The Queen rarely intervenes in public life. It is a mark of the vehemence of the recent attacks on the Church of England that she has leapt to its defence, characterising it as the guardian of people of all faiths and none. The storm of words between secularists and establishmentarians will intensify tomorrow when the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, publishes his defence of faith, We Don’t Do God: The Marginalisation of Public Faith.
It’s a strident book , especially as Carey was more ridiculed than revered as a liberal primate. Freddy Gray has interviewed Lord Carey in the latest issue of the Spectator, and Lord Carey summarised his points:
‘What I am getting at is that we have gone too far on human rights legislation,’ he says. ‘Now equality trumps freedom every time. Homosexual rights trump religious rights. It is almost as if we find no way of accommodating differences.’
‘Everyone knew where Tony Blair stood as a Christian. But it’s almost as if the arguments and policies he pursued were consciously at variance with the way the Church wanted to go. It’s the same for David Cameron. He makes very chipper speeches about the King James Bible and how our country needs the Christian voice and yet he makes decisions, especially about marriage, that seem to run in a different direction.’
Carey goes on to lambast militant secularists. You can read the rest of the interview, here.
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