A Different Archbishop

On the state of the culture in the United Kingdom and Europe, you would do well to read Cranmer.

‘It’s interesting,’ he observes, ‘that nowadays politicians want to talk about moral issues, and bishops want to talk politics.’ It is the fusion of the two in public life, and the necessity for a wider understanding of their complex symbiosis, which leads His Grace to write on these very sensitive issues.

Cranmer has commented recently on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s unfortunate statement on Shari’a law, the New Labour Party’s complicity in advancing Shari’a law, the madness of Prince Charles, the undemocratic ceding of sovereignty to the EU, and other manifestations of enervation in the West.

Most recently Cranmer examines the United Nation’s investigation of religion in the U.K. and its call for the disestablishment of the Church of England. According to The Times Online, the U.N. Rapporteur concludes that census data showing that 72% of the population is Christian is erroneous and asserts instead that over half of the British people do not admit any religious adherence. Cranmer says:

In her attack upon the blasphemy laws, her objection to the privileges of the Church of England, and her assertion that its status does not reflect ‘the religious demography of the country and the rising proportion of other Christian denominations’, she is effectively calling for the Church’s disestablishment.

Quite what business it is of the UN to interfere with the historic culture and Christian traditions of the UK is unknown. But it is noteworthy that the ‘Special Rapporteur’, the report’s author, is one Asma Jahangir, who counts herself a very special Muslim indeed.

The U.N. report complains of anti-terror legislation that targets Muslims. It addresses religious education and worship in schools and school uniforms. It says nothing, as Cranmer notes, about the encroaching secularism that impinges on the conscience of Christians or the perceived privileges bestowed on Islam. New Labour, however, receives praise.

Concerning the issue of balancing competing rights, the ‘Special Rapporteur’ is delighted by New Labour’s anti-discrimination legislation, which ‘seems to be quite balanced’ because there are ‘specific exemptions or transitional provisions for organizations relating to religion and belief’.

Really? Does a year’s notice to conform or be closed down constitute ‘balanced’? Or is it merely ‘quite balanced’? Or is it rather that it ‘seems’ to be quite balanced. Well, tell that to the Roman Catholic adoption agencies who are closing their doors rather than being forced by statute to place vulnerable children with homosexual couples.

On this and other issues, Cranmer is outspoken and fun to read.