Institutions.....

Two which I used to be involved with but left were the Labour party, and organised religion in the form of the Church of England.

The Labour party appears, to me, to be re-positioning on a course which is more true to its traditions without looking back towards nostalgia and unelectable fantasy. That can only be a good thing. I cannot believe that the Tories have really changed.

But the Church - what a pathetic waste of space it is. This week, the American church issued a statement which was essentially a confirmation of the status quo in terms of their position on gay bishops and same-sex blessings. The rabid conservative wing , led by unreconstructed fundamentalists and premodern tinpot dictators such as the primates of Kenya and Nigeria, won't accept that compromise, because they haven't stated that they were wrong and have been convinced by the right-wing lunacy of conservative evangelicalism. So, the followers of the headbangers in the US plan to start their own 'province' and seek approval of it from the Anglican Communion.

Its clear enough that there is going to be a split. Its just a question of when and how. I don't think anyone could be naive enough to think it could all be 'held together'. The CofE will clearly split along similar lines.

And quite right too. Religious infantilism which advocates Daddy-gods-in-the-sky sending floods to punish us and wishes to impose its homophobic nonsense on those of us who have seen through their delusions always need to be opposed. Small they may be over here, but the self-hatred movement of self-repressing gay people can cause an awful lot of harm, even if only short term. I have every confidence that these groups will continue to become more and more marginalised (and regarded as something of a joke) but people can be sucked into their clutches at vulnerable moments, particularly if they were born into the evangelical church.

Good news was that the homophobic Bishop of Hereford, found GUILTY of discrimination against a gay man who had applied for a non-clergy post, will not be appealing against the decision. Excuses have been made about the cost and time of the process. Neither are valid - IT's require little money and appeals are dealt with quickly - the real reason is that they haven't a hope of winning their case. Its quite amusing to see that all the so-called 'advice' they were given as to how the decision could be challenged was nothing but hot air by those who wish that the law wasn't as it is. The Church is simply out of step, and whilst it remains so - watch them like a hawk and don't let them get away with ignoring the law.