Update: Stephen Bates' article in the Guardian

Stephen Bates wrote an article in the Guardian widely linked through Thinking Anglicans and other sites. In it there was some confusion (on my part and others) as to what was being said about Bishop Griswold's comments in an interview with Mr. Bates.

Several people, myself among them, wrote Stephen and he was most kind to reply and clarify. On the Thinking Anglican's site he posted the following in partial reply to the concerns raised:

"I gather the implication of the introductory paragraph to my article may have been misunderstood. The paragraph was rephrased slightly in my absence (though read over to me by telephone, when I did not spot any problem) - this may be a difference in convention and usage by the British press than the American one. The warning to parishioners was in what Bishop Griswold said to me in our interview and was not meant to imply that he had been lobbying privately or otherwise interfering improperly in the electoral process."

That clarifies it and puts it to rest in my mind.

Stephen could not have been more gracious in his responses and more timely. None of us is actually in charge of the language which joyfully slips out from under our keyboards and pens and skitters off to do its will. I feel fortunate if I get off four good sentence in a row. His willingness to respond to those of us who were wondering what was going on was very helpful.

 

Mark Harris