Meddling Bishops Meddling Manifesto

[lindapalmara]

I was livid to read some of the so called 'Manifesto' Written by meddling left wing Bishops. They tried to claim last night on Newsnight that they were just trying to encourage people to vote to counteract the odious Russel Brand and that it was not party political. I will just pick one comment from this Document which got my back up was

"It is good that unemployment has not risen.as high as was predicted or as high as past experience suggested it would". Don't they know that unemployment has NOT risen at all in the last 5 years it's just dropped massively (much to the disappointment of the two Eds).

It is said that mostanglicans are Conservative supporters. Let's hope they react to this drivel. "Render unto Caesar" and all that, ie. The Church should not interfere with Government.

Just heard in the news that unemployment has fallen again. Lowest for 6 years.

[andrew1707]

"The Church should not interfere with Government"

Though I'm sure your attitude would change if the Anglican bishops started agreeing with your point of view.

And as for unemployment dropping... why don't you do a little research to find out what all these wonderful new jobs actually are.

[lindapalmara]

Any job is better than no job and part time jobs suit a lot of people. I object to the church meddling in politics at all, especially an ex banker living in his Ivory tower in luxury. How the hell do you know what I believe?

[joggerjayne]

Around Election time, church leaders always start to behave as though someone gives two hoots about their opinion.

[anotheoldgit]

Is it any difference to the Government asking Muslim clerics to get involved?

[mikey4444]

Here is a link to last nights "Newsnight" ::::

[andy-hughes]

AOG - there is at least the faintest scintilla of a breath of a snowball in hell's chance that one Muslim somewhere might pay attention for a second - so that gives them a head start on the Bishops!

[ichkeria]

AOG wins the 'mention a Moslem' version of the Godwin award again I see :-)
Anyway I watched a very interesting discussion on this programme last night between one of these so called meddling clerics and Tim Montgomerie, a Tory but a highly intelligent and engaging one.
That's all I would like to day about it.
Other than thinking that the church should stay out of politics is daft in a country where the (admittedly non party political) head of state is also head of a Christian sect

[mikey4444]

Linda

Your attack on the Bishops is typical of the Right wing. Any organisation that is not actively licking the behinds of the Tory Party, must, therefore, be left wing. The same argument is made about the BBC, and its drivel.

The Bishops have every right to make a case for people to get off their bums and vote in the forthcoming General Election, and after watching last nights "Newsnight", that is exactly what they were saying in the open letter.

I am an Atheist but I hear the following being said by increasingly larger numbers of Christians today....WWJHD ?

What would Jesus have done. From my understanding of Christianity, I find it difficult to believe that if Jesus was alive today, he and his followers would be advocating that we should be putting a cross for the Tories, on our ballot papers in a few weeks time. He would be on the side of the poor, the down-trodden, and the weak, and how have the Tories ever helped those ?

My previous link didn't work, so here is another go :::

[-Talbot-]

I am an Atheist but I hear the following being said by increasingly larger numbers of Christians today....WWJHD ?

Why would they say that?
Most people I know are atheist and they haven't ever used that.

[hc4361]

Many of these jobs are zero hours contracts, where the employee can go weeks without any hours at all causing all sorts of complications with any benefits they may be entitled to and grave difficulties paying bills.

Part time jobs can end up costing the government (tax payer) more in tax credits and other benefits, and loss of income tax from a properly paid full time job. Often it benefits only the employer - the same as low paid jobs where the employee has to have the salary supplemented by benefits.

The Church does have 26 seats in the House of Lords, don't forget.

[joggerjayne]

If Jesus was alive today, the carpenter's son who preached with humility and had no material possessions would be aghast at the glory and majesty and accumulated wealth of the institutional Church.

I don't think bishops, clothed in their fancy robes, should make any claim to tell people What Jesus Would Do ...

... because he CERTAINLY wouldn't do what the bishops do !!

[naomi24]

//I find it difficult to believe that if Jesus was alive today, he and his followers would be advocating that we should be putting a cross for the Tories,//

Hardly surprising. They didn’t work for a living, but relied upon other people to support them.

[mikey4444]

Naomi...what are you saying exactly...that Bishops don't work ?

[andy-hughes]

" ... we should be putting a cross for the Tories ... "

slightly unfortunate choice of phrase I think!

[naomi24]

No, I'm saying that Jesus didn't earn a living but depended upon hand-outs to support him. I expect he would vote Labour.

[mikey4444]

Andy...yes...an entirely accidental pun !

I understand now Naomi...I am indebted for your clarification.

[naomi24]

You're welcome.

[lindapalmara]

Actually Mikey my attack on the document was statements like "unemployment hasn't gone up as fast as it was expected". It hasn't gone up at all!! I am saying they are telling lies! I am not a Cameron supporter. One of the most abhorant words in the english language to be is 'billionaire'. I was disgusted by the so called 'black tie dinner last week where Ministers were orostituting themselves by auctioning themselves to the highest bidder (lunch with the Goves etc) but I abhor the Labour hypocrites more for their creation of theirClient State, selling peerages, costing up to the rich and famous, taking us into wars that have destabilised the Middle East and now have morphed into a completely out of touch elite who have never done a proper job or engaged with real people. I was bor in a damp one up one down house in a Northern Mill town surrounded by hard working people. Don't tell me I'm typical right wing.

By the way your link didn't appear.

[mikey4444]

Not sure what happened to my link...apologies Linda !

Its been pointed out by myself and others, that the fall in unemployment in Britain, while being generally welcomed, hides a multitude of detail that is not so welcome. Just because someone is no longer able to claim JSA doesn't mean that everything is fine and dandy....far from it.

As I see it, the main thrust of the Bishops open letter, was to tell people to get out and vote, and I am not sure what is wrong with that.