Campaign Slogans
Remember these?
Now that Ruth Gledhill has published a list she says is the short-list for Lambeth Palace, let’s see if we can’t come up with some good campaign slogans for the following candidates.
Candidates have been interviewed for the first time as the Crown Nominations Commission tries to find someone who can succeed Rowan Williams and bring peace to the Church’s warring parties in battles over homosexuals and women bishops, while helping the Church in its fight against “militant secularismâ€.
Among those in the running are the Bishop of Coventry, the Right Rev Christopher Cocksworth — the favourite — the Bishop of Norwich, the Right Rev Graham James, and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. Also in contention are the Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev James Jones, and the Bishop of Durham, the Right Rev Justin Welby. Bishop Welby was recently appointed to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards to help to investigate the Libor rate-fixing scandal, a move that is thought to have increased his chances of taking the top job.
Over to you. Let’s make them good…
Sentamu: Gay? Fey? No way! Appoint me and the only sauce for you goose will be you gander.
I want serious, not offensive slogans. If you don’t have something suitable to contribute then please don’t bother.
Offensive? How so? The man has publicly expressed his opposition to gay marriage and he comes from a country where this opinion is widely shared. Both important facts for the CNC to consider, don’t you think?
Sentamu might not choose such a slogan for himself, but the slogans we remember are often defined by the opposition. Take the British elections in 1979 for example: “Labour Isn’t Working” is the slogan everyone remembers.
But if you’re looking for slogans the candidates might come up with for themselves … I doubt you’ll get anything pithy and memorable.
It’s a caricature and it’s designed to demean, not promote Sentamu. That’s why.
Granted, as a slogan it would be more likely to lose him support than gain him any. But demeaning? Is it demeaning to remind people of Sentamu’s position on gay marriage and the fact that he grew up in a culture that takes a very conservative view of homosexuality? The truth is demeaning? How strange…
It’s demeaning and insulting and it misrepresents his position. For example “No Gay”. Sentamu’s position has *nothing* to do with sexuality and everything to do with sexual activity. A number of Sentamu’s colleagues in purple are gay and I’m sure he has no problem with them whatsoever.
I thought it was a joke. Quite a clever play on words. No jokes allowed?
Jokes good. Blatant insults bad.
Well for someone who’s complaining about me misrepresenting Sentamu’s position, you’re doing a pretty good job of misrepresenting mine.
Check what I actually wrote and you won’t see the words “no gay”. If you’re going to criticize me, at least have the good manners to quote me accurately.
+Justin Welby’s could be: “battling the moral revisionists, one day at a time. Monday, the city crooks, Tuesday, the gospel revisionists.”
How about “Graham James: ‘Ten more years’!”
ps I’m irritated because the Liberal Catholics are touting +Graham (a Liberal Catholic like +Rowan) as the “compromise candidate”..
Shome Mishtake shurely!!
I’m a little confused.. isn’t there some kind of ‘turn’ system in the Church of England? Is Graham James remotely evangelical? (I don’t know, I’m genuinely asking). Surely Sentamu or for me Tom Wright would be the right choice. Picking another liberal catholic would seem to seek to shift the middle ground.. a la “well you evangelicals had rowan williams, so it’s our turn now and we’re having Jeffrey John!”.. shurely shome mishtake! I hope and pray they do pick a good solid evangelical like Cocksworth, Sentamu, Wright.. and maybe Welby? I don’t know enough about him to comment really, but I doubt he’s scared to speak his mind. We’re crying out for a straight talker.. no pun intended.
Sentamu is not an evangelical; his theology is moderately liberal. African origins /= evangelical.