Church of England Bishops Want to Apologize for Iraq War

From The Times (London):

BISHOPS of the Church of England want all Britain’s Christian leaders to get together in public to say sorry for the war in Iraq and its aftermath.

The bishops say that the Government is not likely to show remorse so the churches should. They want to organise a major gathering with senior figures from the Muslim community to make a “public act of repentance”.

The bishops admit that their suggestion is provocative and bound to attract massive criticism, but insist it is not “a cheap gesture”. Their renewed condemnation of Britain’s role in Iraq since the 2003 invasion will further widen the rift with Downing Street.

The proposal for a public apology comes in a new report published today. In the report, the bishops plead for more “understanding” of what motivates terrorists. They criticise Western democracies as “deeply flawed” and accuse the US of dangerous expansionism.

The bishops, who strongly opposed the war in Iraq, want Christian leaders to express their repentance in an “act of truth and reconciliation” for the West’s contribution to the problems in Iraq.

Not surprisingly, comment on conservative blogs has been unmerciful in its evaluation of the wooly-headed clerics.

One good collection of comments can be found on Hurry Up Harry, and includes the following:

Perhaps these Bishops would like to deliver their apology to Al Zarqawri in person?

Well we can but hope can’t we?

[...]

I think the C of E’s main problem (although there are many others) it that a significant proportion of people in at, particularly at a high level, seem to think that all other religious, or indeed polticial, groups (if the two can be separated out always, which they can’t) are as benign, woolly, fluffy, relativistic, and, quite frankly, wholly irrelevant to the future of humanity as they are.

They should read some Dostoyevsky or Bernanos

[...]

To whom are they going to apologize? The Iraqi people haven’t asked for an apology – they have voted for a leader who is glad Saddam is gone and asks for our help.

Sunni jihadists are the ones who are upset. They target and kill Shiites on a daily basis. Are they going to apologize to Salfist jihadists? Do they see Islamists as the authentic representatives – the vanguard – of the Islamic people? It appears so.

It looks like they’ve quickly learned how to be good dhimmis and have assumed the position of groveling useful idiots.

But some comments were less serious in tone:

Oh come off it guys, you are being far too harsh.

It has taken hundreds of years of struggle, millions of teabags, jumble sales and countless packets of Rich Tea biscuits for the Church of England to get to this gutless stage of their evolution.

One can only hope that Islam follows the same route.

The report can be found here.