Giles Fraser writing in NewStatesman states : – The right-wing press loves George Carey for his outbursts against the “undeserving poor” and homosexuality, but the new core in the Church of England remains determined to fight the Tory cuts.
The present incumbent of Lambeth Palace has recently received unwelcome visitations from the ghosts of archbishops past and future. From the past, George Carey pitched in to the debate over welfare reform on 25 January with all the intellectual subtlety of Jason Statham trying out ballet. His beef was with his fellow bishops and their resistance to the government’s programme of benefit cuts. “Hallelujah!” splashed the Daily Mail as Carey instructed scroungers to get off their backsides and learn a lesson from his life story – how he worked his way up from a Dagenham council estate to one of the highest offices in the land. Bishop Stephen Lowe called it a “dismal intervention”, letting slip the following comment on Twitter: “George Carey has disgracefully bought Tory dogma about undeserving unemployed poor. Go to work in a job centre and learn. Ashamed of him.”
Carey proceeded to use the spotlight to return to his favourite subject: homosexuality. The poor man seems really quite obsessed with it. This time, he intervened to defend some dodgy psychiatrist who thinks that being gay is a mental illness of which people can be cured.
Enjoying the sunshine out in the Caribbean and perhaps feeling a bit left out, the future archbishop of Canterbury (according to Ladbrokes, at least) John Sentamu decided to take the opportunity to attack the Prime Minister’s liberal flank by protesting against gay marriage on 27 January. Apparently, David Cameron’s desire to allow same-sex couples the right to express their love for each other in terms of mutual and public promise makes him into some sort of “dictator”. More cheers from the traditionalist wing on the Tory back benches.
The present archbishop may have described himself once as a “hairy lefty” but he seems to be hemmed in on every side by the voices of right-wing populism. Does this mean that the Church of England is reverting to the caricature of the Tory party at prayer?
Not a bit. Sentamu aside, those dredged up by the right-wing press for an eye-catching headline are all yesterday’s men. It is significant that the go-to bishops – Carey and the former bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali – are both retired (though neither in the golf-playing sense, unfortunately).
Witness the bishops’ revolt against the government’s welfare reform legislation. There are many things to say about the presence of bishops in the House of Lords, but on 23 January they played a blinder, presenting a common front against laws that would affect some of the most vulnerable in our society. With too much concern for the opinion polls – the latest British Social Attitudes survey shows that 55 per cent of people in England think that benefits are too high – the Labour Party lacks the courage to speak out against benefit cuts. So, thank God for the bishops.
More at:
http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2012/02/george-carey-church-bishops