George Carey doesn't do subtlety: watching him try is like watching someone working an iPhone wearing boxing gloves. But he does have good political instincts. His settlement with (and of) the liberals in the Church of England has endured: women priests and, in time, women bishops but no open gays. Now he has called for a drastic cut in immigration. Will this be the future line of the Church of England?
If it is, that would represent a huge, wrenching change. The upper ranks of the Church are almost all in favour of better treatment for asylum seekers; both Archbishops speak about the subject recently, and Carey himself, when in Canterbury, incurred the wrath of the Daily Mail for defending them on the Today show. Parts of the Church have been eager to reach out to Muslims on a local level.
Carey's article in the Times today is headlined "Migration threatens the DNA of our nation" and you might think that lays him open to a very reasonable charge of racism, especially as he uses a similar phrase in the article. But it turns out he doesn't mean real DNA, but something like "essence", or "soul". He's not a racist. He promoted John Sentamu to Birmingham and wanted Michael Nazir Ali to succeed him. He writes in the Times that "we welcome the contribution of both economic migrants and asylum seekers to our lively cosmopolitan culture."
No, the sort of immigrants he doesn't want are pretty clearly Muslims, especially when they are poor and unskilled. The examples he gives of obnoxious immigrants are those who "immediately establish their own tribunals to apply Sharia, rather than make use of British civil law" – they are "deeply socially divisive". Muslims are clearly the target of his remark that "while we don't expect groups to assimilate, there must be a willingness on their part to integrate with the rest of British society". They are the people who end up in "the last thing any of us want … ghettos".
More to the point, when he warns of the danger of the BNP vote in such places as Dagenham, where he grew up, he clearly has in mind that it is hostility to Muslims which gains the BNP their vote.
"Those who seek to live in this country recognise that they are coming to a country with a Christian heritage and an established Church." he writes. "Just as we should expect immigrants to subscribe to democratic principles, abide by our laws, speak English, support freedom of speech and a free press, so they should also respect the Christian nature and history of our nation with its broad, hospitable Establishment."
Again, this can hardly be aimed at Poles or even Ukrainians. Lord Carey is a columnist for the News of the World, though this piece was written for the Times, and he understands the prejudices of his regular readers and to some extent still shares them.
But if he wants to muster a body of Christian opinion to stop Muslim immigration, there is one ally he needs, whose silence here is quite remarkable: Michael Nazir Ali, the former bishop of Rochester. It was Nazir Ali who said last year that Muslims had set up no go areas in some British cities and who has flirted with the Eurabians, who believe that Muslim immigration threatens European civilisation. He is not the only evangelical to regard Muslims with fear and suspicion. But he is the only one whose anti-racist credentials are impeccable: one woman, vox-popped outside Rochester Cathedral when he was enthroned there, said she hoped the new bishop was a Christian.
The great majority of Anglican bishops remain opposed to the Carey line of thinking, certainly in public. But the increasing African influence on the Church of England brings with it a deep suspicion of Muslims, especially from Nigeria which is divided, sometimes bloodily, on religious lines. There is a curious and unpleasant paradox here. Carey sets himself up as a defender of particularly English values; and to the extent that the church retreats into a cosy conservative nationalism, it will be tempted to follow his line. But the same hostility to Muslims is also likely to grow from international engagement, and the belief that the church of England is part of a wider communion, whose centre of gravity is in Africa.
The antidote will come, if it does, from engagement at a local level. But every stunt like the Wootton Bassett march will lend strength to Carey's backlash. This could be part of the emergence of a much more nationalist church of England.
If it is, that would represent a huge, wrenching change. The upper ranks of the Church are almost all in favour of better treatment for asylum seekers; both Archbishops speak about the subject recently, and Carey himself, when in Canterbury, incurred the wrath of the Daily Mail for defending them on the Today show. Parts of the Church have been eager to reach out to Muslims on a local level.
Carey's article in the Times today is headlined "Migration threatens the DNA of our nation" and you might think that lays him open to a very reasonable charge of racism, especially as he uses a similar phrase in the article. But it turns out he doesn't mean real DNA, but something like "essence", or "soul". He's not a racist. He promoted John Sentamu to Birmingham and wanted Michael Nazir Ali to succeed him. He writes in the Times that "we welcome the contribution of both economic migrants and asylum seekers to our lively cosmopolitan culture."
No, the sort of immigrants he doesn't want are pretty clearly Muslims, especially when they are poor and unskilled. The examples he gives of obnoxious immigrants are those who "immediately establish their own tribunals to apply Sharia, rather than make use of British civil law" – they are "deeply socially divisive". Muslims are clearly the target of his remark that "while we don't expect groups to assimilate, there must be a willingness on their part to integrate with the rest of British society". They are the people who end up in "the last thing any of us want … ghettos".
More to the point, when he warns of the danger of the BNP vote in such places as Dagenham, where he grew up, he clearly has in mind that it is hostility to Muslims which gains the BNP their vote.
"Those who seek to live in this country recognise that they are coming to a country with a Christian heritage and an established Church." he writes. "Just as we should expect immigrants to subscribe to democratic principles, abide by our laws, speak English, support freedom of speech and a free press, so they should also respect the Christian nature and history of our nation with its broad, hospitable Establishment."
Again, this can hardly be aimed at Poles or even Ukrainians. Lord Carey is a columnist for the News of the World, though this piece was written for the Times, and he understands the prejudices of his regular readers and to some extent still shares them.
But if he wants to muster a body of Christian opinion to stop Muslim immigration, there is one ally he needs, whose silence here is quite remarkable: Michael Nazir Ali, the former bishop of Rochester. It was Nazir Ali who said last year that Muslims had set up no go areas in some British cities and who has flirted with the Eurabians, who believe that Muslim immigration threatens European civilisation. He is not the only evangelical to regard Muslims with fear and suspicion. But he is the only one whose anti-racist credentials are impeccable: one woman, vox-popped outside Rochester Cathedral when he was enthroned there, said she hoped the new bishop was a Christian.
The great majority of Anglican bishops remain opposed to the Carey line of thinking, certainly in public. But the increasing African influence on the Church of England brings with it a deep suspicion of Muslims, especially from Nigeria which is divided, sometimes bloodily, on religious lines. There is a curious and unpleasant paradox here. Carey sets himself up as a defender of particularly English values; and to the extent that the church retreats into a cosy conservative nationalism, it will be tempted to follow his line. But the same hostility to Muslims is also likely to grow from international engagement, and the belief that the church of England is part of a wider communion, whose centre of gravity is in Africa.
The antidote will come, if it does, from engagement at a local level. But every stunt like the Wootton Bassett march will lend strength to Carey's backlash. This could be part of the emergence of a much more nationalist church of England.
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