Archbishop Warns Bush, Blair to Cut Moral Talk (An Exercise in Irony)

Hi Pakistan ^ | 2/23/2003 | Dawn/The Guardian News Service.

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Headline: Archbishop warns Bush, Blair to cut moral talk

-- Detail Story

LONDON: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, on Friday warned British premier Tony Blair and US President Bush to tone down their moral rhetoric in the drive to war with Iraq.

The archbishop, who this week issued a joint statement with the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, doubting the moral basis for a war, told his first press conference at Lambeth Palace, his official London home, that the leaders should lay off "heavy artillery of a religious kind" in their speeches.

Both President Bush with his "axis of evil" soundbites and the British prime minister in his recent campaign to provide a moral justification for the conflict have become increasingly messianic in tone as they strive to persuade skeptical electorates, he said.

"There is no war that is holy and good in itself and to bring the heavy artillery of a religious kind, to say that is the only way of resisting evil, is something that has to be watched out for."

Dr Williams insisted that other alternatives to war, including the maintenance of a UN presence in Iraq, had to be explored before military intervention. He refused to commit himself to supporting a war even with a second resolution.

"I think Christians generally would hold that unless other means of resolution had been exhausted, it would be hard to justify any pre-emptive [military] action. It does not look as if we have exhausted all the possibilities yet," he said.

Dr Williams is to be enthroned as 104th archbishop at Canterbury Cathedral, on Feb 27 as the final stage of his appointment which began last July with the announcement that he had been chosen to succeed Dr George Carey.

Dr Williams said he was in regular contact with Mr Blair but declined to give details of discussions . He knows he leads a church largely united in its opposition to war, in a wider religious community sharing similar views.-Dawn/The Guardian News Service.

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[unspun]

The ironies here are amusing.... It might be fun to count them.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

I'm sure the President and Prime Minister will give Rowans' gum flapping the consideration it deserves.

[UncleSamUSA]

Why didn't he see fit to also criticize the pseudo-religious justifications for war and murder propounded by the Islamist mass-murderer Osama bin Laden.

Why does the Christian clergy around the world seem to be embracing Muslim militarism and denouncing Western attempts to curb it?

Irony indeed.

[unspun]

The dangers of the use of Christian rhetoric is something the Pakistanis and other Islamic nations with many Islamist people are of course quite interested in....

[goodnesswins]

Soooo....the commie Christians are speaking out.....??? Sorry, the Catholic Church has lost a lot of credibility in the last year, and this is the LAST thing they should be saying.

[7 x 77]

I know and respect a number of American Episcopalians, but I can't think of their denomination without remembering one of their recruitment posters from 15 years ago. It had one of those paintings of a fat Henry VIII, bejeweled and befurred, with his fists resting defiantly on his hips. The painting seemed to announce, "No body had better attempt to control my appetites". The poster's caption read something like, "With a founder like this, you know we are good at forgiveness".

My mind edited the caption to read, "With our reluctance to take a realistic look at our capaciy for sin and to stake appropriate behavioral safeguards, we are defenseless against appetite."

[unspun]

Christian that I am, I'd have to say that beginning a pre-emptive war with Iraq at this point would be a difficult thing indeed. The greatest difficulty that I have with it, is the non sequitur.

I mean, how can you be pre-emptive about something that has been going on for twelve years?

[swheats]

Exactly, we're finishing and cleaning up something that was left undone.

I must be of a militant mindset because leaving Saddam and his family in place will not accomplish the will and desire of the Iraqi people. They will see us once again as a failed hope, building their desire to be free and not assisting them in the overthrow of a sadistic tyrant.

[battlegearboat]

Ooooooh!

A warning from the archbishop!

Well, that's that!

[Cicero]

The ironies here are amusing.... It might be fun to count them

The one that most amuses me is that the Queen named this idiot Archbishop of Canterbury not very long ago at the recommendation of Tony Blair, which is the usual practice these days. Presumably Blair picked Williams because he is a big-time supporter of homosexuality in the Anglican Church and likes the idea of homosexual priests and woman bishops.

Now Blair has to suffer the results of his short-sighted nomination. Payback time.

[TheBattman]

Isn't this the same Archbishop that admits to being some sort of tree-worshiper (not an enviro-wack-o). Seems that I remember a story on him that indicated that he practiced some form of pagan religion in addition to his "official" job. I wish I could find that reference - seems like it was here on FR that I first heard about it (1+ year ago?).

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...BUSH-BLAIR are bringing FREEDOM to the Common Man & Women of the Middle East in -Time of War-..!

...The British Archbishop of Canterbury would have none of this.

...Now who are the more moral persons here...?

...No wonder only 1% of Brits...

...are attending their Country's Anglican Church...

...even in -Time of War-..?

[unspun]

I seem to recall no more or less than you. Maybe we could do some searching.

[Cato the Censor]

If His Emminence doesn't shut up, the Muslim hoards will murder him and his flock in their drive to exterminate infidels. Why doesn't he contemplate the morality of killing 3000 innocents on 9/11/01 and countless others targeted and murdered in Israel by peace-loving suicide bombers.

[kittymyrib]

A senile pope and a gay archbishop's political views aren't worth a bucket of warm spit. They ought to be worried about the pathetic conditions within their own church bodies, which after all is their business. Leave politics to the politicians since these feckless religious leaders have proved themselves to be gross incompetents.

[merry10]

I was raised Catholic and tried to quietly defend the priests accused of molestation. But it was obvious to me that in the LA Archdioscese, that Roger Mahoney appeared to be stonewalling the LA District Attorneys offices and protecting priests where the evidence was pretty darn strong. When Mahoney came out with an editorial blasting a possible war with Iraq, that about did it for me and catholicism ... for now anyway. How he can make any moral statements about anything is beyond me.

[BellStar]

I was raised a 10th generation Anglican, Episcopal or C of E same as the Archbishop. I tried to quietly distance myself from the same unholy alliance that church has made with the devil too. Ordination of some of the dregs of civilization is not uncommon in my former church. Oh, yes, then we had Bishop Spong. My parents left then.

[gaspar]

Just another Anglican philestine. Nothing new here. Move along.