Morning:
8°c
A Christian think-tank has admitted that the Church is in final decline. Practising Muslims may well outnumber worshipping Christians in Britain within 30 years.
Looking determinedly on the bright side, the Church of England claims that 1.7 million still manage to go to church at least once a month. Even so, these are not impressive figures.
For the great majority of the population the Church of England is now an utter irrelevance, completely disconnected from daily life. And that, of course, is precisely why its leaders are so desperate to assert their relevance by addressing newsy topics although they have no special knowledge or authority to do so.
The comic version of this is can be heard in Thought for the Day, where whatever is in the headlines - BAe arms deals, Austrian rapists, Amy Winehouse - provides the ludicrous starting point for a little sermon. A less funny version is the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury is backing the demonstration against a third runway at Heathrow.
It's not clear yet how specifically he has opposed the runway or whether he has just vapoured more generally once again about global warming.
As I recall, the Bible does not have a great deal to say about runways and terminals, nor even the planning of transport networks more generally. Preaching on this subject is opportunistic at best.
Rowan Williams has made plenty of dubious and contentious political pronouncements before, about sharia law, nuclear disarmament, immigration, the free market and the "moral goals" of terrorists. But it's still a noteworthy development that he has so inappropriately thrown what remains of his authority into such an entirely secular and localised dispute as the development of Heathrow.
No doubt he sincerely believes it is his duty to speak out - and it's not just that he has noticed people take climate change more seriously these days than they do the poor old CofE. But when Williams tells us that politicians will face "a heavy responsibility before God" if they fail to curb climate change, he should look to his own responsibilities first.
The plain truth is that the whole phenomenon of climate change has been caused by unsustainable over-population. We all know that but try to pretend otherwise. Christians and global-warming campaigners in particular shun the whole subject as though it were a wicked heresy.
In fervently promoting this disaster, religious leaders might just face a heavy responsibility before their God themselves. Going forth and multiplying without end is much more damaging to the globe than building a new runway. Piously travelling by train and cheering on the eco-warriors won't save the Archbishop from that judgment. In the meantime, he might do better to keep mum about airports.
