisdom.

As our nation and world face immense challenges in this next decade: of disease and poverty; of climate change and environmental disaster; of division and of war, our monarch seeks to bind us together in humility and a generous inclusion.

In the death of the Queen and the accession of our King, we are challenged to pay attention to our own inner lives and the deep well springs within us and to play our part in building communities, seeking peace, and enriching the life of our nation and the world.

We continue today to give thanks for the life of the late Queen and to pray for King Charles, Queen Camilla and all the royal family.

24/07/2023

As many of you will know, Bishop Steven has spoken regularly in the Lords as the Online Safety Bill progresses. +Steven spoke this afternoon about the importance of a moral and ethical framework for Artificial Intelligence.

The Bill returns to the Lords for the 3rd reading in early September.

11/07/2023

Bishop Steven joined the UK House of Lords yesterday for the second day of Report Stage of the Online Safety Bill.

Speaking to a group of amendments about widening the scope of harm beyond a particular piece of online content to explicitly include design and operation and cumulative risks and impacts, Bishop Steven said:

"Advertising access, addiction algorithms, artificial intelligence, multiplying harms in a range of ways which we've heard spoken of so movingly this afternoon. The quantity of harm which comes, means the socialisation and normalisation and creation of environments which are themselves toxic online, which will be completely unacceptable offline."

The Government was defeated with peers voting in favour of the amendments that will prevent online platforms from being designed to push harmful content.

📺 Watch Bishop Steven's full contribution below

07/07/2023

The Online Safety Bill has completed the first day at Report Stage in the House of Lords.

Bishop Steven joined the House yesterday speaking to a range of amendments on Artificial Intelligence developments and future-proofing the Bill to cover new technologies, internet services covered by the Bill, and detailing priority harms to children and the ethics of truth.

"the principle for me of ethics and the online world is not the invention of new ethics but finding ways to acknowledge and support the ethics which we acknowledge in the offline world and to take that online. Truth is a fundamental ethic. Truth builds trust. Truth is there."

📺 Watch the full video below

26/06/2023

A joyous weekend full of celebration with four services for the ordination of 28 priests in this diocese. Photo galleries from each service can be found on the Diocese of Oxford page.

Twenty women and men are to be ordained deacon in the Diocese of Oxford on Saturday 1 July, at two services to take place at Christ Church Cathedral. Both services will be livestreamed.

14/06/2023

The future of humankind is not unlimited enhancement, mechanisation and automation says Bishop Steven in his presidential address to Oxford Diocesan Synod.

You can find a transcript of his address on the blog.