Archbishop Justin Welby is yet another privileged celebrity who is out of touch and out of order, says Mark Dolan

Archbishop Justin Welby is yet another privileged celebrity who is out of touch and out of order, says Mark Dolan

WATCH NOW: Mark Dolan shares his thoughts on Justin Welby

GB News
Mark Dolan

By Mark Dolan


Published: 20/05/2024

- 07:38

'He's insulated from the real world consequences of his virtuous pronouncements - he's really just Gary Lineker in a cassock'

Who knew that being the Archbishop of Canterbury and therefore the head of the Church of England, was a role more political than Prime Minister?

But Justin Welby, another prime example of the pampered, unelected, out-of-touch elites who have so much influence on this country, has decided to weigh in on the Government's two child cap on benefits.


The cap was brought in by the Tories as part of their efforts to reduce the welfare bill, to pay for the ruinous lockdowns that I don't recall Justin Welby ever condemning.

In fact, the Church of England closed its doors to parishioners during the pandemic without protest, which I consider to be a profound sin.

Mark Dolan

Mark Dolan shares his thoughts on Justin Welby's view on the child benefit cap

GB News

The two-child benefit cap means that families only receive universal credit or child tax credit payments for the first two children they have.

It's a crazy idea, I know, but it might be worth mums and dads having a think about whether they can afford a child before bringing one into the world.

The country is broke, again, I draw your attention to our wonderful pandemic response, where we thought we could stop a virus, and the welfare bill is an eye-watering 25 per cent of all Government spending.

Now, in an ideal world, we would have unlimited benefits for unlimited numbers of children, and I'm deeply concerned about growing child poverty, which must be addressed. But on this one, even Labour has accepted the money just isn't there to fund people having kids galore.

It's not right to have three or four or five kids or more and expect someone else to pick up the bill.

Not when there is so much competition for resources in the NHS, social care, schools, policing, defence, the cost of net zero infrastructure and so on.

The Archbishop didn't seem to get the memo that the country has an ungodly deficit. The interest on just our debt, courtesy of dear Covid is £100billion a year alone.

The Archbishop has previously spoken on these political interventions, which often see him at odds with his own parishioners. For example, he has condemned the Rwanda plan without suggesting a convincing alternative.

It's strange that this leading Christian should not support a policy which is expressly designed to end the humanitarian crisis, that is, those illegal crossings. Look, I'm sure that he's a very nice man, but the Archbishop is yet another privileged celebrity, insulated from the real-world consequences of his virtuous pronouncements. He's really just Gary Lineker in a cassock.

I doubt the Archbishop struggles to get a GP appointment. His accommodation is lavish and with his Rwanda position, which implies more relaxed border controls, he appears completely unaware of how small communities around the country have been impacted by thousands of people accommodated in local hotels at a cost of £7million a day, money that could and should be spent on poor Brits already here who are living in grinding poverty.

With his many political interventions, which are catnip for Guardian readers who are his real disciples. You'd think the Archbishop would have something better to do, like comment on the huge social and moral problems facing this country, the collapse of the nuclear family.

A worrying rise in crime and anti-social behaviour, an explosion in pornography and drug use in our increasingly permissive society. And you think the archbishop will be more used on a growing financial crisis within his own organisation?

As the church consolidates parishes and tries to save money, not helped by his decision to create a fund that will effectively pay reparations for the church's debatable links with slavery. All of this is happening whilst Rome slowly burns. The Church of England is dying a death with its congregations dwindling, perhaps because of its leadership and being so out of touch with scores of churchgoers.

In fact, the only growth area for the Church of England, the Church of England at the moment, appears to be churning out baptisms for asylum seekers who have mysteriously and miraculously, suddenly found a love for Jesus. Reverend Matthew Firth, a former parish priest at Saint Cuthbert's Church in Darlington, told the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee in March there was a conveyor belt system of baptisms of asylum seekers hoping to obtain leave to remain in the UK on religious grounds.

All of this is happening on Wellbeing Watch. Shocked I tell you shocked. Whether it's slavery, immigration benefit caps or his lust for net zero, it seems the Archbishop will stop at nothing to boost his woke credentials. Justin Welby is out of touch, out of step and out of order. May God forgive him.

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