Synodical censorship?

The General Synod of the Church of England has voted to ban clergy and immediate employees from being members of the British National Party. It was overwhelmingly passed by 322 votes to 13, with 20 abstentions. One member, in my opinion, valiantly stood up to this high-minded righteousness but to no avail. The Church ploughed on into the realms of political debate, thereby giving the BNP ample ammunition to use on the door steps. There's none so...

The Church should have stood by its existing policy of saying that the BNP did not represent a valid expression of the gospel. That it was inappropriate for Christians to agree with or promote such policies. That would have been fine. Instead, they up the ante by going head to head on an issue, free speech and democratic legitimacy, for which they will come off the worse.

The BNP are very good at manipulating the situation, and wow, dear clerics, they already have. I see from their website that they have 56 diggs on the latest posting. Sometimes I wonder at the suitability of the General Synod to grasp reality. I doubt if they will think about yesterday when the BNP do well in the Euro Elections. I fear for this country, because instead of debating and trying to win with a superior argument, we resort to bans and an affectation of lofty disdain.

The Archbishop of York said, referring to the fact that he was a member of the Baganda tribe, "As a Christian, I joined another tribe, it is the tribe of Jesus Christ, and in that tribe all are welcome." Well, I can say that at my church, we have people from quite a few tribes, some not a stone's throw from his. We all get along very well and I would like to think we could without worrying about the BNP. If we need to we can speak our minds. However, censorship and bans will only make our efforts that much harder. I doubt if many of those voting for this ban have come into contact with BNP supporters and members.

The way to deal with such opponents is rather like Lord Boothby did on meeting Hitler. The Fuehrer raised his arm and declared, "Heil Hitler!". Whereupon Boothby responded in similar fashion with "Heil Boothby!".