Are you sitting comfortably? The date is December 29 Th. In the year 1170 four Knights, heavily tooled up rode into Canterbury Cathedral. By the time they left the body of Thomas Becket who was Archbishop of Canterbury lay dead and rather badly mutilated. He had really p****d off King Henry the second by siding with the Pope and trying to prevent Henry's grab for power in the church. Henry famously raved at the situation and said "Won't anyone rid me of this troublesome Priest?" The 4 knights heard the King and thought collectively 'that sounds like a job for us' and the rest as they say is history.
I suppose we can describe it as progress that the Canon Chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral the Rev. Giles Fraser has resigned from his post in protest at plans to 'remove' the 'occupy' protestors from the steps of the church, he is quite rightly a 'Troublesome Priest' but he is still in one piece. No thanks to the powers that be that are now determined to remove the protestors. The St. Paul's clergy are said to be angry at the pressure being put on them by the London Corporation and a certain London Mayor called Boris Johnson who I fancy is wishing it was back in Henry the second's time, then these protestors "would fear him" as Don Corleone said in the Godfather. The Rev. Fraser has resigned because he refuses to sanction "violence in the name of the Church" violence? by the met? Where on earth could he have got that idea? do the Rev. and big Boris worship the same God I wonder? The words of praise and best wishes are now surrounding the Rev. Fraser like a massive halo, what turned out to be his last sermon on Sunday at St. Paul's was highly critical of corporate greed which would not have endeared him to the likes of Boris and the political gangsters he hangs out with, good luck to the Rev. Fraser.
Needless to say the protestors and I would guess countless thousands more are looking on in awe at his sacrifice, quite a turn up in the squalid capitalist cess pit which we call society today. A Christian Cleric at the highest establishment level turns out to be just that, a Christian, who would have thunk it? No doubt there will be investigations at the highest level to find those responsible for allowing this brave dignified cleric to rise so high in Britain's most famous parish and it's most famous church, Boris will no doubt demand that heads must roll.
The question now is will we see the finest from the Met all masked up and numberless beating up and using tazer guns and riot hoses on peaceful protestors at their camp on the steps of such an iconic Christian site. The other question now is for Boris and the Government to work out not whether it is right to do so but to work out whether they can get away with it. Because you can rely on it that if they can work out how to beat up and imprison these people they will do so, they will no more hesitate than the Brown Shirts did in Germany. We all have a duty to witness and protest what is about to happen. Decent Christians if it goes pear shaped I urge you to withhold your support declare yourselves atheists until the church lets the tents back on to the sacred stairs.
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