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June 02, 2008

Climate change - as bad a crime as Josef Fritzl?

_44708235_mursell226This is the Bishop of Stafford. And today's burning question is "Why do they do it?" Why are Anglican bishops (in particular) so desperate to claw at public attention that they use the most extreme, inappropriate, tasteless analogies to make their point? In the whole history and literature of Christianity, is there nothing else they can draw on? Or are they compelled to leap on the bandwagon of the latest (preferably sexual) atrocity?

The Bishop, Gordon Mursell, wrote in a parish letter that people who don't confront global warming are almost "as guilty" as Josef Fritzl.  Who imprisoned his daughter for over twenty years, raped her repeatedly, bore damaged children by her and kept the lot in a cellar with insufficient air and no natural light.  His argument is that "future generations will be left in a futureless world" like the Fritzl prisoners, if we don't "face the truth" about manmade global warming.

He tried to row back a bit later, as The Times reports, saying it was just an "extreme form" of a selfish  philosophy of life: a philosophy common to Fritzl and to those who - I suppose - drive cars and don't recycle enough. But by his logic, the Church should be condemning as dreadful sinners all those past generations who left us ills from asbestosis to ill-designed housing and chemical pollution; not to mention all those Lord Bishops whose palaces cost a fortune while the poor starved in the streets....

Posted by Libby Purves on June 02, 2008 at 10:55 AM in Climate Change | Permalink Bookmark and Share

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Climate change - as bad a crime as Josef Fritzl?

_44708235_mursell226This is the Bishop of Stafford. And today's burning question is "Why do they do it?" Why are Anglican bishops (in particular) so desperate to claw at public attention that they use the most extreme, inappropriate, tasteless analogies to make their point? In the whole history and literature of Christianity, is there nothing else they can draw on? Or are they compelled to leap on the bandwagon of the latest (preferably sexual) atrocity?

The Bishop, Gordon Mursell, wrote in a parish letter that people who don't confront global warming are almost "as guilty" as Josef Fritzl.  Who imprisoned his daughter for over twenty years, raped her repeatedly, bore damaged children by her and kept the lot in a cellar with insufficient air and no natural light.  His argument is that "future generations will be left in a futureless world" like the Fritzl prisoners, if we don't "face the truth" about manmade global warming.

He tried to row back a bit later, as The Times reports, saying it was just an "extreme form" of a selfish  philosophy of life: a philosophy common to Fritzl and to those who - I suppose - drive cars and don't recycle enough. But by his logic, the Church should be condemning as dreadful sinners all those past generations who left us ills from asbestosis to ill-designed housing and chemical pollution; not to mention all those Lord Bishops whose palaces cost a fortune while the poor starved in the streets....

Libby Purves

  • Libby Purves is a Times columnist, novelist and Radio 4 broadcaster. Her interest in the glories, inspirations and eccentricities of world religions and cultural traditions was fuelled by an upbringing in Bangkok, Israel, Africa, France and a series of convent schools.

    Bess Twiston Davies works for the Times Register section and is a regular contributor to the Faith page and Times Online. She studied Hispanic studies and English at Sheffield University and has a journalism diploma from The Robert Schuman Institute, Angers, France.


    Contact Libby or Bess at: faithcentral@timesonline.co.uk

    You might also enjoy Articles of Faith, Ruth Gledhill's wonderful blog about religious affairs.

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