Gay Marriage And Adrian Smith

You may remember Adrian Smith, the man who was demoted by Trafford Housing Trust for not believing that gays should be married in churches, rather they should stick with civil partnerships? Well below are excerpts from two letters that appeared in the Mail on Sunday yesterday:

I find the treatment of Adrian Smith truly immoral. He's done nothing but express a personal opinion in a private capacity, something he is wholly entitled to do. It is my hope that he is successful in his legal challenge.

Jamie (Somerset)

While some may view his comments as harmless, I believe there is the real possibility of offence. He made his position untenable as soon as he made these comments in a public forum, and as such will have to live with the consequences of his actions. 

Anthony William Mitchell (Cambridge)

Some key words are missing from the above letters. One contained the words 'as a non-Christian gay man', the other 'The Rev'. Can you guess which contained which?

I think The Rev Mitchell typifies all that is wrong with the Church of England. Furthermore, as I find his letter offensive, I trust his bosses will be demoting him to grave digger, where he'll have to live with the consequences of his actions. Oh, but they are probably too busy supporting 'Occupy' to do that.

At Last an Opposition Leader-Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

As the Church of England slowly fades away it seems that Rowan Williams is trying to hasten it on its way. Crisis what crisis? He seems to be ignoring the problems in his church and is instead taking on the role of guest editor of the New Statesman, using the opportunity to make an unwise and simplistic attack on the government. As Damian Thompson asks in this article, where was Williams when Blair and Labour lied to take us to war against Iraq?

Williams typifies the attitude of so many English leaders, they are so busy trying to take the middle ground, or usually the centre left, that they alienate the overwhelming majority of the population. The church liberalises and plays left-wing politics, the churches empty. So they liberalise even more, and the churches empty even more until whole swathes of the Church of England leave to join the Roman Catholic church. Similarly Cameron's Tories have ignored their traditional supporters, and they blew the last general election, they were desserted as the Anglican church is being desserted.

How does Williams respond? He attacks the government for attempting to do what is morally right and essential. The church runs out of cash because its congregations shrink and it closes down churches and makes redundancies. The government is doing similar but Williams attacks it. Proof that he should stick to matters spiritual. The problem is, he isn't very hot on the spiritual front either judging by the comments made by former Anglicans in comments to Damian Thompson's article above.

The English need leaders who will do what is needed, not just what their media advisers in the metropolitan elite claim that 'public opinion' demands.  But at least we now have a more effective leader of the opposition than the Labour Party can find.

More on the Archbishop's attack from the Telegraph.