The worst of an extremely bad bunch have won

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I have refused to vote in the Italian elections, holding that none of the candidates on offer were worthy of even reluctant consent by a free man. Or by anybody free to choose. To have to choose between supporting Veltroni, Berlusconi or the lesser lists is a choice that demeans a human being, and I will not make it. Until the Italian political

Comments

[stigandnasty919]

I read this last night and thought about it quite a lot before posting this reply. (Couldn't concentrate on my reading last night - Vol 1 of the Cap Marvel Masterworks.)

I don't believe there is a contradiction in what I have said. In the former case I am trying to explain why the background and experience of a person may explain where opinions they have expressed come from. In the latter I am objecting to the assumption that knowing someones background entitles anyone to assume that they know what that persons views or motivations are. Two very different things.

In the specific case of Brown, you have shown that he promotes policies that are in direct conflict with the views of the Catholic Church what I am not convinced off is that his motivation is an anti-catholic bias or worse.

The best candidate for an accusation of anti-catholic prejudice is in a policy area which directly impacts the church, that of Faith Schools, but I would contend that it is quite possible to hold Brown's position without any anti-catholic motive. You are aware that I, reluctantly, agree with his position on this, for reasons of social cohesion and a view that education is the province and responsibility of the state, and that religious education is the province of the Churches. I don't regard this as an anti-catholic view.

And finally, just to be clear, my annoyance at Damian Thompson's article is that he does not have the courage to state a view and say that he believes Brown to be a bigoted prod, rather he goes into the mealy-mouthed 'some say' and 'it could be thought' mode that I find cowardly and pathetic. I was particularly irritated by the line "they detect a faint echo of a Glasgow Rangers chant" which manages to combine a prejudice that all Glasgow Rangers fans are bigots with an implication of Brown's bigotry that he does not have the courage to come right out and say.

That is why your statement on Brown is not one I find offensive, or irritating because you are prepared to give reasons for and defend your views.

Finally, I think you have upped the ante regarding Lewis in this post, do you believe that his failure to convert to the Catholic Church is the result of 'hatred' of the Catholic Church? Other motives strike me as equally possible. The story of his conversion, almost by personal experience, is very 'protestant' in tone.

Also he was married to a divorcee, and the view of the Catholic Church to Divorce may have had an influence on his decision not to move from the Church of his childhood. As a final point, I think the fact that he sent draft copies of his book 'Mere Christianity' to clergy from all of the main churches, including a Catholic, to be sure that there was nothing in it that any of them could disagree with demonstrates, at the very least, a respect for the Catholic Church.

He may well have regarded High-Church COE as being the Church best able to accommodate his mixture of beliefs.

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I doubt that Lewis could ever feel hatred for the Catholic Church after his adult experiences, although he makes it clear that he was taught it as a child - and that in an otherwise civilized household. I think, however, that there was an instinctive distaste such as most people will feel in the presence of, say, homosexuality; however much you respect individuals and admire the likes of Virgil and Plato, nonetheless an outright invitation to practice homosexuality would meet, even before any rational response, with an outright *yuk* reaction. I think that describes Lewis' reaction to the Church.

Lewis' marriage

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Lewis did not agree to marry Joy Davidman until he had found out that her previous husband - or, to put it as he would have, "husband" - was himself a divorcee with a wife still living. In other words, his approac to marriage was fully Catholic. Joy Davidman would have obtained an annulment in five minutes flat from any diocesan court.

Re: Lewis' marriage

[stigandnasty919]

Yes, you are quite right, I had forgotten that.