FID DEF....

Look at a coin of the realm and most of them bear the inscription `FID DEF.`  It literally means `Defender of the Faith` and signifies the fact that Her Majesty the Queen is the supreme ruler of the Church of England, thus outranking the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Now not for the first time in these pages I reveal my attitude towards religion, which whilst engagingly simple is also entirely practical.   For example, my uncertainties are such that I have developed the philosophy that if, when my clogs are finally popped, I get up there and discover it was all true after all, then I`ll be the first to apologise for harbouring any doubts.   

But moreover I have long held the conviction that, even if I have no quarrel with Him/Her Upstairs (and hopefully the feeling may be mutual) I really do have a problem with His/Her representatives down here.  All of which conspires to restrict my visits to church to the holy trinity of weddings, baptisms and funerals.  In short, I find the whole business to be a puzzlement, which has grown even more so with the recent shenanigans at the Church of England`s General Synod.

You see, I find it curious that an organisation with a woman as its supreme ruler can actually conspire to prevent women becoming bishops.   It took long enough for them to allow women to become priests and it looks as if there will be yet another long delay before common sense finally prevails and women bishops are `allowed.`   Surely if any other organisation behaved like that they would find the equal opportunities legislation coming down on them like there was no tomorrow.

But never mind what I think about it, I wonder how the Queen feels about it, as she is charged with defensoring the fidei - to be fair, she looks pretty glum as she faces FID DEF on the coin - but it ain`t no way to run a railroad, especially one that seems to be falling off the tracks and plunging  into even deeper irrelevance. And wouldn`t it be the ultimate irony if Him Upstairs turned out to be Her?