This weekend I spent some time working with
a recording taken of the last five hours of Radio St. Helena. I was editing it down for use on
http://sainthelenaisland.info/radiosthelena.htm if it matters, which it doesn't
really, except that it meant I ended up listening to an address by the
"Lord Bishop" {stupid title - Bishops don't get to sit in the House
of Lords, or at least, ours doesn't, I'm sure - but I digress.} Specifically I
was listening to Bishop Fenwick's 2012 Christmas Address.
It's not something I would normally bother
with. I try to avoid all official messages from any type of church leaders
because they usually make me cross. But
this one made me laugh. Out loud. I woke up my son, Harry - he was not best
pleased. And what was the reason for
this early morning hilarity? It was the
sentence "the Christmas story is a fact".
Yes, he really did say that - I rewound it
and checked.
Now if he'd said "The Christmas story
is a beautiful tale" I would not have batted an eyelid. It is, after all, a fairly charming bit of
nonsense. But a fact? Literally true. All of it?
What, I found myself thinking, is this guy on?
So I listened a bit more and discovered
that our Bishop professes to believe - and therefore probably does - that the
events told in the Christmas story actually happened, exactly as described in the New Testament. Incredible!
I should say immediately that I have
nothing against Bishop Fenwick as a person.
He seems to be a charming man. It’s
his beliefs I’m questioning. And they wouldn't
bother me if it wasn't for the fact [NB the verifiable fact] that the church
here is allowed special privileges and is involved in the running of
Government. One of the vicars is, for
example, on the Board that runs the 'Extractor', our Government-funded fishing
boat which hasn't actually done any fishing for about six months because of a
dispute between said Board and the fishermen who were supposed to crew it. I'm
not sure why a churchman should be on this board. He has never, to my
knowledge, been a fisherman, or maybe never even been fishing. Maybe it's because Jesus is claimed to have
said "I will make you fishers of men"?
My point is: do we really need people who
believe the Christmas myth to be literal fact involved in running the
island? What next - mediums and
astrologers? Didn't do the Romans much good, that didn't!
Still I suppose maybe it explains, at least
partially, why our Government is in the mess it's in.