Church official criticizes Carey

The Rev. Myra Blyth, the moderator of the Commission for Racial Justice of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, recently rebuked George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton, the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury and a gigantic purveyor of hot air.

On the BBC, Carey called for Britain to impose tighter controls on immigrants coming into the country. "The issue of immigration will not go away and I hope [the new prime minister] will impose stricter controls on those entering the United Kingdom," Carey said on Sunday.

The BBC News website reported that the former archbishop had added that there was a need to balance control with "clemency in the case of some people who need refugee status."

Blyth said she believed Carey was echoing the fears expressed in the media and public debate of those who felt they were being overrun.

Her commission is publishing a new report, "Migration Principles," drawn up by religious leaders and experts, and intended to offer positive suggestions for dealing with immigration.

She said she wished Carey had seen the report, to be launched officially on July 10, before making his comments.

This makes sense, naturally, but that has never stopped Carey before, and it likely never will, since his ego is regularly fanned by obsequious supporters and other low church lobbyists.

Blyth said her group's study "is an attempt by a group of church leaders and experts to offer suggestions to the government about how immigration policy can be run in a way which manages to draw more public confidence."

With her statement distancing herself from Carey, Blythe now joins a select group within the churches of England who have gone public in their criticisms of the former archbishop for conveying such large amounts of verbal waste.

Perhaps most prominent in the group is the Dean of Bangor Cathedral, who in an Anglican smackdown last year, banned Carey from placing one hot-air-conveying foot inside his Cathedral.