Why is the Church remaining silent on the unfolding tragedy in Gaza? - Yorkshire Post Letters
From: Dr Les May, Crescent Road, Rochdale, Lancs.
It is not just the Tories who have shown reticence in speaking out on the tragedy in Gaza (Letters, August 23). The voices of the higher clergy of the Church of England have hardly been heard on this matter.
In early December last year I asked a retired parson who lives nearby what he thought of the stance of the Church of England on what is happening in Gaza; he said he did not know it had one.
Having noted her willingness to speak out about the governance of the Church I wrote to the Lord Bishop of Newcastle suggesting that today Gaza looks like the city of Dresden did after it was bombed by the RAF in February 1945 and that we had witnessed over the past 15 months a descent into the kind of barbarism that prevailed in Europe 80 years ago, paralleled by a decline in the validity of the arguments made by the state of Israel in defence of its actions.
I noted that 80 years ago Bishop Bell for a moment turned the Anglican Church into the conscience of the nation, as did Archbishop Robert Runcie after the Falklands war. They refused to allow the Christian message to be lost out of fear of upsetting their political masters.
I went on to invite her to share with me her position on what is happening in Gaza and asked whether she had shared these views with the clergy of the diocese.
Having received no reply, six weeks later I wrote again suggesting that this was yet another example of how the Church of England is slowly allowing itself to slide into irrelevance in the life of our nation, that there is amongst those chosen to lead the Church a marked unwillingness to say anything that might draw adverse comments from politicians or some sections of the press and that the silence of the senior clergy can only give the impression that they condone what the state of Israel is doing to Palestinians, both in Gaza and the Occupied Territories.
I am never surprised when politicians put expediency before principle; but I am surprised and disappointed that those who profess to be Christians and who are in positions of leadership, continue to remain largely silent in the face of this assault upon every civilised value.