Tuesday 14 February 2017

We Have Heard Enough from Justin Welby

As a conservative I am apt to giving the benefit of the doubt to figures of authority.  At the same time I expect them to merit respect:  and if they prove otherwise ...

Which brings us to Justin Welby.  Who started in the oil industry like, errr, me - so he already had a couple of credits in the bank.  And I've long had a benign tolerance towards the naive leftism of the many clerics I know.

I see Welby now considers Brexit et al to be "in a nationalist, populist or even fascist tradition of politics"; oh, and from other recent news items, that taxes should be increased.

And we have also seen Welby featuring in other headlines recently: his (tangential?) historical connection to the boy-thrashers of the Church of England, and his leadership of the same organisation over the past four years when it has been not exactly eager to see this scandal properly dealt with.

Here he is, blustering (check the second clip embedded in the story).  Nothing to do with me.  I was only young at the time.  Hardly know the chap, apart from the odd Christmas card.  Petulant stuff - no sign of leadership, responsibility or authority. 

So - benefit of the doubt withdrawn.

Which brings us to Shami Chakrabarti...

ND

25 comments:

Electro-Kevin said...

Traditionally the CofE was austere. It's lost its way since then. It virtually refuses to acknowledge the Devil and certainly does not preach about him anymore. Therefore 50% of the Gospel is missing. The raison d'etre for Jesus is lost - few people want to buy into him and spend a Sunday morning being 'saved' when there is nothing to be saved from.

Sure. There are people who will buy into the happy-clappy version, but the CofE doesn't do happy-clappy either. So what's the point of sitting in a cold, damp church (that forever needs you to volunteer and a roof fund) making you unhappy and not saving you from the Devil anymore ?

The pews are empty.

The reason ?

What Justin Welby stands for and works for is bollocks and he and everyone knows it (he's ditched half of it for goodness sakes.) Ergo his opinion on everything is bollocks too.



andrew said...


Shami Chakrabarti.

A new term for flushing away half a lifetimes good work
- an absolutely towering amount of moral authority that made the uk government shiver -
in just a few months and for what?

I am starting to take the invasion of the bodysnatchers as a documentary.

Elby the Beserk said...

He;s turning into Giles Fraser. And one Giles Fraser is one too many.

Nice slur on 17.5 million voters, though, got to give him that. Profoundly uncharitable.

CityUnslicker said...

The CofE has no customers anymore and has lost its customer focus, as all businesses that go into terminal decline do.

Luckily/Unluckily for them they are now like Tarquins, living on a bequeathed trust fund, and don't they act like it?

Raedwald said...

The Bishop of London's replacement is an unknown. Current man is sound - doctrinally and liturgically. And I've nothing against gay vicars - I've always assumed at least half of all clergymen were not safe with choirboys anyway, and despite that many are good shepherds to their flocks. But frankly, the idea of a new bish for London lacking the heterosexual gravitas that +Chartres brings to the Cenotaph fills me with dread.

Sobers said...

Well thats just sped up the decline of the CofE then. Nothing like calling the majority of your 'customer base' fascists to hurry them out the door. The people who go to the CofE churches are predominantly the same ones who voted to for Brexit - the old basically. If you were a stalwart of your local church, what are you going to think when the head of your organisation calls you a fascist? Continue to support it, or leave knowing its not for the likes of you any more?

dearieme said...

"As a conservative I am apt to giving the benefit of the doubt to figures of authority." Not me. I spent too long employed by universities, where the first rule is "Don't make a fuss about doing the right thing because those set in authority above you will always let you down."

Nick Drew said...

Kev - Traditionally the CofE was austere

err, have you seen the average 'Old Rectory'? Just about everywhere in the country they go for 7-figure sums these days

Electro-Kevin said...

Well. The people who supported that rectory certainly felt austere. Hard seats, fire and brimstone sermons, voluntary work 'for God'.

CU's comment at 11.19 and Sobers' at 12.13 too:

Old people go because of the company, the sense of duty, fulfilment and - mindful of the old sermons about Hell - hedging their bets with one of their feet already in the grave.

When I went I momentarily believed in the Devil, until I snapped out of it.

Justin Welby should believe in this crap if he preaches it. If he doesn't preach it then it's worse. THIS is the reason why there should be no benefit of doubt.

He has no right to opine with special authority on Brexit, tax, migration... and certainly not if that authority is rooted in bollocks that not even he believes in.

Blue Eyes said...

I called it for Welby long ago. Smug sanctimonious and officious. As Sobers says, pretty poor politics too. Plenty of Remoaners in the London congregations no doubt but in my East Anglian getaway we prayed for a smooth Brexit at Christmas - and I doubt there were many fascists there either.

Electro-Kevin said...

"we prayed for a smooth Brexit at Christmas"

I think that was a bit demanding of you - The Almighty may have been able to speed things up for New Year... but at Christmas ???

Steven_L said...

I can't get my head around why they all support the welfare state, when it's the welfare state that has put them out of business. That in terms of alms for the poor at home and multi-national charities for abroad I suppose.

Maybe they just need to modernise, start chugging, that sort of thing?

Elby the Beserk said...

Yes, the "Old Rectory" in Mells is as grand as the Manor House, and a damned sight less draughty I'd imagine. Very fine. Owned by Cosmo Fry of Fry's Choccies. The actual rectory is a poxy little bungalow in a small slice of the grounds behind it.

Nick Drew said...

Andrew -

Shami Chakrabarti. A new term for flushing away half a lifetimes good work ...

(+:

Anonymous said...

The C of E should be working very hard to convert the Muslims in Britain. So far as I know, they are not even trying.

That must mean that they are happy to see them all end up in Hell.

DC

Sebastian Weetabix said...

The CofE is the effete establishment church. It therefore does what it is told, as it has ever since it was established to facilitate Henry's divorces. Any spine they ever had is long since gone.

What bothers me a lot more is that the Pope has turned into a communist ponce. For the first time in centuries the question "is the Pope a Catholic?" no longer deserves an affirmative response. Ratzinger understood the Muslim threat, perhaps because he read a few books over the years, unlike the present incumbent.

Graeme said...

I suspect that the CoE has already sold off most of the large old rectories. The old-time clergy needed fleets of servants. Nowadays a man/woman of God prefers a 2up2down. I know that other denominations have been selling chapels etc for flat conversions for some years now. The parish churches of old England are becoming more like National Trust houses with every passing year. Welby could be the last Archbishop. He is certainly behaving in a way that suggests he wants to close the Church.

Graeme said...

I believe that the house the determined atheist GBShaw purchased at Ayot St Laurence was a rectory. It is large, with a serious garden and he had many servants. It is now owned by the National Trust.

Nick Drew said...

one of my great-uncles was a very modest vicar in a tiny cornish village: the Rectory was, however, vast (two staircases - a delight for visiting children), overlooking the Western Approaches

multiple occupancy these days, of course

Anonymous said...

Dancing a jig, his church is collapsing, crashing down and round his sanctimonious ears, and yet, all he does is sing piety and declaim on matters none of his business, while all the time ever so conveniently ignoring the sounds of the boys being thrashed behind the reredos.

Welby ffs attend to your fast vanishing flock, bloody well fix the roof of your vicarage and stfu on everything else - your opinion was never solicited nor was, is, it required.

Anonymous said...

Welby was a Cameron appointee. He has the same type of wet, pinkish-Tory, background and mentality.

Like Cameron, he was shocked and appalled that people would reject his set of received attitudes and vote for something different.

Hence his description of them as "fascists", which Remoaners have been doing since 24th June, 2016.

Electro-Kevin said...

As usual, though, when it comes to 'redistribution of wealth' the middle classes have to hold tight onto their wallets. The rich 1% (including many luvvie celebs) keep their money safe.

Redistribution comes in many forms - that includes NHS queues, which the Lineker crowd will never have to stand in.

James Higham said...

Great minds think alike. Said similar this morning.

Bill Quango MP said...

When Churchill was severely stressed his missus wrote him that she had had word that Winnie was " barking at underlings. Upsetting his trypists. Growling at his advisors and silencing his generals."
She went on to say that was unlike him. That his behaviour was making people afraid to tell him when he was wrong or when they had a better idea.

She finished with .. " you are the most powerful man in the land. You can fire or cause to have dismissed anyone except the King. The speaker of the house. Or the Archbishop of Canterbury."

If HRH Prince Charles was the current monarch I could imagine Churchill trying to find a way to rid himself of all three of those wet office holders.

James Higham said...

True, Bill.