Bonkers Bishop

I guess one must have just landed from Mars to miss what has been said by the Archbishop this Thursday.

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2008/02/has-the-archbis.html

Williams has a track record of putting his foot in it, and I, as a secularist (I’ve been a paid up member of the National Secular Society for years) am thankful for it! It’s the bringing the debate to the table I’m thankful for, as it awakens people to the role of religion in public life. The NSS newsletter would be quite dull without his antics, I reckon.

Clearly, I’m for a truly secular society, which, I believe, is about equality for all, regardless if one has a Faith or not. Quite often us secularists are accused of being anti-religious. Whilst this might be the case for some of us, the majority of us don’t take that position.  Personally, I’m not against anyone having a Faith, as long as though they keep it within the private sphere. Of course, I’m not saying that religious folk shouldn’t be allowed to express their faith, what I’m saying is that they shouldn’t be permitted to discriminate against others because of their Faith, or try and push it onto others (such as faith schools, etc.) because they feel they hold a superior belief system.

Williams is, however, a serious academic as well as a Bishop. It’s very probably his thinking aloud that has got him into the mess he’s in now.  But still, he is proving that he’s not very politically savvy in this respect, especially given the tensions of ‘multiculturalism’.

Disestablishment, anyone?

Adam