Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Gay Bishop-Bashing latest

As 38 primates gather at Lambeth, ranging from mighty gorilla Rasputin himself down to the lowliest lemur, the Guardian find yet another cleric who fears the Church of England may be taken over by Christians, who wish to ignore its historic mission to fight the Tories and social exclusion in favour of some ridiculous Bible-based theology.

"Gay Christians are silenced and scared" says Rev Giles Fraser - so scared in fact that he only gives his name, email address, his parish and the Oxford college where he lectures.

"Funded by rightwing extremists in the US, some of whom believe that homosexuals should be stoned, and egged on by the Vatican, conservative evangelicals are exploiting the crisis to mount a takeover bid for the soul of the Anglican communion."

The main evangelical group is Reform. Does he have any evidence for his claim of US funding (never mind being stoned - I've known homosexuals and straights who were permanently that way) ?

After all, only a few months ago another Guardian writer was bemoaning the way the rich Reform parishes were holding the Church to ransom.

And how about the Vatican - any evidence of egging ?

Or is the good vicar over-egging the pudding, to coin a phrase ?