religious correspondent Ruth Gledhill consigns herself to lasting ridicule and contempt by calling Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, along with Archbishop of York John Sentamu, a “great man.” She then proceeds to
Williams’s and Sentamu’s dhimmi-like and improper statement telling voters not to vote for the British National Party, and not to stay home out of displeasure with Labor and the Tories, but to get out and vote for Labor and the Tories!
When commenters of this high quality are eloquently and indignantly throwing back in the clerics’ faces their counsel that voters reject the BNP and endorse the hopelessly corrupt and anti-British major parties, how will anyone seriously maintain that support for the BNP is about nasty thuggishness and low hatred? Clearly, support for the BNP represents not the worst of Britain, as a chorus of fear mongers imagine (see previous
), but the best. The character of a political party is shown, not just by its own officials and activists, but by the character of the people who vote for it and stand by it.
More importantly, the issue is not even about the BNP and it’s true character, whatever that may be, but about the fact that the BNP is at this moment the vehicle and representative of what is alive and good in Britain.
May 24, 2009
Archbishops plead: ‘Don’t vote BNP’
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have today urged voters not to show their anger with MPs at the coming European elections by voting ‘in favour of any political party whose core ideology is about sowing division in our communities and hostility on grounds of race, creed or colour.’ Robert Piggott this morning did a good report on the BBC.
Read the full statement here. Let us thank God for these two great men and pray that voters heed the wisdom of these two Anglican Church leaders in the UK. This follows on from Dr Williams’ article in yesterday’s Times, warning of the possible dangers to our democracy of the continuing humiliation of MPs.
They say:
“The European Parliamentary and local elections on June 4th will take place at a time of extraordinary turbulence in our democratic system. It is a time for great vigilance over how to exercise our democratic right to vote.
“The temptation to stay away or register a protest vote in order to send a negative signal to the parties represented at Westminster will be strong. In our view, however, it would be tragic if the understandable sense of anger and disillusionment with some MPs over recent revelations led voters to shun the ballot box.
“Those whom we elect to local councils and the European Parliament will represent us and our collective interests for many years to come. It is crucial to elect those who wish to uphold the democratic values and who wish to work for the common good in a spirit of public service which urgently needs to be reaffirmed in these difficult days.
“There are those who would exploit the present situation to advance views that are the very opposite of the values of justice, compassion and human dignity are rooted in our Christian heritage.
“Christians have been deeply disturbed by the conscious adoption by the BNP of the language of our faith when the effect of those policies is not to promote those values but to foster fear and division within communities, especially between people of different faiths or racial background.
“This is not a moment for voting in favour of any political party whose core ideology is about sowing division in our communities and hostility on grounds of race, creed or colour; it is an opportunity for renewing the vision of a community united by mutual respect, high ethical standards and the pursuit of justice and peace.
“We hope that electors will use their vote on June 4th to renew the vision of a community united by the common good, public service and the pursuit of justice.”
Posted by Ruth Gledhill on May 24, 2009 at 08:17 AM
Comments by Times readers
We have opened up our country to people of the world and accepted diversity and multiculturalism. What do we NOW have that did NOT exist 25 years ago?
Gang related black on black crime, honour killings, bogus colleges run by foreign nationals, postal ballot fraud, human trafficking, drugs imported through family contacts abroad, brides and husbands bought in every year from asian countries, romanian run cashpoint crime, immigrants cheating our benefits system with multiple claims in differnt names, islamic terrorists, many illegal immigrants working below minimum wages in poor conditions and finally more mosques and less churches.
Archbishops—open your eyes and see the ills in our country—and recognise why people are voting BNP.
Posted by: Dave | 24 May 2009 16:56:33
“Let us thank God for these two great men and pray that voters heed the wisdom of these two Anglican Church leaders in the UK.”
Is this your opinion Ms Gledhill, or the Archbishops’?
This “wisdom” on lay matters is epitomized by the oxymoron of their last paragraph -
“We hope that electors will use their vote on June 4th to renew the vision of a community united by the common good, public service and the pursuit of justice.”
Posted by: john gregory flinn | 24 May 2009 16:56:28
For decades the three main parties have conduced to the destruction of everything that made Britain a great and progressive nation : its traditional values, especially its commitment to marriage & the family, discipline, honesty, high standards and community spirit; pride in its history and its racial & cultural identity, and political independence and individual freedom; its great industries, farming and rural life, splendid armed forces, exemplary educational system, first-class Health and other public services, and an established Christianity which kept alive a spiritual vision counteracting the growing dominance of materialism and commercialism—and their corollary individual selfishness, greed, and lack of principle.
During all this time Anglican Bishops and Archbishops have either actually helped to foster this ‘change’ (for the worse), or said little or nothing to oppose it.
Now, at last, we have a party which stands unequivocally for a return to a better, decent Britain, senior clergy call for voters to boycott it, and continue to support the corrupt gang of politicians whose private lives are as rotten as their cynical public ones.
Any why? Because the BNP claims for the British People the same things that Marxists and so-called ‘liberals’ hysterically demand for anyone who is not White : to retain their racial & cultural identity, and the right to govern themselves in their own way. Do we not have such a Right ? And one unhampered by the ever-increasing, shameless & arrogant demands of millions of Third World immigrants who have fled to Britain (and other European countries) to get away from the mess they have made of their own lands, notwithstanding the billions of pounds of aid poured in by the despised and abused West?
To me ‘racism’ means an irrational & baseless hatred of people on the simple grounds that they are of a different race. I don’t ‘hate’ anyone because they are not the same as my own kith & kin, but neither am I prepared to sit passively by while the nation that I love, and for which I feel a great pride, is biologically exterminated by a tidal wave of Africans and Asians. If I DO feel any hatred, it is for the churchmen, the journalists and disparate opinion-makers who actively promote this and other evils, and for whom ‘British’ is nothing but a piece of paper that can be dished out to all-comers like confetti; and who compound their shallow beliefs by abusing those with the courage to stand up for our betrayed heritage.
Posted by: R Mason | 24 May 2009 14:57:46
Za-Nu Labour core ideology is about sowing the seeds of division between the ever increasing numbers of feckless, workshy, wealth destroying chavs, (which includes pretty much 100% of MPs), and the dwindling numbers of honest, law-abiding, tax-paying wealth creators in the UK.
So clearly it’s perfectly acceptable to vote for them is it? Go back to peddling your nonsense fairy stories you stupid out-of-touch weirdo and leave us in the real world well alone.
Posted by: Strap | 24 May 2009 13:45:35
For me it’s not just about the expenses, lets face it the amount of money is trifling compared to our national debt. Instead it’s about the calculated refusal of the main three parties to adopt the policies which I and millions of others want. IE massively reduced immigration and exit from the EU.
Now two of labour’s creatures are telling us that we mustn’t vote for the one party which offer us these policies, and that we are morally obligated in some way to vote for the others, thereby allowing the destruction of this country to continue.
They can take their advice and shove it.
Posted by: HairyNoddy | 24 May 2009 13:15:30
As the Church of England was founded on the basis that foreign courts should have no jurisdiction in our land even in matters spiritual, surely it would intellectually honest of them if they recommended that electors should vote for UKIP.
The BNP’s precurser Oswald Mosely spent the 1950s campaigning for greater political involvement in Europe, with his ideas of “Grande Europe” and I fear to say it was probably the first to use (in 1948) the word Union in connection with the European institutions.
Posted by: Chris Gillibrand | 24 May 2009 12:57:35
++Rowan a great man? Get real.
Now that’s wonderful that they’ve taken a stand against the BNP. What courage! (Not.) But how often have they’ve taken a stand against the enormities of Labour? Hmmm?
Posted by: NewbieAnglican | 24 May 2009 12:43:21
John Sentamu has been an excellent choice as Archbishop of York but Rowan Williams seems to lack the common touch. Remembering Robert Runcie- who stood up against Margaret Thatcher more than once, and George Carey (who never forgot his ordinary roots) the CofE needs to reconnect with the people who have been drawn to voting BNP people they feel no one else represents them.
I can’t imagine Jesus backing Nick Griffin, in fact he’d be the first to present a better way of viewing people.
Posted by: Steve Reynolds | 24 May 2009 11:26:26
The contempt shown by all the main parties for the average man on the street is more concerning than the latest MP expenses scandal. Many voters will be voting for a better future, one free of a culture of fraud, bribery and corruption that is common in so many other countries.
Posted by: John | 24 May 2009 10:15:14
So their Graces of Canterbury and York are calling on people not to vote for BNP candidates in the forthcoming elections. Yet these most reverend gentlemen are quite prepared to allow the CoE to become a haven for homosexuals. Do they wonder why membership of the Church is falling while that of the BNP is rising?
Posted by: Ronald G W Rickcord | 24 May 2009 10:13:32
In 2009 voting in the European election is one of the few ways we, the ordinary people, can exercise our democratic rights. How dare the archbishops tell us how to vote.
The bias they are showing against the BNP is disgraceful—they are meddling with the democratic process—we all have the right to vote for the party of our choice and each person’s vote is important.
We are living in a society where the great and good have power to be heard, including the archbishops, whilst the average person is ignored and treated with contempt.
Posted by: John | 24 May 2009 09:55:14
Obviously it is not true, but if you did believe that being black was the greatest of all evils, surely you should say so. Such remarks might be ‘quite controversial’, but it is a sign of great, almost religious, courage to say what you really think, even if everybody who hears your message is appalled.
Posted by: Steven Carr | 24 May 2009 09:30:21
Dear Archbishop Runcie, Thank you for your advice on casting my vote to keep the corrupt parasites in their palaces of pleasure—I will of course ignore your advice. However I do have one question—Who elected you?
Posted by: Steven Matthews | 24 May 2009 09:14:40
Perhaps the good Archbishops should refrain from politics and concentrate more on their dwindling congregations.
Posted by: Christopher Fox | 24 May 2009 09:06:59
[End of Times article and comments]
Paul K. writes:
