Comments on: Rowan Williams, public embarrassment

By: ROGER KIMBALL; HOORAY FOR DAVID CAMRON’S RESPONSE TO UK’S ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY | RUTHFULLY YOURS

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:45:15 +0000

[...] is public support for the traditional values of the Church he leads. But no, Rowan Williams has thrown his lot [2] in with what the American critic Lionel Trilling called “the adversary culture of the [...]

By: Nate Whilk

Nate Whilk — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:54:43 +0000

“it makes me wonder what happened to the liberal democracy that you praise… where is the dialogue gone?”

You haven’t been really been paying attention, have you? We had 8 years of the most vile criticism directed against Bush after an attack unprecedented in this country’s history murdered over 2500 innocent people. And yet, with Obama as president, there has been almost no objection to his continuation of Bush’s policies.

I could go on for much longer, but it’s right in front of your nose and you ignore it. You don’t want dialogue. You want an unending monologue of grievances which can be summarized in just a few words: the West is responsible for all current human ills, and bringing it down will usher in Utopia. Utter nonsense.

By: Miriam

Miriam — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:53:17 +0000

Not only is it disintegrating from within–what will they do with all those gorgeous churches now that no one uses them?–

Maybe they’ll give them back to the Catholics.

By: Headspace and Timing v2.0

Headspace and Timing v2.0 — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 08:25:23 +0000

Who will rid us of

Who will rid us of this troublesome priest?

By: Headspace and Timing v2.0

Headspace and Timing v2.0 — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 08:21:54 +0000

Who will rid us of

Who will rid us of this troublesome priest?

By: iqi

iqi — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:59:50 +0000

Dear Mr Kimball,

what a faithful bunch of admirers you have gathered here…it makes me wonder what happened to the liberal democracy that you praise… where is the dialogue gone? Where is the richness of opposite perspectives meeting and negotiating a common ground gone? Nothing that I have read on this page is compatible in any way with the democracy that you pretend to defend. All the comments that are displayed are less than intelligent and, in the manner of your article itself, disrespectful (to the opponent, ie Rowan Williams) approvals of what you wrote. I am not saying that approval of your words is wrong, but that no one approves of you in a constructive way, and I suspect that the reason for that is the weakness of your argument and its wrongly conceived polemic dimension.
With a misplaced self-confidence you misinterpret (if not entirely miss) Rowan Williams’s nuanced argument. Your perspective is unilateral and aggressive and what is worse, you mix an intellectual argument with what I would call a personal attack. I can not possibly imagine how someone of your stature and intelligence can make such a grave mistake. I can not understand how someone of your intelligence and critical training can fail to criticize US foreign policy, and to apprehend the hatred that it has engendered world wide. I can not understand how you would fail to understand that at the roots of terrorism lies US failure to understand the potential consequences of its unjust and cruel acts, carried in the name of democracy and human rights. I can not understand how you would fail to criticize this in light of the fact that innocent people (both in America and elsewhere)would be the ones to suffer for the self interested decisions taken by a few so called political leaders. Lastly, i believe that your failure to constructively engage with criticism that has been made to US foreign policy, and your “traditional” by now perceiving of it as an attack against American values, is a disgrace to the intellectual professions.
In truth, if something that I wrote triggered such reactions as the ones i read on your website, I would be ashamed.

yours respectfully,
iqi

By: George Warburton

George Warburton — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:08:55 +0000

Following Williams’ remarks, John Bolton was interviewed by the BBC and asked to comment.
He said that Williams was a graphic illustration of why Anglicans did not consider their leaders to be infallible.

George Warburton

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:24:41 +0000

Is it just me or does he look like a man getting ready to don mufti, as it were?

By: BMoon

BMoon — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:36:32 +0000

This is a man who has spent his entire life equivocating about his very own faith. No wonder mosques are more populated than Anglican churches (except those that still adhere or have returned to conservative views.) I heard that the Saudis are looking to put up the biggest mosque outside of Saudi Arabia in the neighborhood of Westminister Abbey. Since the Rowna Williams really no longer believes in western liberal democracy, nor in the clear, unequivocating Christianity that spawned it, maybe the good Graciousness should just get it over with and sell Westminister Abbey to the Saudis at a cut rate price. The Brits can move Wilberforce and Pitt and the others to another location.

By: Banafsheh

Banafsheh — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:11:53 +0000

Take it from an Iranian whose country has been ravaged by the Brits; nothing Americans can do can beat what the Brits did to us.
The colonialist Brits may have brought rule of law, better education, etc. to SOME places they went BUT that oughtn’t be the point; the point is the price they exacted from the natives and the rather horrible wounds and scars it left behind. Some say that they’re still paying for it and that that, in fact will be the downfall of Britain. One thing is for sure, Britain IS in a free fall. Iranians on the other hand didn’t need either rule of law, better education or any of the so-called gifts that the Brits brought with them, to Iran. We were doing just fine and I can assure you that where Iranians are concerned those account books/wounds are still very much open. We paid a horribly high price and nothing Mr. Rowan – who just happens to be a very outspoken and ardent supporter of the maniacs ruling in Tehran – has once again dawned his perpetual delusional as nothing more than a self-promoting ideologue and a propagandist. The man is becoming boring and predictable.