Friday 28 October 2011

The Messiah: exclusive photo and interview

Vastly entertaining front page of the Grauniad today. What a very naughty thing to do to to shy, retiring Dr Fraser.

Actually the interview is by no means lacking in good sense, albeit with a generous helping of cant mixed in. E.g.:-
I mean, if you looked around and you tried to recreate where Jesus would be born – for me, I could imagine Jesus being born in the camp.
What a thing it is to have a vivid imagination. Nobody much seems to be spending the night in those tents, never mind giving birth.

Then there's this:-
"Money is the number one moral issue in the Bible and the way the Church of England goes on you would think it was sex,"
Dear me, I must have been going to the wrong churches during my time in the C of E.

As for the guff about rediscovering the Incarnation in Bethnal Green, this is a man whose career so far has included an Oxford college chaplaincy, the cure of souls in Putney and, of course, one of the plum jobs at St. Paul's. There are, I believe, plenty of vacancies in inner-city parishes, but when he asserts that "Christianity is one of the most materialistic of the world's religions" he is perhaps revealing rather more about Giles Fraser than he intended. I'd love to know what Trollope would have made of the whole business.

If you want a more humbug-free Anglican voice I recommend George Carey.

One question raised by pro-protest commenters on Carey's piece is "what does St Paul's need £20,000 a day for?". The obvious answer is of course "to maintain one of the finest buildings in Britain", but there's an even more fundamental one, namely "none of your business". Those who fail to understand that are totalitarians at heart.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Not where you might expect

Euro judges join forces with German tree-huggers to interfere with hardworking British wealth-creators

I'm sure they'd make the headline a lot more snappy, but doesn't it have all the ingredients for the front page story in the Daily Mail? So you might be a little surprised by the destination of this link.

If you find any trace of balance and impartiality, let me know.