Archbishop-of-Canterbury

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph....vid-Cameron-says.html

Should clerics such as Dr Rowan Williams make political comments, especially when they do not involve religious matters, but are just his own obvious Labour held views?

If he wants to follow a political career, he should give up his lucrative career and put himself up for election.

However, I must agree with him on the coalition point, the electorate should have been given a choice, a hung parliament, a coalition of their choice or a new election.

[DTCwordfan]

he is entitled to state his own opinion but really he is devalued by the state his own office is in:

(i) the split of the Protestant Churches because of the Gay Bishop issue
(ii) the split of th Protestant Churches because of Female Priests
(iii) the machinations of Rome and Pope Benedict dancing all over him with the break-away faction
(iv) being caught up with stories adjunct with "sexual incidents" in the Catholic Church
(v) declining congregations
(vi) loss of senior bishops and evangelicals/academics - wit the recent loss of Tom Wright (B of Durham)
(vii) lack of leadership in Lambeth and Diocese level as to anti-Christian and secularism (wit the Gays in the Hotels and BB here in Cornwall and Liverpool, the BA cross incident)
(viii) Totally unispirational local vicars who tend to read prepared sermons and just go for rote in their services.
(ix) the financial deterioration of legacies and investments, as well as the decaying fabric of the churches that continue to exist, never mind the conversion of churches to non-Christian faiths.

I would strongly suggest that if RWilliams is an ABer, he gets his own house in order first and then he can ctiicise with authority.

If any leading member of Govt is an ABer, then to demand his resignation and replace him with someone more befitting the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who can provide the spiritual and secular leadership and example needed.

[bazwillrun]

"He's an educated man"

makes you wonder then how comes he dresses in a strange uniform and believes in what for the most part can only be described as fairy tales, and like himself expects others to believe in that of which there is little if any proof

[DTCwordfan]

Maybe he should take up a new career in politics and join the Communists or replace Ed Miliband....

[mike11111]

You are right about the loss of senior bishops/academics. It is all political, to the extent that no priest opposed to women priests will ever be elevated to the episcopal benches, apart from the three "flying bishops", to which position an old friend of mine has just been appointed following the defection of the others to Rome.

[ummmm]

<makes you wonder then how comes he dresses in a strange uniform and believes in what for the most part can only be described as fairy tales, and like himself expects others to believe in that of which there is little if any proof>

That's called faith.....doesn't change the fact that Dr Rowan Williams is an educated man.

[237SJ]

He`s got every right to comment on politics. He`s not speaking on behalf of the church but expressing his own opinion.

[mike11111]

Henry II knew how to deal with bolshie archbishops.

[joggerjayne]

He makes his living from preying on people's belief in some utterly ludicrous fairy tale.

Why does his opinion count for jack ??

[ABerrant]

"Should clerics such as Dr Rowan Williams make political comments...?"

Well, he has a seat in the House of Lords so how apolitical a position is that?

[Sqad]

237SJ....He has gone further than that saying or inferring that he is speaking on behalf of the electorate. I don't know many people who have met the Archbishop, so where does he get his information from?

[mike11111]

Mary I and Oliver Cromwell also managed to dispose of archbishops as well.

[joggerjayne]

I presume that most of the people whom the Archbishop meets believe in a supernatural super-deity, controlling all our lives ... ie they are loonies.

They presumably also believe our fate is in the hands of "God" and Father Christmas, and the Tooth Fairy, rather than politicians ... so why would they care what the Coalition does?

[ABerrant]

"I presume that most of the people whom the Archbishop meets believe in a supernatural super-deity, controlling all our lives ... "

People such as the devout Roman Catholic Tony Blair.

[mike11111]

Oh dear, Jogger, you are in danger of bringing the atheistic argument into disrepute. What, if any, is the difference between a deity and a "super-deity"? Whether you agree with religion or not, to describe Dr Williams as a "loonie" is a bit over the top, more the sort of thing you would read in the Daily Mail.

[joggerjayne]

Or even ...

"People such as the devout (converted to Catholicism in 2007) Tony Blair"

For Tony, Catholicism was just a convenient bus, on to which he could hop aboard.

[ABerrant]

Tony Blair, who in 1996 was reprimanded by Cardinal Basil Hume for receiving Holy Communion at Mass despite having not yet converted to Catholicism.

[bazwillrun]

"to describe Dr Williams as a "loonie" is a bit over the top"

but if you have a logical rational long hard think about the what where and why of what he believes in, he is a loonie.

[joggerjayne]

Dr Williams is not a "loony".

He has a life of substantial luxury, founded upon the beliefs of millions of people who subjugate themselves to his pronouncements.

I wish I could live a life of such privilege merely by perpetuating a popular fiction and being rude to politicians.

And, far from touching the Daily Mail with a long stick ... I read The Guardian ... a paper which delights in rubbing the establishment up the wrong way with its outspoken views ...

... a bit like me here ???

LOL

=0)

[DTCwordfan]

Ref Sqads comment - I agree.

Let's put him up for election. There's no way he would get my vote. Indeed if I was DC I would get the Queen to lean on him to resign. How long as he to go until he is 70 as it can't come around quick enough. He is a disgrace to the office, as a bishop, as a Lord of the House and personally he's an ungroomed mess. Indeed, Welsh sheep, from the country of his origin, are more attractive and neater in appearance.

[joggerjayne]

One should never trust a man with a beard.

Particularly one that looks like the contents of a cheap matress.