A Christian Conscience

This month's state visit by the Dear Leader of Vatican Incorporated must have been rather galling for the Church of England; not only for the largely favourable coverage it received, but because of its main sectarian purpose, the beatification of the turncoat John Henry Newman by Benedict the Bigot-Rustler. Five days after the Pope's departure, the Archbishop of Canterbury has judged the atmosphere safe enough to risk discussing, once again, the great moral issue of the day, and to show once again that, whatever the Saviour may have said about lukewarmness in the first century, two thousand years have been quite enough to reconcile the sky-daddy with those who, in His name, blow neither hot nor cold.

As always, Williams triangulates between the liberals who have not read their Bible properly and the conservatives who deny evolution. He has "no problem" with gay bishops, provided they remain celibate, as befits the objectively disordered, while celibacy for heterosexuals remains optional. "To put it very simply, there's no problem about a gay person who's a bishop", although to put it very simply, there is one: "there are traditionally, historically, standards that the clergy are expected to observe". This is why, for example, the clergy eat only kosher food and are permitted to hold slaves. Hence, Williams does not feel he can endorse gay relationships for bishops and clergy because of the likely cost to the church; much as some other clergymen long ago did not feel they could endorse interfering with the free market in Jerusalem because of the likely cost to the Jews.