Hans Rustad Erkebispen av Canterbury, Rowan Williams, har gitt et intervju til det muslimske bladet Emel, der han betegner USA som en langt verre imperialistmakt enn Storbritannia på høyden av imperiet.
Rowan Williams claimed that America’s attempt to intervene overseas by «clearing the decks» with a «quick burst of violent action» had led to «the worst of all worlds».
In a wide-ranging interview with a British Muslim magazine, the Anglican leader linked criticism of the United States to one of his most pessimistic declarations about the state of western civilisation.
He said the crisis was caused not just by America’s actions but also by its misguided sense of its own mission. He poured scorn on the «chosen nation myth of America, meaning that what happens in America is very much at the heart of God’s purpose for humanity».
Williams went beyond his previous critique of the conduct of the war on terror, saying the United States had lost the moral high ground since September 11. He urged it to launch a «generous and intelligent programme of aid directed to the societies that have been ravaged; a check on the economic exploitation of defeated territories; a demilitarisation of their presence».
He went on to suggest that the West was fundamentally adrift: «Our modern western definition of humanity is clearly not working very well. There is something about western modernity which really does eat away at the soul.»
Williams suggested American leadership had broken down: «We have only one global hegemonic power. It is not accumulating territory: it is trying to accumulate influence and control. That’s not working.»
He contrasted it unfavourably with how the British Empire governed India. «It is one thing to take over a territory and then pour energy and resources into administering it and normalising it. Rightly or wrongly, that’s what the British Empire did — in India, for example.
«It is another thing to go in on the assumption that a quick burst of violent action will somehow clear the decks and that you can move on and other people will put it back together — Iraq, for example.»
Under Kirkemøtet på Jevnaker nylig uttalte Hamar-bisp Solveig Fiske og flere av seg for å ta opp om Norge bør trekke sine soldater ut av Afghanistan. Flere prester støttet at dette var et spørsmål kirken burde ta opp, blant dem Nidaros-bisp Finn Wagle. Saken ble oversendt Mellomkirkelig Råd.
Både i Storbritannia og Norge snakker vi om en politisert kirke, som føler seg kallet til å ta opp spørsmål den har dårlige forutsetninger for å mene noe om. At dette splitter menighetene later ikke til å bekymre.
