By supporting assisted dying, Lord Carey has united Christians against it

He didn’t mean to, but Lord Carey, the outspoken and unpopular former Archbishop of Canterbury, may just have carried out a minor miracle. By coming out in the Daily Mail in favour of assisted suicide, he has succeeded in bringing together Christians of all denominations and political persuasions to oppose him. Trendy evangelicals, Catholics, Anglo-Catholics, and the Orthodox may have profound differences, but one thing they know is that disagree with Lord Carey, especially when he makes out that the truly Christian position is to support this first step towards legal euthanasia in Britain, which will be debated in the House of Lords this week.

Carey is not exactly well loved among Anglicans — his (actually rather courageous) defiance of David Cameron’s same-sex marriage act and his somewhat right-wing column for the now extinct News of the World upset genteel progressive vicars everywhere. Yet some conservatives admired him for his willingness to speak his mind and stand up for ordinary believers.