The Vision Thing

Since the basis of Christianity is a corpse that wouldn't lie down, it is perhaps a little unfair to criticise the remains of the Church of England for their continuing zombie stumble towards oblivion. Nevertheless, the Archbishop of York - he who had nothing to say in order to justify God's little prank on Haiti three years ago - has been rousing the rabble at the General Synod over the eternal, universal question of how a laughing-stock might avoid turning into a dead laughing-stock. "Evangelise or fossilise," was Sentamu's cry; although when an institution cannot agree on whether a substantial chunk of the human race is qualified for its more exalted ranks ("arguing over words and phrases" as Sentamu put it tactfully), it is just possible that worrying over fossilisation may be a bit post-mature.

Another bishop worried that "what is on the label of the church tin is still not what is in the tin". The solution to this, aside from ghoulishly haunting hospitals in search of bereaved persons to recruit, is apparently for the church to meddle even more with children's minds than it already does. Religious education is compulsory in England, but there is no mandatory curriculum, so some schools are getting away with teaching actual religion instead of Anglicanism. If the Synod can agree to evangelise rather than fossilise, the Church will be promoting some exciting new project materials which may or may not enhance the enablement of our juvenile resources towards a more or less coherent appreciation of the transcendent possibility of something or other. That'll help.