The problem with climate protesting clergy

Received wisdom suggests that you would not expect a vicar to disrupt Divine Worship. Now, anybody who’s worked with the clergy up close will know that in this case, as in so many areas, received wisdom is wrong. Still, there was shock in news outlets and on social media this week when a gaggle of Christians, including clerics, disrupted Evensong at Chichester in the name of climate action. 

Their general propensity for mischief aside, there should be absolutely no surprise at all that clergy were involved in this very particular protest. Clerics are predominately older and predominately middle class. Their average age, their average level of education, their voting patterns and their general outlook on life puts them square in the catch zone for climate radicalism. So it was with the Chichester protest: white and wizened raisin-like heads peeped out from behind brightly coloured signs.