Amidst a titanic struggle that’s just beginning to emerge between Christians and their government overlords in the UK where the government is arguing that Christians have no right to wear cross at work, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams said that wearing a cross is just a “religious decoration” for many people and not an essential part of Christianity.
While he’s right in that for many people the cross that hangs around their neck has little relevance to their life, the timing of his remarks couldn’t be worse.
Dr Rowan Williams said the cross had become something “which religious people make and hang on to” as a substitute for true faith. (Hey, isn’t that how Obama described flag pins to patriotism?)
Dr. Williams’ comments comes at the same time that the Government is arguing in the European Court that Christians do not have the “right” to wear a cross as a visible manifestation of faith.
In the understatement of the day, Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, called the remarks “unhelpful”.
Not only did he say things that will certainly damage the cause of those seeking the right to wear a cross in public, his silence to speak directly to this issue speaks even louder. This is sad. I don’t expect much from Rowan Williams and this one even surprises me.
God bless those defending the right to wear the cross despite Rowan Williams’ comments. You know, Jesus could’ve walked away from the cross as well. He didn’t.
March 15, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Beautiful end for the post. Yes, He didn't. The Cross is the Christianity. And as Belloc said once "Europe is the faith".
March 15, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Dr Rowan Williams said the {Church of England} had become something “which religious people make and hang on to” as a substitute for true faith.
March 15, 2012 at 7:46 pm
I heartily agree. Let's do away with those meaningless little totems and habits. Let's start with that archaic gesture of putting money in the collection plate.
March 15, 2012 at 7:59 pm
@Blackrep Do you recommend a kind of critaalnacht sort of thing or were you leaning towards re-instituting hanging, drawing, and quartering for recusants?
March 15, 2012 at 8:11 pm
I don't know why anybody takes the ArchDruid seriously anymore.
March 15, 2012 at 9:38 pm
. (Hey, isn't that how Obama described flag pins to patriotism?) Only those flag pins that didn't have his smug mug on them…
March 15, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Is that what the crucifix that Dr Williams wears means to him??!!! For many people the crucifix is worn for genuinely religious reasons. And more importantly they have the right to wear an unobstrusive crucifix at work.
March 16, 2012 at 12:53 am
And…who's surprised? Signing off on whatever the government wants to do is what the Church of England is for, and always has been. It's not "the Christian communion of England"; it's "the communion that worships England."
March 16, 2012 at 8:02 am
Or you could well say, "defending the right to wear the cross despite the Church of England."
March 16, 2012 at 4:47 pm
If I told my wife that our wedding rings were just “religious decoration”…there would be problems…and apologies.
March 16, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Anglican bishops have been wearing the Byzantine encolpion or panagia for decades in Britain and here in the U.S. So, what's the big deal? Why raise this issue with archbishop Rowan now?
The panagia is a distinctive badge, actually a reliquary, of the office of bishop in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches. Many bishops wear a pectoral cross AND a panagia. During the liturgy a patriarch will often wear TWO panagias with his pectoral cross.
March 17, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Eagerly waiting for the EU to take on the issue of hijabs in public. After all, aren't they just "religious decoration"?
Europe is committing suicide. Why must the rest of us be forced to watch?
March 17, 2012 at 2:40 pm
One of the few things I have ever read which makes me think I could have a tattoo- a cross or crucifix like the Coptic girls.
March 17, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Sophia is right. The church of england has always been the bitch (and I do mean female dog) of the english government. That's what it is for/why it was created. This is just another example/more proof that the CofE simply does not take religion seriously. It is and remains the religion of accomodation.
If anyone here has read the Narnia chronicles, there is a very telling story about the establishment trying to combine what is thinly veiled as the Muslim deity "Tash" with the Christian "Aslan" into "Tashlan". I sincerely think it's only time until the CofE starts referring to God as "allah" and mix quotes from the qur'an in their services. I'm totally not joking.
March 17, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Jesus Christ gave up His life on that decoration.