Equality and religous freedom. Two fundamental rights, belief in which we share, at least in principle, with the Tory party. Maria Miller, Culture Secretary and minister for equalities, may well have our sympathy, then, in urging the Church of England to think again on women bishops. Some MPs, of all major parties, led by former Synod member Frank Field, would go further and legislate to remove the Church of England’s immunities from gender discrimination legislation. This is a mistake. The reality is that antidisestablishmentarianism is no longer an acceptable position. Continue reading
Tagged with Church of England
What do we mean by secularisation?
In light of the entry of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, into a major political ruckus today, and the response, I think it’s more than worthwhile asking this question. Some signs on my Twitter-stream were worrying to the extent that I got the distinct impression Williams was being pilloried for expressing an opinion at all. Even Mark Ferguson, editor over at LabourList seemed to reflect this prejeudice: Continue reading
