It used to be said unhelpfully that the Anglican Church was the Conservative party at prayer. As a once  well attended national Church it needed to be and was more inclusive than that. It was true that in the last century many Conservative MPs,  Councillors  and voluntary workers swelled congregations alongside people of other parties and the non political. Today more Conservatives stay away, knowing they are not welcome. The Church which failed to oppose Labour’s policy of creating a hostile atmosphere for illegal migrants switched to opposing the same policy from Mrs May, a keen Churchgoer herself. Today the Church of England seems to favour Extinction Rebellion and the crusade against CO2 ,the resurrection of U.K. membership of the  EU and proportional representation. Its national leaders encourage a hostile atmosphere for Conservatives and the English majority.
Last summer the Archbishop of York lectured England that it needed to be broken up into governing regions on the EU model. He had failed to notice the referendum vote against an elected government of the North East, or the hostility of many English Leave voters to the way the EU insisted on trying to break up our country by denying England any place on the map or in the constitution of their  Europe. I asked him to debate the matter with me as a fellow Parliamentarian. He could not even be bothered to send me a personal reply to decline the opportunity.
The Archbishops should remember the history of the Anglican Church.The Church tolerated different views of the once explosive issue of transubstantiation. It left most sensitive items of belief to individual judgement and inner conviction. The Church did a good job opening up the Christian message to the masses with the bible in English and the great language of the James Bible and the Elizabethan Common Prayer book. The Reformation which created the Anglican Church was based on a rejection of the courts and government from Rome. The dissolution of the  monasteries was a welcome social and economic revolution connecting more  priests with local communities.
It is possible to be  more critical of the failure to follow the surge of urban populations in the nineteenth century when the break away Methodists and other non conformists served congregations and added greatly to hymn books  in the absence of interest from the mother Church. More recently I see bishops using their privileged positions in the Lords to back European and regional causes voted down by a majority of voters.
If the Archbishops ever want to win back lost congregations they  could try being  more positive about the country they serve.
I do not want the Church to preach Conservatism from the pulpits nor to agree with all a government does. I just ask that national unelected  Church leaders with seats in theLords show some sympathy with majority views and some  understanding of why their congregations have shrunk so much.
April 18, 2022
âThe Reformation which created the Anglican Church was based on a rejection of the courts and government from Rome.â
It also very much suited the reigning monarch at the time and one time âdefender of the faithâ particularly with regard to his marriage issues.
April 18, 2022
+1
And by 1872 non conformity had escalated to âYesterday we asked for toleration, today we ask for religious equality; tomorrow we shall demand the disestablishment of the Church of England.â
Since Henry 8 C of E has been being hollowed out from within. Basically by the Left.
Just like the entire West.
April 18, 2022
From the conference of Non Conformists in 1872..
April 18, 2022
I think they just wanted the record for the longest word in the OED. Disestablishmentarianism.
April 18, 2022
Of course that should be Antidisestablishmentarianism. Anyone going to Llanfair PG?
April 18, 2022
Some reason why the church should be established?
April 18, 2022
+1
In order that yet another institution should not fall to the left?
April 18, 2022
Whatever, the headline is wrong.
The CoE turns its fire on the Tory government, not on England.
Sir John might try to claim that they are the same thing, and it’s good to have a bit of a laugh, what with the news of late.
April 19, 2022
Well said! This Tory government does not speak for England. It does not speak for anyone with a shred of humanity
April 18, 2022
â The dissolution of the monasteries was a welcome social and economic revolution connecting more priests with local communities.â
Or a convenient property grab against an enemy from a different point of view.
It was also a forerunner to the iconoclasm of the Puritans.
April 18, 2022
Or a convenient property grab back.
April 18, 2022
+100
Brilliant!
âIt was also a forerunner to the iconoclasm of the Puritans.â
Iâd often wondered about the Roundhead soldiers smashing up churches etc. But had never made that connection.
April 18, 2022
Good Morning,
Sir J, perhaps if the latest Bunter Plan on illegal immigration looked a little more well thought through, rather than as it appears to be; thought up over a few too many Proseccos one evening and scribbled on the back of an envelope, you might not have to defend it.
This is clearly meant as a distraction for Bunter’s other cock-ups, and will no doubt be added to that list if it ever gets put into action. Think again.
When will the fine gentlemen of the PCP back benches stand up and vote their conciences? Bunter must be removed before he makes any more moronic blunders.
April 19, 2022
Indeed Peter, BJ is a liability.
April 18, 2022
Addressing specific faith issues and – for the most part -leaving politics to others may be a better approach.
How many even know what âtransubstantionâ means? Or consubstantiation for that matter.
Then you have churchmen who donât even believe in God but still hold roles in church.
April 18, 2022
Indeed.
I was a choirboy at a CofE church in my youth. It gave me a lifelong love of sacred choral music. But also listening to the many confused, irrational and contradictory lessons sermons made me an atheist from about aged 8.
Whelby is a dope with typical left wing & BBC type views on climate alarmism, big government, high taxes, the EU, the NHS, open door immigration⊠all profoundly misguided. Why are these deluded dope in the Lords at all it is profoundly undemocratic.
April 18, 2022
Wiki says Welby sits on the panel of the 2012 Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
So what does he think of their now huge margins between deposit rates and lending rates? Also the 39% one size for all personal overdraft rates that we have. Caused it seems by the FCA while under the charge of the current Gov. of the BoE. How can such a foolish man with zero understanding of real banking and risk be made head of the BoE? Replacing the foolish green loon PPE grad. Carney before him.
April 18, 2022
He was treasurer of (I think) enterprise oil.
April 18, 2022
I am sure he supports trans substantiation, but that’s not quite the same thing, is it?
April 18, 2022
How can you support transubstantiation? You can believe it or not believe it. I donât see how you can support it.
April 18, 2022
You only have to look at rapid loss of his customers to know what people think of how he is doing his day job. Another member of the arrogant elite above us little people.
And in related news I see the Permanent Secretary in the Home Office used lack of measurable benefit to refuse to agree to the Rwanda project. How do you measure something unique yet to happen?
A typically risk averse canât and wonât response indicating why the Civil Service is such a dead hand in this country and why obviously he is in this job not an entrepreneur.
â I am sorry Mr Musk but there is no evidence you can build rockets so I am not agreeing to you tryingâ
April 18, 2022
Agreed. For a job requiring somebody with almost infinite imagination, this character appears to lack any imagination. Why not for once support the government in trying to do something creative ? Jesus didn’t appease the moneychangers, who were relatively benign in comparison with modern day people smugglers. He threw them out.
April 18, 2022
I think He objected to them turning the Temple into a sort of Stock Exchange. He would also turn Welby out for turning his office into that of a politician.
April 18, 2022
Has the Permanent Secretary been able to provide the measurable benefits of continuing with current policy do you think? Are those measurable benefits as proven as Jonathan Portas’ assertion that unlimited immigration did not depress wages
April 18, 2022
What says the Permanent Secretary about the measurable benefit of giving France (another ) ÂŁ100 million to prevent illegals entering the Channel.
April 18, 2022
Perhaps this ÂŁ100m is being spent on making rubber boats to prevent illegals staying in France.
April 18, 2022
Where the KPIs achieved with staged payments of success
April 18, 2022
Not forgetting the ÂŁ10 million announced last month to Belgium for security & surveillance measures, Belgium being considered a launching base for people smugglers as they try to evade security patrols on French beaches but also as a transition route for migrants transported from safe houses in Germany on the night of their Channel crossing attempts. ( Daily Tel 25/3/22 )
April 18, 2022
I put in a Freedom of Information request to the trade department, asking them what overall economic benefit they expected the UK might get from a “Canada style” free trade deal with EU. They said that they had no idea about a deal with the EU. They had projections for deals with the US and Australia and various other countries, but they had no information for a deal with the EU. Perhaps the Treasury or the business department would have some information, I could ask them. So I did, and they both said that they also had no idea. That didn’t stop Boris Johnson going ahead and agreeing a trade deal with the EU, and I don’t recall MPs objecting that they couldn’t be asked to approve his deal without some idea of what it might be worth to the country. Then as the Cabinet Office was leading on this I asked them, but they never answered and in any case soon afterwards responsibility was transferred to the Foreign Office. So I asked the Foreign Office, by then headed by Liz Truss who was previously in charge of trade, and they said that they had no idea how much Boris Johnson’s now ratified trade deal with the EU might be worth to us, and I should ask the trade department which had been the lead on that. Of course that is where I had started and when I went back to them they still said that they knew nothing about it:
“We can confirm that the Department does not hold any information in scope of your request. DIT was not involved in modelling the TCA and in providing analysis to support the negotiations.”
The point of this story being that nobody in the civil service stepped in to say that they really needed to have some idea of the benefit before negotiating/agreeing/concluding/ratifying this trade deal.
April 18, 2022
You have a basic problem, Sir John.
It is that the “majority view” was once the mob that crucified the church’s founder, and its true followers understand that.
April 18, 2022
No, the Romans crucified him. They were encouraged by Jewish Religious Leaders who feared him and the message he was giving which might have weakened their own influence, and who in turn stirred up a “mob” …. the number unspecified …. to support them.
Ascribing blame to the Jews as a race is why, over the centuries and up to the present day, anti-Semitism is the racism that endures and “the left” in this country seems to still be infected with.
April 18, 2022
Talk about diversion.
But at least you accept that the despotic get their way by stirring up the mob, without which they otherwise would not.
It has given us brexit and plenty besides in recent times.
April 18, 2022
And what is Archbishop Welby doing from his pulpit if not stirring the mob?
April 18, 2022
Brexit ‘mob’ must be the largest in recorded history. Who was the despot stirring them up?
April 18, 2022
You raised the subject. I merely corrected your error.
I bow to your expertise on the subject of stirring up mobs. The left with their “woke” campaigns: BLM, Extinction Rebellion etc have a great deal of experience.
April 18, 2022
If the ‘reporting’ is accurate Donna.
April 18, 2022
Most religions are surely racist almost by definition. Most believe and push the agenda that they are right and the chosen ones and others (religions or non believers) are inferior to them. This then causes huge and damaging cleavages in society often exploited and exacerbated by politicians. As we still see in Northern Ireland, Palestine and elsewhere.
Then we have the absurd new religions like net zero!
April 18, 2022
The Christian church is said to have been founded by St Peter, NLH, or alternatively by the disciple James in Jerusalem, depending on what is understood by ‘church’. Christ was the inspiration, not the founder. None of them campaigned for the fashionable political dogmas of their day, nor should the church now.
April 18, 2022
No, they campaigned for communism, basically, and that is, I accept, a bit passé.
April 18, 2022
passĂ©. ? I think you mean impossible, don’t you?
April 18, 2022
NLH and isnât it ironic that communism closed the churches and tried to snuff out the Christian religion because it didnât want another set of authoritarian people the lefties wanted that for themselves, which makes it even more ironic that this Christian leader wants to cosy up to them.
April 18, 2022
In my bible it was the established religion of the time that agitated for the arrest of the “King of the Jews” and sort to have him crucified, the mob were merely swayed by the High Priest
April 18, 2022
Yes, a bit like Farage’s thralls.
April 18, 2022
Or Hitler’s, Mussolini’s, Franco’s, Lenin’s, Robespierre’s – oh, they don’t count, as they were European not English.
April 18, 2022
Yes, just like those too – thanks for mentioning them.
April 18, 2022
Did you mention diversion above?
April 18, 2022
In their funny robes these unelected posers pontificate on matters which are none of their business.
They would be better served getting their congregations back to significant numbers.
Today they are an irrelevance. Same as most of the geriatrics in the House of Lords.
April 18, 2022
Good morning.
Sadly, for them, they do not seem to have noticed. As Christine (see below) points out, it is time for the HoL to go and for them to no longer have a say in our lives. So out of touch are they.
April 18, 2022
succinct.
April 18, 2022
Bulls eye! You are right Ian.
April 18, 2022
Good morning and happy Easter to you and your family
It’s far worse than you describe. The C of E has embraced atheist based, progressive Neo-Marxism in direct contravention to their own it seems disposable belief in the divine.
I cannot understand how this extremist, destructive and cancerous ideology can take hold so quickly and consume so many institutions across all areas of our world. There’s a driving force to it that has taken many by surprise. WHO is the driving force? The US? Academia? CIA? Activists? Parties? Unions?………..take your pick
Woke is Marxism without the violence. Race has replaced social class has the weapon to stoke resentment and generate a political energy needed to drive authoritarianism. All is being consumed by this poison and we the majority are now treated like we are the enemy and something to be viewed with suspicion
It is an intolerable situation that the Tories and indeed the Monarchy have made worse by embracing such ideas not because they believe in it but because they feel they feel compelled to believe in it
Either way, it is the ruination of the West and of this nation
ps This decolonisation crap is Pol Pot Year Zero bullshit and typically Marxist
April 18, 2022
Dom
Sadly, I have to agree with you. I think there are many leftist organisations who have joined together. There is also a huge infiltration of institutions being assisted by âuseful idiotsâ indoctrinated in university.
April 18, 2022
+1 Sharon
April 18, 2022
So Dom is, we infer, far more bothered about a few factual, explanatory notices alongside National Trust monuments than he is about thousands of Ukrainians being barbarically slaughtered and their country wrecked.
These are truly strange times.
April 18, 2022
Stranger reaction than his views.
April 18, 2022
The man who wanted us to mask up to “keep safe” getting all gung-ho about WW3 with Russia.
Yes. Truly strange times.
I’ve done better than complain about a few signs in a National Trust property. I’ve cancelled my subscription to the National Trust. They want me to be ashamed ? OK. I’ll be ashamed then.
April 18, 2022
Or is the Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, far more bothered about an old explanatory tablet in the Chapel, than about all that slavery and genocide going on in China, from whom she takes a lot of money?
April 18, 2022
I’m afraid Dom is in good company, lad. Most of the world couldn’t be bothered that for years thousands of Ukrainians in the Donbas were being killed and/or their homes wrecked by Kiev’s military. And it still doesn’t seem to bother you either.
April 18, 2022
It’s time for the Lords to go.
April 18, 2022
I am not religious, and listening to Welby I see even more reasons to reject his version of religion. He regularly promotes anti-UK policies, and often promotes Islam, which I suggest is incompatible with Christianity in virtually every way and these actions alienate all but the most … devout???? I was going to say sheep like, and as Jesus regularly referred to his ‘flock’ it wouldn’t be out of place, would it?
Religion should be kept out of politics. ALL religions, including Christianity. Remove the bishops from the House of Frauds, etc. and remove ALL religious exemptions. Make the law equal for ALL. Additionally, if religious people want to wear large and obvious religious symbols then they must find a job that permits this, and not demand that the jobs be tailored to suit their religion.
April 18, 2022
Shirley, I believe you have got to be given the reward of âletter of the Day â
Well said.
April 18, 2022
+1
April 18, 2022
Shirley, I wouldn’t remove the Bishops from their Bench any more than I would remove the equally subversive Judges. Ditto for the Lords as a whole. And the Rowleyist police chiefs. It isn’t the institutions which are wrong, or the Constitution within which they sit, but that Blair managed to pack them all. Ditto for the Civil Service. The whole establishment has been Blairified and somehow it has to be reformed, as the Poles and Hungarians are doing in their post communist countries.
April 18, 2022
+ 1
Welby promotes the welfare of healthy young immigrants at the expense of those living in the UK who are being burdened by taxation to pay for them and who no longer have the same access to services, housing, etc
April 18, 2022
As a lifelong Christian, I was dismayed by Dr. Welbyâs comments.
I believe that God would wish us to show sympathy and great kindness to those who are in trouble and distress, and to give generously, âaccording to our meansâ. In my opinion, we have done, and are continuing to do, this, and more.
The Archbishop has not come up with any suggestions, as to what we might do better. It seems that whatever we do, it will not be enough for him.
April 18, 2022
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from the man who would be God. I don’t go to church any more and I’m not suprised many churches are closing.
April 18, 2022
Like many I am not a regular church goer myself, but I attempt to live a life with christian type values, appreciate the local vicar can do some good in the community, and can give comfort to some people.
Like all things it depends upon the individual vicar, and how they serve and interact with their local Community.
Unfortunately the higher they go up the within the “management” structure, the more remote and irrelevent they seem to make themselves to the people they are supposed to serve.
Me thinks Mr Welby should take a long hard look at the size of his own organisations congregations, before he starts to criticise others, and it would be sensible if he kept his own non religious views to himself.
April 18, 2022
Religion, mumbo-jumbo and nonsense. The sooner ALL religion disappears from the world the better.
April 18, 2022
Let us pray for that !
April 18, 2022
Best of luck with that. Archae0logy reveals man has been religious in every age and every place. It’s ingrained. You’ve got as much prospect of it disappearing as you have of abolishing sex.
April 18, 2022
The honey bee is a great symbol of the Christian.
1. GOLDEN HONEY. Symbolic of Grace / Peace / Joy / Beauty / LOVE.
2. WAX. From which candles are made and which give out LIGHT. WARMTH.
3. WORKER. Works hard / team player / humble in knowing its position in life
4. BUZZ. Musical / harmonious / soulful
5) STING. Being humble and loving is NOT the same as being a doormat. Sometimes the Christian has to sting with TOUGH LOVE.
Personally, I think The Archbishop of Canterbury needs more sting here. To defend the interests of our country. To be more patriotic (for patriotism is a traditional Christian virtue). And charity begins at home etc (and we can’t force people to be charitable. Although gov must respond to immediate, international crisis and also invest in geo-politics which is ultimately about defending interests of people at home). If The Archbishop of Canterbury challenges individuals to donate money / give their time to such and such a charitable organisation that’s a different matter. He has every right to do that if he wants.
April 18, 2022
When our current Monarch is sadly no longer with us, the C of E should be dis-established. This country is no longer a Christian one; for good or evil (I believe evil) we have been forced to become a multi-faith society and the C of E is not the primary faith. There is no justification for a State Church and certainly not one which has been slowly committing suicide over the past 30+ years.
There is also no justification for the Archbishop of Canterbury (or any other Faith Leader) to be automatically granted a place in our Legislature. They have a right to lecture us from their pulpits – and we have the right not to attend and to ignore them. They should not have a right to interfere in our law-making which simply encourages them to lecture us about politics.
Blair carried out a half-baked reform of the House of Frauds which has caused us so many problems. Why are the Pretendy-Conservatives so terrified of doing the job properly?
April 18, 2022
Careful Donna – create a religious void and it will be filled. Which is the most dogmatic religion in this country (indeed the world) that will fill any vacuum created by not having a national religion and be welcomed by the left as a progressive move.
The Church of England is by no means perfect 9and at present struggles to be good) but lost souls crave a crutch and I would rather that crutch was of Western origin grounded in our own culture.
April 18, 2022
I didn’t call for a religious void; just for the State Church to be dis-established and to lose the right to participate in our Legislature.
I’m not C of E. It doesn’t appear to have much to do with Christian beliefs these days.
April 18, 2022
The Rabbis in particular are very fearful of the Church of England being disestablished: they know a vacuum is always filled. They regard the Established Church as the best way of safely hosting all the others.
April 18, 2022
When established religious leaders poke their nose into politics, you can be sure a lot is wrong with the advocates of the current politics.
April 18, 2022
The Iranian Ayatollah in 1979 pronounced that if he were as uncertain of his faith as our clergy were, he would not dream of meddling in politics.
April 18, 2022
they may well be sure of faith – but have no idea of plausible politics!
April 18, 2022
You clearly mean the Church and not the party led by Boris when you say “Its national leaders encourage a hostile atmosphere for Conservatives and the English majority”. All my own confusion to wonder otherwise and I can’t think how that came about!
April 18, 2022
+1 F57 – I suspect many others will have the same thought.
April 18, 2022
The illegal immigrants problem badly needs some action, and Rwanda is a good plan.
The Archbishop of Canterbury should stay out of what is essentially a political matter. He has not himself suggested a solution and his present intervention is not at all helpful.
April 18, 2022
None of the ‘Left’ have offered any solution other than open borders as they don’t have one. Even heard on radio this morning from some ‘refugee’ representative the old lie that lots of the dinghy people are doctors and dentists and professional people. As we are supposed to have a points based immigration system surely such people could get in without any problem without pretending to be asylum seekers, arriving without papers and could go through proper procedures instead of queue jumping which is basically all this channel hopping is.
April 18, 2022
Sorry to be awkward, but many of them are perfectly legal claimants of justified asylum.
April 18, 2022
more hopeful guesses? — zero evidence.
April 18, 2022
Genuine asylum seekers do not need to go further than Calais, where they are safe. But they make hazardous journeys from Calais to the UK.
April 18, 2022
A significant number have done so successfully.
Why should those arriving now be different?
April 18, 2022
Critical Race Theory must be criminalised. This divisive poison that is now spreading through the established church and education and indeed across public life has the capacity to criminalise and slander tens of millions of innocent people.
Desantis has banned this racist filth but not criminalised it.
I’d like to see the Tory party reject Marxism and then condemn it as they would any other form of extremism that promotes violence and division
April 18, 2022
Critical Race Theory does not explain the sub-par treatment of all ethnic minorities in all countries whatever the dominant race. A scientific theory that only explained one set of circumstances while failing in other environments would be soundly rejected when peer reviewed.
I wonder what is different about this theory?
April 18, 2022
‘A scientific theory that only explained one set of circumstances while failing in other environments’. Pretty much the description of ‘global warming science’.
April 18, 2022
The Radiative Transfer Equation plus Fluid Dynamics explain rather well the temperature and wind structure of the Earth, Venus, Mars and Jupiter atmospheres given the gases present on these various planets.
You should check, G46. There are plenty of papers available since S.I. Rasool & R. Jastrow, 1964, Life Sc. Space Res., âThe atmospheres of Mars, Venus and Jupiterâ.
April 18, 2022
Dom:
And asking primary aged children to come up with alternative names for Gladstone Park in Brent, with a view to renaming it.
They came up with Diane Abbot Park. What a surprise.!
Stop brainwashing our children!!!
April 18, 2022
They might have picked a more suitable mathematician?
April 18, 2022
So much for Free Speech eh?
April 18, 2022
I was disappointed in the Archbishop’s comments about the proposed system to send migrants to Rwanda. Perhaps he should lead by example and fill Lambeth Palace with them. Personally, I would not be happy giving a home to people who have paid people-smugglers to facilitate an illegal entry into this country, and I don’t expect anyone else to either.
If “Thought for the Day” on Radio 4 is representative of Anglican teaching, that sanctimonious drivel isn’t going to redeem anyone, even though they might feel it’s the way to get bums on seats. If they preach a doctrine of repentance, perhaps they could reduce their congregations further. People don’t want God, they want their sin. Sin is fun, sin is cool – until you’re the one sinned against.
April 18, 2022
DA,
âIf âThought for the Dayâ on Radio 4 is representative…â
Itâs not though. Thatâs the whole point. It is peopled with trendy vicars, lapsed Catholic CND supporters, rabbis who tell jokes, Muslims who hold positions at Oxbridge, plus the occasional Sikh.
Like Alistair Campbell, The BBC âdoes not do Godâ. The head of religious broadcasting is a Muslim under cover of diversity but possibly to upset Christians.
There is absolutely no chance of a Jehovahs Witness, Mormon, televangelist getting a look in.
Even then, John Humphreys objected to the two or three minutes taken up by the feature.
The BBC where âmoral relativism and/or indifferentism rules OK.â
April 18, 2022
The Archbishop needs to say what the âGodlyâ policy on illegal migration should be. Itâs possible he thinks there shouldnât be any immigration policy and the U.K. should have open borders and no immigration controls at all, in which case he should say so. That would put him in a small radical left minority, but at least it would be intellectual honest.
Assuming the Archbishop does think there should be a policy on illegal migrants, if he doesnât like the one which the government have chosen – which has been successful when tried elsewhere, he needs to say what that policy should be. Same goes for the Labour Party and other leftists opposing the new initiative.
Otherwise these criticisms are just empty humbug.
April 18, 2022
I am sorry to say, Richard, that they have already made their alternative policy clear: free visas handed out at Calais to anyone who wants one. It is called a safe legal route. They also want them handed out at every British embassy in the world.
April 18, 2022
Richard1 – above …. successful when tried elsewhere …. The Facts4eu website’s article of today gives illustrations of this where thousands have already been assisted in Rwanda and with a degree of EU funding.
April 18, 2022
Unlike our host and all who comment here, the Archbishop occupies a post that automatically enables him to be instantly heard in both the media and the legislature.
Would it therefore be unreasonable to ask him to not only criticise actions when he feels it necessary to do so, but also to offer a workable solution that he finds more palatable?
Perhaps he could organise a phalanx of CofE missionaries to be sent to the incompetent and corrupt governments that impose violence and poverty on their people to such an extent that they willingly place themselves in considerable danger to find a better life in Europe and the UK?
Or would that reek too much of white colonialism?
April 18, 2022
You say rightly that the Church favours the crusade against CO2, but its a shame you donât condemn itâs crusade in favour of Net Zero explicitly. That would be the time when thinking Conservative MPs at last condemn the biggest threat to our English way of life, with the Church acting as a very useful idiot supporter of its pursuit by this Conservative government.
April 18, 2022
The Church of England had nothing to say when Labour were making English people second class citizens with their devolution policies, as far as I am aware there were no attempts by Bishops in the Lords to block the legislation because of the West Lothian question, neither was there any outrage from them when Labour used Scottish MPs to foist tuition fees on English students.
The C of E has not cared for English people for a long time , as it seems to busy itself for caring for the rest of the world it would be better known as the Church of Not England.
April 18, 2022
+1 – just like our politicians. They have much in common. I watch with interest, as I suspect this Rwanda proposal will be ditched by the government almost before it begins (if ever), but they need a scapegoat to blame.
April 18, 2022
I remember systematically writing to each of the bishops about the regionalisation plans – hardcopy, then, envelopes addressed by hand – but I don’t remember getting any replies, or even acknowledgements. And a lady in the congregation of a church in another part of the town objected to me handing out leaflets about it because I didn’t live in that parish … I do not say “Those were the days”, I say “How did it become necessary for ordinary people like me to do things like that to try to stop our own government breaking up our country at the behest of the EU?” And having circulated three emails about Northern Ireland this afternoon I still ask the same kind of question, “Why does our political system work to get so many of the wrong people to the top?”
April 18, 2022
I also tried my bit and got no where. When you take stock the Cof E , it doesn’t care much for our young people, no outrage from them on the grooming gangs preying on young white English girls. Same with the sick, the English get a raw deal here as well, and the pensioners with home care etc, but not a peep out of the C of E , what good is a Church who doesn’t care for its young, sick and old?
April 18, 2022
I’m off to Jordan in June. Just planning my visits to some of the Biblical sites is making the hair on my neck stand on end. There is, just, a chance that I might reconnect with the church into which I was baptised. But hearing the socialists in the Church of England pontificate – the right word? – makes it more likely that I will stay an atheist.
April 18, 2022
The socialists in the Church of England might well also be atheist – belief in God doesn’t seem to be a requirement of the progressive CofE. Whether they are or not, they seem quite capable of leaving God completely out of their pontifications.
April 18, 2022
Sea_Warrior,
In preparation for your travels, you may like to read ‘In the Steps of the Master’ by H. V. Morton.
H. V. Morton was a journalist first and foremost, and he travelled widely in the Holy Land between the Wars. His first-hand description will certainly ‘make the hair on your neck stand on end’.
His superb narration is augmented with occasional extracts from the majestic language of the King James Bible. He quotes from the Gospels and from the Old Testament where there is a reference in these Books to the place he is visiting, or to a custom which he observes was still being practised.
April 18, 2022
Thank you. I’ll check it out.
April 18, 2022
do you remember being baptised, or just having water thrown over your head by an old man?
Perhaps you elected to be fully submerged – a conscious decision to select your faith?
April 18, 2022
Can I please recommend the following:
Keep it simple!
1) Really connect to the young person in you that wants to feel more light and joyful and carefree (but without ever losing your sense of responsibility and kindness towards others). And focus on the basics. The Prodigal Son. The Good Samaritan. In the Good Samaritan, the father (God) rushes out and throws his arms around his son, and then organises a great big feast (of fun, laughter, music, dancing, eating too much, and drinking too much for him – like at Cana I imagine!) for his son’s return. Dickens’ Christmas Carol is a brilliantly inspired by The Prodigal Son (and The Good Samaritan).
2) Focus on The Our Father prayer
3) Focus that you are meant to be a Temple of The Holy Spirit and that The Holy Spirit is your Advocate / Counsellor / Consoler in everything in life. All of this starts at Baptism.
4) Read a bit of CS Lewis. And read Fulton Sheen’s Life of Christ. And Peter Kreeft’s brilliant book on The Song of Songs and Job (one book).
5) Consider what Christianity has achieved. Our culture and civilisation from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Oxford. Parliament. The Judiciary. Bach. Mozart. Beautiful cathedrals. Great Art. Literature. Great saints such as St Francis of Assisi etc ..
Best
April 18, 2022
I was never a fervent church goer, forced to attend by my parents. I finally refused to go any longer after having to listen to a sermon about unilateral nuclear disarmament one Christmas morning which my parents agreed was inappropriate.
I would like to bump into my Methodist minister today and ask him how unilateral disarmament might have contributed to the peace for the last 30 years in light of Russian (and US) geo-political manoeuvrings
April 18, 2022
I go to Catholic Mass, and so often the sermons are full of platitudes and such like (99% of what I learned, I learned from books). Many, if not most, Catholics priests are clueless about preaching. But I no longer really pay attention to whether the priest is good at his job or not (if yes, great). Focus on why you’re really there (your relationship with The Almighty).
April 18, 2022
I do not believe in a God Ed – I do believe that there were eloquent historical figures called the Buddha, Guru Nanak, Mohammed, Jesus, Joseph Smith and Charles Taze Russell. There were some who were less eloquent or timely such as David Ike.
If I needed a relationship with an almighty, I have no need to go to a building whose funding and the funding of its acolytes relies on my belief. I would therefore be concentrating on what the religion’s representative was saying. It should be relevant to me as the representative is saying it.
To me religion grounds morality and so serves a very useful purpose, unfortunately it is also highly divisive and has caused much of the suffering in history.
April 20, 2022
@Narrow Shoulders,
But please carry on searching! (And above all in oneself, for for the Traditional Christian, God is first to be found in oneself – in one’s soul etc).
For me, the search is like (to borrow from Yeats) coming across and picking the silver apples of the moon, the golden apples of the sun! (Representing to me certain spiritual graces / joys / blessings etc that leave a warm glow inside and sometimes more – something ecstatic (physical / emotional / intellectual / spiritual all at once) – and even when there is no or little buzz, ecstatic / emotional or otherwise, I certainly get an intellectual buzz – a sense of order and purpose).
Best
April 18, 2022
I think the humble (!) prelates have become confused, no doubt by the desire to remain relevant in a society which has moved on from their ancient beliefs.
Seduced by the new religions of equality, diversity and inclusion they seem to be willing to disregard the scriptures. Sadly, this makes them seem merely strange to the atheists and agnostics in the population. Judging by Church attendances, Christians also find the Archbishops irrelevant.
April 18, 2022
I wish I could remember which peer it was, sometime in the late 19th Century, who gave the following advice to a young noble relation, about to take his seat in the House of Lords: “If you see how the bench of Bishops is voting, and then vote the other way, you’ll not go far wrong”. Very little seems to have changed!
April 18, 2022
Sir John amazes me with how much work he puts in compared to the part time MPs who take holidays over Easter, Christmas etc.
The headline today is so true – chur, chur cHurch of nowhere near here least of all England!
Detached, desperate and divorced from the roots misguided they pontificate with group -think and swing in political matters of their choosing. It would be embarrassing to have to sit and listen to this in church. They have truly lost the plot.
April 18, 2022
You could be describing the 1980s, which was the last time the Church went to war with an elected government, telling us the PM was unChristian and a whole lot worse. Funnily enough, Mrs Thatcher said later that the Archbishop (Runcie) told the assembled company at an occasion in Downing St that she and he had always worked well together, and she seemed greatly pleased by this. I can imagine the present PM saying something similar.
This poisonous political partisanship on the part of certain prelates seems worse now than it once was, just as the media smear campaigns are worse. It is a long time since the Conservatives had a healthy majority, and it looks as if this will not be tolerated at all now, where once it just about was. I think also, the prelates themselves are not as well educated as the ones in the last century.
April 18, 2022
The Church has been failing us for far too long — Never mind that is unhinged around various issues, it has forgotten what is is, what it stands for, and indeed has lost it’s purpose.
This comes from the very top, where they appreciate other religions over their own, and succumb to the latest madness, rather than fighting and standing up for what they used to believe in.
I’m afraid, like so many institutions we used to rely on, the Church is now lost to us, though it may linger on in some form, even though it has become worthless and irrelevant.
April 18, 2022
The Archbishop of Canterbury branded the Governmentâs Rwanda removal plan not as unchristian but as âungodlyâ.
This is because his god is communism and hence he supports, for the West only of course, open borders and Net Zero.
Because the Archbishopâs open borders belief would eventually lead to the demise of Christianity in the West, and consequently the ending of his privileged position within it, I find he always reminds me of lemmings.
April 18, 2022
When he attacks the plan as “subcontracting our responsibilities” he may have forgotten that these people are coming here from France, where the government is apparently reluctant to accept any responsibility for them and it seems is not bothered if they risk their lives to try to get to the UK. It would be more understandable if they were being persecuted in France and were desperate to escape by any means, then they could be classed as refugees; but once they have arrived in France that is already a safe country and they are no longer refugees but rather economic migrants. Welby should go to France and lecture the French about their responsibilities.
April 18, 2022
France has taken in refugees equivalent to 0.38% of its population in the last decade, Germany has taken in 1.4% The UK has taken in 0.2%. How many countries do you think these refugees passed through to get to France; where, according to you, they then ceased to be refugees?
April 18, 2022
France and Germany are in the Schengen Area, so have not taken them in. They just went in. One of the Presidential candidates in the French election wants to change that.
April 27, 2022
Wrong, rose. The refugees have been registered as such in both Germany and France, thatâs why they appear in the official percentages. acorn is right.
April 18, 2022
It doesn’t matter how many other countries they may have passed through to get to France; the simple fact is that France is a safe country and they have no need to flee France to come here, and nor should the French be permitting them to put themselves and others at risk by crossing the Channel in small boats. France is where Welby should be sermonising about people “subcontracting their responsibilities”, not here.
April 18, 2022
Migrant per square km is probably a truer measure of generosity.
April 18, 2022
Belgium wins it, then.
April 19, 2022
if only they would be generous with their chocolate and beer.
April 20, 2022
Take a look at the land-based journey from Syria,Lebanon, Jordan to Calais.
A few possible places to seek refuge? Perhaps they all eased the journey to the next border?
April 21, 2022
Besides which we have been resettling genuine refugees from the camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey all along, as well as paying for the camps.
April 18, 2022
there a waste of space
April 18, 2022
Sir John you are kicking a dead horse
The church is like the NHS foundering on the storms of change.
Top down management
Too many levels of high and middle management.
The supervisors (priests) now try to run 2-3 parishes church services run on a rota. Is it any wonder they are losing members of congregations and totally out of touch with the grass routes.
The communities see churches sold off at a pace , nothing done to stop the rot.
Religion and politics should be separated completely, when all the high ranking officials pass political views and comments they don’t get it nobody is listening. They should be more concerned with the poorest in their flock and instead of preaching to empty churches spent everyday out on the streets listening to the people. Then they might be in a better position to pass comment. The priests no longer have time to do it for them anymore.
April 18, 2022
“Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Matthew 15:12-15)
Or, let’s say: ‘You are all barking up the wrong tree’: what a sad reflection on the spiritual state of this nation, from top to bottom!
The Crucified One rose from the dead, having predicted all that we now see going on in the world. Moreover, he is coming again, this time not as a suffering servant , destined to be ‘a sign to be rejected’, but as a conquering King.
Meanwhile, thank God for those faithful souls who suffered during the Reformation, with the result that we’ve had such freedom and enlightenment in our land over so long a time. In the little time that’s left, try reading the Script!
April 18, 2022
‘but as a conquering King’ as captured beautifully by Handel in his Messiah.
April 18, 2022
They appear to promote the virtues of Ramadan and the policies of the green revolution more than the preachingâs of Jesus and the celebration of the Christian Easter âŠ.views not far from their conservative MP cousins
April 18, 2022
The main reason why the Church of England has continued to lose attendance is not its politics (there are some Conservative vicars-they just are effectively barred from being promoted to Bishops) but that more and more people (like myself ) just don’t believe in God. On the minority flank of God believers the Cof E are not sufficiently devout for many and have lost out to evangelical sects.
With such little support the Cof E are or should be a national irrelevance much like the Freemasons now are. They should not have any automatic places in the House of Lords – as I understand it the only other country to give priests automatic seats in its legislature is the Islamic Republic of Iran. They should not be running publicly funded schools (denominational schools), they should not be getting special slots that are closed to non-believers (now the national majority) in public broadcasting and the Cof E should be disestablished. The state should become secular as in the U.S.A. and France.
So the most pressing need is not for the Cof E to accommodate the majority popular view. It is now for Parliament to do away with the fiction that the Cof E rather than non-believers represent the majority view concerning religion of the British people. So Parliament should now remove all the special privileges of all religions including of course the Cof E.
April 18, 2022
GB,
âOn the minority flank of God believers the Cof E are not sufficiently devout for many and have lost out to evangelical sects.â
I suppose the C of E lose support to fervent nonconformists on one side and to Oxford Movement types converting to Catholicism on the other. Plus African Episcopalians who see traditional beliefs ignored by the C of E on some issues.
There will always be pressure for religions to square their beliefs with fashionable nostrums of the time or even abandon them. There have been religious thoughts on political issues in the past (Rerum Novarum and the Welsh Revival for example) but the basic religious beliefs were still rigorously promoted. Today those religious beliefs seemed submerged. âBe niceâ seems to be the replacement.
April 18, 2022
Religious teaching be it Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Catholic etc is good for instilling right and wrong in very young children and providing solace to very old people.
I didn’t give religion a thought after about age 10 but I still consider myself a hardcore Lapsed Catholic.
A local Parish Priest did a session at my child’ s communion classes where he “talked in tongues” ie stood up in front of little kids and talked gibberish.
A few years ago he got defrocked for what he did overseas.
There are good and bad people in charge in all religions.
Closed religious communities ( not cults ) have some good people in them.
April 18, 2022
I don’t mean to show off but I was cured of debilitating arthritis in my lower back in a miracle during Confession in a Catholic church near High Street Kensington. Beforehand, I spent ÂŁ900 on a diagnosis in the Lister Hospital about the arthritis. The doctors said my arthritis was so bad, I’d either have to have surgery or take steroids and physio for the rest of my life. Anyway, I went into the confessional box and the Catholic priest was really rude. I nearly stormed out. But I thought, just stay calm and go through with the Confession. And I did. And came out CURED! A miracle (thank G0d). I been to Lourdes. But it was near High Street Ken that this physical cure happened. That part of London is now a MAGICAL place for me (and other places in London where I’ve experienced other miracles – and just feelings of real, deep, exciting JOY and sense of BEAUTY about life. I love London!).
P.S. NOT a Catholic fanatic (although Sunday / Feast-day Mass-goer). And proud of my C of E heritage as well (my mother C of E and go to service with her when I can whilst still going to Mass). I think Catholics have done some horrible things, including to Protestants. And Protestants have done some amazing things. Bach was a Protestant. I love Bach!).
April 18, 2022
Hallelujah!
April 18, 2022
The Church of England should be disestablished now. The Queen did not personally select Welby to be Archbishop of Canterbury; it was done for her by the Coalition government, nominally by David Cameron, and she might not regard Welby’s public utterances with favour. She may be given documents to sign in relation to her nominal position as head of CoE but she might welcome the removal of that duty.
Were the CoE to be disestablished, the Queen could still be a member of the CofE like every other member and attend church as she does now as a member of the laity and call on the church to officiate at royal ceremonies.
The position of the CofE in our constitution is deeply anomalous and would not have occurred were it not for Henry VIII’s desire for a male heir. The CofE is in many ways a Catholic rather than a Protestant Church in which the Pope has been replaced by the Monarch but in which some senior bishops now engage in politics rather than in their Christian ministry. Perhaps they were selected for this reason?
April 18, 2022
Have you considered the words of Her Majesty’s Coronation Oath ? https://www.roya l.uk/coronation-oath-2-june-1953
Ask yourselves who has moved from their word, our longsuffering God of love? Our faithful Queen Elizabeth II? Successive manipulative governments, who placed before her unbiblical laws on almost every subject, which (it could be argued) she had little choice but to sign off? And as far as representation, did not we, the people, allow such apostasy to overtake the nation? Now ask yourselves, is not the depressing chaos we see emerging in our national affairs, and daily mourned on these very comments, a cause for root-and-branch repentance across the nation?
‘Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.’ John 20:27. ‘But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ Hebrews 11:6
April 18, 2022
I see the former archbishop of Canterbury R. Williams thinks that when a man decides that he is a woman and excels in women’s sport, he or rather she is taking a sacred journey. What more could be said about C of E bishops?
April 18, 2022
I have searched and can find no evidence for your claim.
April 18, 2022
Indeed. These people don’t realise how their ultra-wet views drive people away from their anachronistic institutions (the Catholic faith are no better).
They have become a bunch of men in dresses, spouting weasel words of never-ending appeasement of aggressors whoso only suggestion in any emergency is to let people do whatever they want with no thought of the national interest. They behave as if ending fighting asap is the only objective, as if countries and their borders are simply lines drawn loosely on a napkin, territory that can be ceded without concern for the people living in those places.
No-one is suggesting they should be in cahoots with the authorities as the Orthodox church is in Russia, but they could do with showing some common sense – and some backbone.
April 18, 2022
I would like this excellent text as a base to see more commentaries by Sir John and others drawing attention to the many bodies in government and politics, in academia, the media and commonly elsewhere, to their work in demoting and diminishing England.
Much effort is spent promoting and mentioning the other nations of the UK. England is never similarly and identified, properly recognising its value, achievements and importance.
We are told to put ourselves secondary in all matters because defending and promoting the country is considered unacceptable because of our relative size and natural historic dominance. Scotland and Wales are supported in their criticism.
This must be challenged openly and repeatedly.
April 18, 2022
The C of E is a great tradition . I myself attended the brownies, the , guides , went whit week walks and got married in Church . The English need to keep this tradition to balance against any other religion which causes more personal fervor from its devotees. I personally have changed my belief many times and now only view Anglican worship from the perspective of sound social rules ( well most of them) and a safer way to bring children together in young school years . Parents swear at children , show disrespect to authority, demonstrate selfishness ,have outspoken derogatory opinions ( loudmouths) and the church mainly counter balances these types.
April 18, 2022
Understood, Margaret, but this is precisely the issue: such a church is not a church at all, but a social club. It answers the description of the Church of Sardis in Revelation 3, which though it had a name that it was alive, was in fact, dead. The Anglican Church was alive once, and its basic doctrines (as far as they go) are sound: but the Shepherds have largely forsaken them. This parallels the apostasy of the Jews which we read about in the Old Testament. “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it”. (Hebrews 4:2) Men may fail, but God’s redemptive plan will not.
April 19, 2022
Hello Norman, looking at it from a historical often perspective speaks of violence in the biblical text .The ‘word’ has a different slant, but the ideology has changed with more understanding about human life.It would be wrong to close the doors to those whose idea of divinity has also evolved. Referring to it as a social club though, belittles an individuals need, for their type of spirituality, could be met by taking the good universal words from the christian service.
P.S it did sometimes seem like a social club with the inter congregational hierarchy deciding, according to outworn social strata, who was more worthy than another.
April 19, 2022
Thank you Margaret. I understand what you’re saying. Please see my response to Lily, below, which I believe should also be to you. God bless you.
April 18, 2022
Easter blessings Sir John Redwood to you and all.
I wish I could contribute more but am so often just utterly dumfounded â strange times, extraordinary events.
This post reminds me of Calvin Robinsonâs claim that the C of E is blocking his progress to ordination because of his conservative views. I think Calvin would be a great asset to the church. Elon Musk could bring much to Twitter too – but I realise I am going off topic already.
n.b your namesake The Redwood is inspiring for I want to âStand Tallâ â you might be interested to know that it’s afforded protection from âarchangelsâ đ
Archangel Ancient Tree Archive
April 18, 2022
Useful information. Clear examples. But a bit too few details. And I would also like to compare the product to other similar ones as it’s done on COMPACOM. It’s always more convenient to make a choice of any service when you review various offers.
April 18, 2022
How can Russia remain a permanent member of the UN security council while contravening the Geneva Convention on prisoners and the international Law of Armed ConflictâŠ.if they canât be removed we shouldnât be a member of that body
April 19, 2022
The C of E does not welcome Conservatives??? Really? Which churches have you been to where that is the case? In my congregation there are lots of Tory voters, and they voted for Brexit too, neither of which apply to me, but we are Christians and manage to have fellowship with each other despite our political differences. We do share a passion for protecting our planet and for safeguarding our children’s and grandchildren’s future, and we pray regularly for peace and for our leaders to have wisdom and a sense of justice for all.
April 19, 2022
“A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.” Every blessing in Christ to you, Lily.
April 19, 2022
I reckon Lily is making things up.
April 27, 2022
âI reckon Lilly is making things upâ: surreal comment P2. What basis do you have to say such a thing?
April 20, 2022
The prayers do not seem to be listened too!
April 20, 2022
More than half of the population of the UK are irreligious, that is they are atheists or agnostics or vague theists not following any formal religion. Among the Caucasian (white) population the proportion is even higher. Indeed, one of the objections to immigration is the importation of strange religions and backward cultures associated with them. So why should anyone take any notice of the political opinions of Archbishops or Chief Imams. Just blow a raspberry and ignore them.