What Would Jesus Do About Brexit?

The IPE Zone is a fan of arch-Remainer and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

While studying and working in the UK all those pre-Brexit years ago, I was amused by their government placing 26 Church of England clergy in the House of Lords. (Formally, they are the Lords Spiritual instead of the more political Lords Temporal who are everyone else.) In this supposedly secular day and age, the British are unique that way, as well as in cautioning against having a Catholic prime minister to guard against the depredations of popery and other Vatican-sourced foreign intervention. Little did I know that this nominally "ceremonial" political power granted to religious authorities may actually have some bearing...as it does now, even if it's limited.

You see, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby (the British pope, if you will), is an outspoken champion of EU membership for the UK. It makes this Catholic regard the Anglican Church more positively. Further, he is on firm economic and therefore ethical ground in reiterating that the least well-off are expected to be those worst affected by Brexit:

The archbishop of Canterbury has said a no-deal Brexit would hit the poorest and most vulnerable people in the UK. Justin Welby also said he was praying for Theresa May and other politicians at the start of what is expected to be one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent parliamentary history. Last week, Welby said in the House of Lords that a no-deal Brexit would be “not only a political and practical failure, but a moral one,” and a second referendum may be needed to avoid it.

The impact on the most vulnerable is of greatest concern for the Anglicans, as it should be for a religious order:

He repeated his concerns in an interview with Christian website Premier, saying: “The burden of proof is on those that are arguing for no deal, to show that it will not harm the poorest and most vulnerable … How we care about them and how our politics affects them is a deeply moral issue.” He added: “Politicians have one of the hardest jobs in the world. It is deeply difficult, and we need to pray for them. It is unbelievably difficult.

It's too bad that, well, hardly anyone attends religious services in the UK anymore, least of all the Anglican Church's. So much for the moral suasion bit if you were hoping for that. Still, membership in the House of Lords may add further impetus to the current uprising in the House of Commons to avoid a hard Brexit. After all, the upper house did help ensure that Parliament has a say in the final form of whatever exit the UK makes from the European Union.

Remainers, aren't you actually glad that the UK is alone in the world aside from Iran in reserving places in the legislature for unelected clergy? It's too bad for the secularists, but I think any intervention--even of the divine sort--is welcome at this point to scuttle this Brexit folly at least for a generation if willed by forces on heaven and earth.