The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams today attacked 24-hour drinking as the “tip of the iceberg” in a culture of alcohol abuse in Britain.
Dr Williams said he was “very concerned” by reports that a review ordered into 24-hour drinking by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last year would conclude that the legislation has been largely a success.
“I would be interested to see why anyone should think of it as a success. I think it has had an effect of making less safe and less civil our public space in many, many contexts, including Canterbury,” he said.
He added: “There is a whole culture of alcohol abuse which this country has failed to tackle and the 24-hour thing is just the tip of the iceberg.
“It is not that I am singling it out as the worst bit of the field, it is just that it is one of the more obviously presenting factors.”
Abp. Williams, channeling Kendall Harmon.
Perhaps the Archbishop could look a little closer to home for someone to blame. If he and his ministers were all teaching and preaching the Word of God as written and not having secret “gay masses” may be the UK would not be in the mess it is in. His views on embryo research are laughable, he finds it “very hard to accept”, but he will accept it. What has happened to ABSOLUTE values? Start preaching the Gospel and not millineum goals Rowan and the world might get better. Maybe a resignation would help too.
“…24-hour drinking by Prime Minister Gordon Brown…”
Egad, when does the man sleep? He needs to get on the George W. Bush path to sobriety.
If you read the whole thing, and consider it along with ++Rowan’s recent comments on offence-crimes-legislation…these comments taken all together are excellent teaching aids reminding us why the hierarchy of the Church should refrain entirely from commenting on political issues. They interfere with preaching the Gospel. If you were to read the Collected Socio-Political Thoughts of Rowan Williams you would conclude that the man is just a total idiot, just the sort of figure than any normal person, Christian or pagan, tries to avoid as much as possible. Now suppose you were an unbeliever, and heard that there was an occasion where this egregious buffoon, Rowan Williams, wanted to preach the Gospel to you. Would you go?
You would be inclined not to. It would be a hindrance. Now mind you ++Rowan might well be able to preach the Gospel and probably does it once in a while. But if you start listening knowing that the preacher is a fool, not a fool for Christ but just an ordinary fool, you are probably not going to be in the right frame of mind to listen seriously to whatever Gospel is eventually preached.
Granted, the C of E is an established church and so ABCs have felt an obligation to grandly pronounce upon political issues… as we now look back at the smoking wreck that is the Anglican Communion … maybe that was the problem in the first place?
“The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams today attacked 24-hour drinking….”
Has +++Williams ever stopped to think that he may be driving many in the Anglican Communion to “24-hour drinking?”
I think the (in my opinion of course) assinine comments being made here give us another clue as to what’s wrong with this church. We are absolutely being destroyed by posturing.
I read what Williams says, and my impression is that he is someone that one could talk to, and engage on the issues, and get him to produce a genuinely thoughtful response. He might even change his mind from time to time. Back when I joined this now-accursed church, I was under the apparently mistaken impression that these were positive characteristics for a person, or a church, to exhibit. I (apparently erroneously) believed that some balance was needed in the way that we thought about the church and the world and ourselves. And now Williams is ridiculed for not being a rock-headed ideologue.
I have wasted far too much of my life reading stuff on the internet which appeared to be written out of no higher motive than the self-exaltation of its author for expressing the Right Position. And by God, I see that the comments in this blog are polluted by this self-righteous cheap anger almost constantly these days. Maybe others think that “respecting the dignity of every human being” is a laughable vow to make, but I do not.
Maybe, for Lent, we could all resolve not to heap cheap ridicule on anyone not in our party, and to address the issues as though there might be some failing in our own approach to them.
When denouncing anger & self-righteousness, maybe it’s a good idea not to appear too angry or self-righteous yourself. [i] Slainte! [/i]
Dear Heaven, can this yutz (apologies to my Jewish friends) ever bring himself to talk about Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the Catholic and Orthodox Faith? Must he forever yap about social justice, Palestine, drinking, health care, and the like?
I read the headline and couldn’t help but muse, “The ABC is a major CAUSE of 24-hour drinking, especially among the faithful!”
“The Archbishop of Canterbury criticises 24 hour drinking”
And rightly so.
Now what about 24-hour website subservience?
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/9645/
http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/9738/#comments
Around here, you can have a beer when you get off work at 0800 or 1800. It’s very much up to you whether you abuse the privilege. The ABC is very much a big government socialist, so I am not surprised he feels the need to run everybody’s lives, even in things only tangentially affecting his day job.