Say a prayer

 I am pleased to report that everything is being co-ordinated as the UK prepares for war, and it’s not just Winston Starmer who’s setting the tone. At this stage though I will have to dismiss the Daily Express story about what age we might all have to be conscripted, except to say GenZ (whatever that is) may have a surprise coming. No, it is not just our bodies being readied for WW3 but our souls too. This in The Telegraph provides a clue:  "The Church of England is preparing for the possibility of the UK going to war, according to the Bishop to the Armed Forces. The Rt Rev Hugh Nelson said the church was looking at the Second World War for inspiration on “what it might mean for us to be a Church in a time of conflict”.

Yes, let’s reflect on that. What does it mean to be the (established) church in time of conflict? Well it certainly meant in the past blessing the troops before they were to be killed. Weirdly of course that Christian blessing was given on both sides of the trenches in WW1. Now in these post-modernist times, should we expect an update? I don’t see why not. It’s long been said that the Bible is little more than poetry, and in the wake of Baudrillard and indeed the technology of virtual reality (which is like war wearing virtual reality goggles navigating drones to their kill) how does the concept of the Almighty work here? It will not, I suspect be the resurrection of evil, although of course Putin is a very bad person—and it’s all Putin—but where does that leave the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, Bishop to the Armed Forces, whispering sweet nothings into the ears of maimed and dying combatants? I feel a bit sorry for Hugh. His task is as impossible as telling a 95 year old relative that they will ’get better’ when their destiny is surely to pop their clogs PDQ. Personally I think members of the armed forces would be a lot happier if they didn’t have to endure the pious crap preached at them prior to their assignments at the behest of politicians who strut their stuff in their well protected bunkers. I’m not just thinking of Starmer of course. The ‘Supreme’ Leader of Iran also seems to know a thing or two about reinforced concrete. He too, like Bishop Hugh must be very pious and will know his scriptures back to front. The trouble is, that lies at the bottom of much of this utterly senseless conflict.