Comments by "Faithless Hound" (@faithlesshound5621) on "Ian Hislop's encounter with the Archbishop of Canterbury" video.

  1. There has always been a flagellationist element in organised religion, for more than two thousand years, and teachers have been at it for much longer. It's only within living memory that anything has been done to restrain the exponents. The public school milieu that Smyth and the archbishop belong to was slower than most to realise that it was no longer acceptable. It's right that Welby takes responsibility as head (but not supreme governor) of the C of E, but we have to realise that it's symbolic. Welby did not wield the rod (or whatever) himself, nor did he apparently know exactly what Smyth had been doing, and he did not protect Smyth. He assumed, he says, that the matter was being investigated. Did those who informed him assume that telling the archbishop was enough and the matter could rest? Remember that by that time this was a historic case as far as England was concerned, since Smyth was retired and living in South Africa. Welby is an Old Etonian businessman who saw the light and speaks in tongues. There must be some overlap between his evangelical wing of the church and the hard core floggers, but his is mainly guilt by association. Paula Vennels is in a wholly different situation, since she was much more closely involved with the Post Office's malfeasance.
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  2. Religion, authority and child abuse are not the same thing, but they overlap and may be co-dependent.
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