Not Angels, But Anglicans

It appears that the Archbishop of Canterbury is preparing once again to prove himself worthy of the Prime Minister who appointed him. Like the Vicar of Downing Street, Rowan Williams likes to deal with controversies by triangulating; or, in Oldspeak, lurching to the right while passing occasional rhetorical comfort to any liberals foolish enough to stay in bed with him. Regarding the issue of homosexual clergy, Williams made clear his towering commitment to principle about the time the Vicar was starting to save Iraq for democracy. Having appointed a non-practising gay man as Bishop of Reading, Williams heard the squeals of horror from the bible-bashers, asked himself what Christ would have done, and hastily fired his appointee. Having spent the intervening five years doing his best to be all things to both sides, the Archbishop is now faced with the possibility of a schism in the church, thanks to the nice people at Gafcon. Although the Anglican church owes its existence to a schism in the Catholic church, which owes its existence to a schism in the Jewish faith, which owes its existence to a Chaldean heretic, it seems this would be a Bad Thing. As a result, Williams is doing what he does best and taking something "perceived as a slightly more conservative line ... with regards to women bishops and sexuality". This approach is "finding favour" with the misogynists and gay-bashers, at least until next time. Meanwhile, Dr Williams hopes to distract attention from the beam in his church's eye by focusing the Lambeth conference on "issues such as the plight of persecuted minorities in Sudan".