The Bishop of Birmingham has expressed the view that Britain
should withdraw from Hong Kong and bring to an end its parti- cipation in the Korean war. So, at least, I learn from the Daily Worker which alone (so far as I have noticed) saw fit to give publicity to the observation. The question of parsons in politics, whether they be prelates like Dr. Barnes or " the inferior clergy, the priests and deacons," like the Vicar of Crockhani Hill, who has been achieving unlooked-for (though not necessarily unwelcome) notoriety in Parliament this week, is admittedly difficult. It would be unreasonable to deprive them of the citizen's proper right of expressing himself on any political issue, but plainly the habitual expression of extreme political views is calculated to diminish a Christian minister's spiritual influence substantially, particularly where it inevitably arouses opposition ; it is conceivable that instances will occur to the mind. The only rule, I suppose, that can be laid down is that the individual must decide his own course of action. Where he has obviously decided unfortunately there is very little to be done about it—except to try to convince any con-. cerned that in entering the Christian ministry they implicitly pledge themselves to give that vocation the first place in their lives, and that they are not doing that so far as they prejudice their ministry by too constant and extensive adventures into the, fields of politics and economics.
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