In case you thought we were fixated on religion, this post was going to be about ethical issues unrelated to religion, but there’s one story about bishops that I couldn’t resist, from New Humanist magazine. Stephen Bates used to be the Guardian’s religious affairs correspondent, but now he’s had enough.

Now I am moving on. It was time to go. What faith I had, I’ve lost, I am afraid – I’ve seen too much, too close. A young Methodist press officer once asked me earnestly whether I saw it as my job to spread the Good News of Jesus. No, I said, that’s the last thing I am here to do.

I knew, of course, about the bizarre beliefs of some on the lunatic fringes of religion – some of you might say that it’s all mad – but when an Anglican bishop says that people are possessed when a devil gets up their backside, you have to wonder whether the C of E is harbouring some seriously deranged people. Bates wrote,

… the Churchman‘s readership is pretty minuscule, but the vehemence even in the mainstream denominations could be quite startling and bizarrely tunnel-visioned. Graham Dow, the Bishop of Carlisle, has come to public notice for suggesting that the recent floods were God’s judgement on a sinful nation, but not only is he not alone – perhaps just naive to speak so openly about it to a friendly journalist from the Sunday Telegraph – but they are not his weirdest views. An earlier book he wrote on demonic possession shows he believes devils enter up the anus (something Freudian here perhaps) and the signs of possession include wearing black, inappropriate laughter, inexplicable knowledge, Scottish ancestry or relatives who have been miners. You may laugh – inappropriately – but Dow used to be an Oxford college chaplain, indeed once prepared Tony Blair for confirmation, and has risen to be a diocesan bishop.

So, if you wear black and laugh inappropriately, maybe you need an ecclesiastical enema? I shall sit firmly on my black-clad backside in case anyone gets any ideas.

Speaking of religious strangeness, I’ve had a letter from John “I don’t hate anybody” Gummer MP, who writes that Humanism “is an intolerant religion”. I’ve pointed out that this is doubly inaccurate. Having responded to his denials ad questioned his integrity, I think I’ll leave him alone now. However, like the