he was very supportive

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 28, 2005

Once the priestly vocation has been emptied of its spiritual purpose, you can be pretty sure that whatever fills the vacuum will be unwholesome. The Church Times cheerfully reports on the latest developments:

A Church of England arts chaplain, the Revd Jim Craig, joined 1700 people in walking naked round Newcastle and Gateshead last Sunday. Mr Craig, community arts chaplain in Bensham and Gateshead, did it as part of his job, he said. The event was organised by Spencer Tunick, who specialises in "documenting the live nude figure in public with photography". Since 1992, Mr Tunick has been snapping naked individuals en masse as they "metamorphose into a new shape". ...

He had also asked permission from the Bishop of Jarrow, the Rt Revd John Pritchard. "I received a rather amusing email back, but he was very supportive," Mr Craig said. I wanted to take part in the event, as I support Tunick, in that our bodies are essentially good things, to be proud of, no matter how much they often fail to match up to the bodies we see iconically displayed in the media."

Mr Craig, who is also attached to the parishes of Bensham and Gateshead, said he had received only support from parishioners and colleagues. "In fact, I spotted a female curate from Newcastle, but I am sworn to secrecy."

But what's the point of mustering "support," Mr. Craig, if your moral convictions teach you it's part of your job?

I sometimes wonder whether there isn't a lot of self-hatred in liberals, that impels them to counterfeit moral heroism by pulling stunts. After all, there's nothing noble about their core issues: the liberty to abort, to sodomize, to contracept. Even where they succeed in carrying the day, all they've accomplished is to convince others that the human condition is that much more debased than previously believed, and that less is demanded of the individual.

The Good Life as proposed by the Left is not something you climb upward towards; you get there by releasing your grip on moral absolutes and letting yourself drop. It's a fairly squalid vision. Perhaps liberal Christians sense this, and the well-publicised enthusiasm they invest in randomly-adopted causes (such as closing the School of the Americas) serves to compensate for the moral hollowness at the center. Lacking principles, they muster support.