Dear Vicar
Just to let you know, that I do enjoy expressing a different point of view from the all too heard left wing liberal elitist's views that seem to prevail and especially in the Church of England now.
Yes I do tend to have a booming voice, God gave me that to spread his messages and it is particularly loud when being accused of being 'appalling' for standing up for my Country and its people.
For the record, the conversation was only about the logistics and options for handling all these people in France and how Australia is doing it which has reduced the attempts to zero; both issues of fact and not opinion.
It was you who opened the debate up to the much wider issue of why it's happening and that we all sharing what we have will cure the problem. I hope it's OK in the Church of England to disagree with that and any notion that, we in Britain, should have any guilt whatsoever about our history and what God ordained.
He has intervened in our history too often for us not to claim to be God's own country now. The Armada, against all odds, the winds that wrecked Philip's massive combined fleet of France and Spain. The release from the terrible yoke of Catholicism, and the various other attempts to return us to that, Guy Fawkes, The Jacobite wars, Then two massive world wars where Britain stood against World tyranny and fascism, at one time alone, and God's intervention, The Angel of Mons & Dunkirk, (When God stayed a great army and held back the waves so his people could escape) ensured Britain survived with our own values. The IRA, and I dare to say even Diana Princess of Wales who nearly destroyed our Monarchy but was courting Catholicism so much that, naively surrounding herself by Catholics, had become a Catholic Icon having superseded even Mother Teresa by the time of her death. Don't forget it was the republican Tony Blair (Later a convert) who dubbed her 'People's Princess' In reality, the country was forced to mourn and 'the whole country' wasn't in mourning either. There was of course Trafalgar and Waterloo also against all odds too.
Why did all this preservation of Britain and its religious freedom happen? Can any Christian deny God's wish and hand in these events if it doesn't suit their mantras and ideology? That God only works when it suits their ideology and republican beliefs?
Betty didn't seem to know it was Britain that first illegalised slavery with Wilberforce and our men fought and died against it. That most slavery existed because people of those countries were and still are running slavery -the Americans were still doing it, up until Abe Lincoln - is something Britons should be aware of and proud of; not 'appalled' by the fact that we weren't .
But your perception that we are all benefiting from oppression, servitude, slavery and exploitation needs to be challenged if you are to preach it as a minister..
You are wrong because long after the so called 'exploitation' of a far less enlightened age where you could be hung drawn and quartered, we did fight two massive and economically crippling world wars for humanity. The USA, the only country to make lots of money from both conflicts, our so called friends, bled us dry economically and thus used our debt to govern us politically too and we were paying them back until recently for it. Only five years ago an outgoing treasury minister left a note 'There's no money left'. So no, what we have now is nothing to do with the historic 'exploitation' of your view, or of mine, the advancement, improvement and education of world peoples, for the simple fact is we are broke. Do you really imagine that any politician would make swingeing cuts if he could give his people everything they wanted? So how much richer would we have been, if not giving our all? What have we gone without and given up already for others?
Most of the World's suffering is caused by despotism, corruption, dogmatic religion who exploit the poor and cause war, where even help, that we can ill afford, is diverted into armies and the corrupt bulging pocket. We have had our power taken from us by so called friends and are pretty helpless to stop all this now. But Britain has already done enough historically and is broke doing it. No we are not enjoying the fruits of a bygone age as you are postulating at all. Much has happened since The Empire.
Just be aware of patriotic British people in the congregation, unfairly labelled extremist or right wing. Expect to be challenged when postulating why Britons should feel a duty to impoverish themselves to the aid of today's corruption, despotism, exploitation and wickedness or have any guilt about it.. In any case, make your mind up. If you are against austerity here, something that isn't real by the way, how does giving everything to everyone else going to help that? It does seem to me that woolly thinking has always been the failing of the left.
We can continue to agree or disagree but your role, and that of the church, is to welcome all views and stick to the Gospel. Let God sit inside people and responsibly apply the Gospel as God charges them to do without subjective interference and condemnation.
Would God want that? Is God a left wing liberal elitist?
You have the advantage of preaching unchallenged from a pulpit. At all other times just sit and listen to your flock. You may learn something.
Historically though God has clearly shown he's a Brit. :-))
Wishes
