While we’re on the subject of religion, let me call attention to the offensive and silly comments of the Anglican Bishop of Durham, England, about Tony Blair and the Iraq war. The Guardian reports
that Bishop Tom Wright said the following: “For Bush and Blair to go into Iraq together was like a bunch of white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug dealing. This is not to deny there’s a problem to be sorted, just that they are not credible people to deal with it.” Point One: There was, before Bush and Blair acted, a conspicuous lack of action by any people—”credible” or otherwise—to depose the dictator and thus relieve the torment of the oppressed Iraqi people. Point Two: A bishop should not need to be reminded about original sin, and the fallible nature of all human beings. Whatever moral or political baggage Wright wishes to impute to Bush and Blair should not be counted against what they did—which remains morally correct, indeed courageous, and a major contribution to the well-being of mankind. Point Three: Bishop Wright is the author of one of the very best books of the year
a learned and engaging exposition of the rational grounds for belief in the Resurrection of Christ. His foray into geopolitics is embarrassing; he should leave this kind of left-wing twaddle to its natural propagators—which is to say, clergymen who have nothing interesting to say about religion.