Saturday, July 28, 2018

The Current State of Anglican Intellectualism

The Archbishop of Canterbury has written a book. Critically, it goes about as well as one might expect.
Economic mistakes permeate Welby’s ideas, but they stem from a deeper philosophical omission: Forced actions do not have the same moral value as actions which are freely chosen. It is more valuable for an individual to freely decide to pay for healthcare for someone who cannot afford it than for that same individual to be forced by the government to provide that care. Welby mistakes not only on the best way to ensure the common good, but its very definition. That is why he advocates for compulsory nutrition, education, and exercise in the classroom. As a society of individuals, we should each choose what is good; Welby, on the contrary would rather all of Britain be forcibly conformed to a centralized vision of his just society.
The presumption of one's superior moral view, and the expectation that all be required to conform to it, has been the vexation of church leadership for a very long time.