Kendall Harmon (I)—The (London) Times’ Big Splash on its Rowan Williams’ Interview

Posted by Kendall Harmon

The (London) Times has major space devoted today to the current Archbishop of Canterbury and an interview they got with him recently.

The main article, entitled "Meet the Archbishop of Canterbury" and based on an interview with Ginny Dougary, is here. The best thing to do by far is to read the whole article carefully, but there are two problems with that. First, it is [as are all Times stories now] behind a paywall, and, second, it is very long (12 pages in a Word document including the book excerpt at the end). An article about the interview may be found there. It carries the unfortunate and wildly misleading headline "Gay bishops are all right by me, says Archbishop." There is also an editorial on the Dr. Williams interview here which bears the title "Mission Statement."

As if all this isn't enough, there is also an analysis article by Ruth Gledhill there, bearing the title "The Archbishop of Canterbury is treading an impossible path," and an entry on Ruth Gledhill's ["Articles of Faith"] blog about it here with the title "Rowan Williams and the questions of unity and truth."

Now I do not have a copy of the physical paper but I would guess the story with the misleading headline is on the front page. In any event, given that there are already five parts of the paper giving their attention to this matter, it is clear that the Times wants a big result. Unsurprisingly, they are getting what they want, in that there are numerous articles from other media about the Times interview, and in addition parts of the blogosphere are all atwitter on the matter.

I would strongly urge people not to come to any firm conclusions about this interview based on one or two snippets of the interview or articles or a few blog comments about it. I would say this anyway, but especially insist on it in this instance for a number of reasons. First, to be charitable about it, Rowan Williams' language is not always "user friendly" (when I describe him to friends who ask in detail I sometimes call him "the gnome" and I have said elsewhere that "you will not understand him unless you understand that he is a scholar, a Trinitarian and catholic Christian, a mystic and an iconoclast."). Second, in the paper itself in which the interview appears, the aggressive hostility of the U.K. secular establishment to the church's traditional position on human sexuality continuously influences the articles, which makes them misleading or worse. The terrible headline has already been mentioned above. The editorial, to cite another example, mentions the action of the Anglican Church in Uganda in 2007 when John Guernsey (who is not mentioned) was consecrated an Anglican Bishop, but not the action of the Anglican Church in Nigeria when Martyn Minns was consecrated which occurred in 2006. It also describes the action in a way the Anglican Church in Uganda would not agree with, and couches the whole narrative in a typically Northern-hemisphere centered way, leaving out the actions of the Episcopal Church and our crucial role in the crisis. Third, we then have the articles about the interview which themselves are full of distortions and misleading elements. My wife called on the way to the airport to say that the NPR headlines about the interview were worded so as to give a misleading impression, and I see other headlines that give confusing impressions as well.

So be careful as to how you digest this--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • Global South Churches & Primates • Instruments of Unity • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ecclesiology

7 Comments
Posted September 25, 2010 at 1:30 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Chris Taylor wrote:

Sorry, but I don’t think I need to wade through 12 pages of the London Times or all the associated spin off articles to get what I need to know about +Cantaur.  Actions (and inaction) speak louder than words, and I seen enough over the past seven years to get the picture—all the rest is just fluff.  If we ever reach the point where his “yes” means yes and his “no” means no, then I’ll read, but I’m not holding my breath for that.

September 25, 4:57 pm | [comment link]
2. Br. Michael wrote:

Agreed!!

September 25, 7:18 pm | [comment link]
3. Sarah wrote:

RE: “I would strongly urge people not to come to any firm conclusions about this interview based on one or two snippets of the interview or articles or a few blog comments about it.”

Yeh—four years ago I would have needed this word of wisdom. But by now, we all know what the UK journalists are working towards and angry about, too.

It really is a disgrace how dreadful and misleading they are.  Just pathetic.

I wonder if they understand that every person who figures out their game on the Christian faith ends up being a person who no longer respects the journalists who are responsible.  Thus the journalists lose credibility and respect—and then wonder why their readership is declining.  Then throw up a paywall—which will be down by this time next year, since now they’re losing even more readers, and the fees aren’t going to make up for that.

September 25, 8:11 pm | [comment link]
4. CPKS wrote:

FWIW after 20+ years as a Times subscriber I switched a few months ago, fed up with their crass coverage of matters religious.

September 25, 8:21 pm | [comment link]
5. Pageantmaster [KJS to Coventry] wrote:

Oh well.  I am inclined to agree with #1 nowadays.

btw Has the feckless one invited Katharine the Terrible to the Primates’ Meeting in Ireland?  According to David Virtue’s report of HOB press conference questions put to her, she thinks she is going!

September 25, 8:23 pm | [comment link]
6. Kendall Harmon wrote:

For the record, #1, the article in the paper is 9 pages according to the website.  I put it in a word document to aid me and when I did it came to 12 pages.

September 25, 8:39 pm | [comment link]
7. loyal opposition wrote:

Iconoclast?

September 25, 9:28 pm | [comment link]
Registered members must log in to comment.



Next entry (above): Kendall Harmon (II)—The (London) Times’ Interview with Rowan Williams Has very little which is new

Previous entry (below): AP—Archbishop of Canterbury would support appointment of gay bishops, if they pledge celibacy

Return to blog homepage

Return to Mobile view (headlines)