I heard on the news this morning that Justin Welby has resigned and the so-called Church of England is now looking for a new leader. Well, I have a far better idea: wouldn’t this be a good opportunity to disband the church altogether? I’ve written on here before about how profoundly undemocratic and anachronistic I find it. It is a body which derives it’s authority from a set of outdated, thoroughly refuted myths; it’s members weren’t elected through any kind of public vote; yet the leadership of this church claims the right to intervene in our politics. To make matters worse, it is now clear that this organisation has been covering up child abuse within it’s ranks for decades. The church leadership obviously knew this abuse was happening but did nothing, pretending it was completely oblivious and innocent. In any other context, were this any other organisation, it’s leadership, including Welby, would be standing trial. Were this a supermarket chain, or a high street bank company, whose executive knowingly allowed it’s employees to abuse children over several decades but hushed it up, the scandal would be huge. The company would probably be broken up. Yet because it is a religious organisation it seems to be above the law, including those concerning child abuse. Does that not strike anyone else as utterly fucked up?! If we are indeed a modern, educated democracy, surely this is something we must outgrow.