Some members of the Church of England may be puzzled to learn that in the midst of a permanent crisis – plummeting clergy numbers and parish churches being closed by the score – the Archbishop of Canterbury has the time to make a five-day trip to the Holy Land.
It is easy for us on these shores to forget that she is the leader of the global Anglican communion (save the confederations of churches across Africa, South America and elsewhere which will not accept female leadership), and that such leadership necessarily entails much travel.
One sees in her diary not only this five-day trip to the Holy Land this month, but also the four-day trip to Rome in April, and a 12-day trip to West Africa spanning next month and August.
She said this clearly in a sermon she delivered last Sunday at St Peter’s Church in the Palestinian town of Birzeit. Having spoken somewhat guiltily of her own privilege compared to the Palestinian congregation – her “freedoms” that many of them did “not enjoy, being able to cross borders and checkpoints, spending time in neighbouring communities, and going to Jerusalem” – she vowed to use her “role as Archbishop to seek the peace [they] desire and the freedom [they] deserve.”
Such trips, according to her public statements, are intended not only to maintain the links between distant churches but also to advance the cause of peace.
But there is a hollowness to this call. It is all very well for the Archbishop to call for peace and the recognition of dignity, but of what substance is this call unless it is also accompanied by an equal demand for repentance by those complicit in Palestinian terror campaigns that have made peace less likely than ever?
Resist comment. Again, when will UK leaders realise that Palestians are muslims? They have no interest in peace. We repeat: islam is an evil religion that has no place in Western culture.