Giles Fraser

Giles Fraser is an English Anglican clergyman and a writer and broadcaster on religious topics. He is a priest at St Mary's, Newington, South London, and a contributor to BBC Radio 4's regular religious sermon slot "Thought for the Day" and philosophy show The Moral Maze. He has written columns for Church Times and The Guardian. In his journalism, he often seems to be functioning as a devil's advocate, taking extreme or eccentric political positions, as often not coming down on the side of the left as the right.
He has been described as "one of the country’s leading Anglicans" (by Edge Hill University in Lancashire, which gave him an honorary doctorate).Church Leader Given Honorary Award, Edge Hill University, 2017 The Guardian described him in 2011 as "an unlikely hero for the Church of England" and "the media's favourite anti-vicar".In praise of … Giles Fraser, Editorial, The Guardian, 27 October 2011 The Daily Mail sneeringly called him "the toast of London’s Left-wing intelligentsia".Moral maze as wife of BBC's right-on priest quits vicarage, Sebastian Shakespeare, 20 Aug 2014
His father was Jewish, although he has been Church of England since childhood; he has been married to an Israeli Jew since 2016. He is a strong defender of Judaism as a religion, although has also been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause (or if you're a right-winger, he believed "it was acceptable [for Hamas] to deliberately kill innocents").The Moral Maze: Israel and Gaza, Harry's Place, 24 July 2014
==Politics==
Fraser's politics are contradictory, but have elements of Christian socialism combined with a hatred of liberalist individualism. In 2011 he quit a position as canon chancellor at St Paul's Cathedral, London, over his support for the London branch of Occupy.Former canon of St Paul's appointed parish priest at inner-city church, Sam Jones, The Guardian, 1 April 2012 He has criticised Donald Trump and Israel's right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their tolerance towards neonazism.Why America’s antisemites can hate Jews but still claim to admire Israel, Giles Fraser, The Guardian, 17 Aug 2017
However, Fraser has also expressed traditional, conservative viewpoints on women's role in society.Thought for the day: is it time to silence BBC preachers who keep women down?, Catherine Bennett, The Guardian, 2 Mar 2019 He opposes liberalism, believing the community should come before individual rights; in this context he aligned atheism with liberalism and Christianity with socialism.No, I am not a liberal – I believe that community comes before the individual, Giles Fraser, The Guardian, 20 July 2012 He takes the traditional attitude that people should look after their parents, rather than expecting society to look after them, and condemns those who leave their communities to pursue educational opportunities or move overseas rather than stay at home to care for their families. He was particularly condemned as sexist for saying, "it is the daughter of the elderly gentleman that should be wiping his bottom," although this gender division of labour was explained by discussing the case of a woman who was inquiring about care for her elderly parent (to avoid sexism he could still have asked if the elderly gentleman had any sons)."hang on... that was because the story started with HER contacting the GP. i am still not sure I agree... but this quote does misrepresent a bit, in the narrative context", Mary Beard (@wmarybeard), Twitter, 23 Feb 2019 Professor Steve Peers has questioned what Fraser's attitude is to people who leave their families to pursue or study religious vocations or evangelise in distant lands.Family values and Brexit: a reply to Giles Fraser, Steve Peers, EU Law Analysis, 22 Feb 2019
In the case of the abusive evangelical Christian , who beat at least 130 boys in his charge, however, Fraser condemned disciplinarians; his prep school headmaster had an extensive collection of canes in his study and beat the future priest several times a week for minor infractions.Like John Smyth’s accusers, I bear the scars of a muscular Christian education, Giles Fraser, The Guardian, 5 February 2017 After a report into Smyth's history of abuse in which Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury was held to be among those responsible for concealing Smyth's behavior, Fraser commented in a November 2024 BBC Radio interview: "This needs to be our watershed moment in the church, where we look at the culture of deference, the way in which many of our senior leadership rally to defend each other".Justin Welby under growing pressure to resign over serial abuser, The Guardian, Harriet Sherwood, November 11, 2024 Welby resigned the next day.
He is an advocate of Brexit, apparently because Remainers are all liberals.Why won’t Remainers talk about family?, UnHerd, 22 Feb 2019
==Circumcision==
He is strongly in favour of circumcision, opposing a court judgment in Cologne that banned male circumcision and Icelandic proposals for a similar ban. He argued that circumcision was central to Jewish identity and Germany introducing a ban would be "to do Hitler's work for him" (Zing! Godwin's Law alert!). His dislike of liberalism is central to this, and a belief that history and tradition are more important than personal choice. He did not mention the tradition of female circumcision.This German circumcision ban is an affront to Jewish and Muslim identity, Giles Fraser, The Guardian, 17 July 2012"To those who hated my Guardian circumcision piece, one question: Are you really happy for the Germans to ban what it is to be Jewish?", Giles Fraser (@giles_fraser), Twitter, 17 July 2012 He also spoke in favour of circumcision on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze (when Iceland was considering a ban), claiming opponents of foreskin-snipping were trying to restrict the practice of religion (when they believed circumcision should be a choice for an individual) and comparing medically-accurate accounts of the harm caused to the blood libel falsely-levelled against Jews.Opinion: How cutting cultures deny dissenters their voice and identity, Antony Lempert, National Secular Society blog, 23 Feb 2018 Susan Blackmore called his comments on circumcision, "utterly repellent, as well as unfair and ludicrous."Untitled post, Susan Blackmore, Facebook, 23 Feb 2018
==LGBT issues==
He is in favour of gay clergy and homosexuality generally, but took the interesting moral viewpoint that gay clergy should lie about their sexuality if the church prohibited homosexuality (rather than e.g., telling the truth or joining a different church).Why gay bishops have to lie, Giles Fraser, The Guardian, 6 Jan 2013Lies, and more anti-gay lies, Giles Fraser, Church Times, 11 Jan 2013
==Secularism==
He has defended the BBC's "Thought for the Day," a regular platform for religious leaders (but not atheists) to deliver a little moral lesson to Radio 4's audience (described by Radio 4 presenter Justin Webb as, "They are all roughly the same… If everyone was nicer to everyone else, it would be fine"). Fraser manages to turn the BBC's reserving airtime for religion into an assault on religion by the sneering atheists of the BBC.Here’s my Thought for the Day: stop sneering and keep the faith, BBC, Giles Fraser, 31 Oct 2017
He once debated Richard Dawkins on BBC Radio 4 and, according to conservatives, thoroughly defeated the atheist scientist. After Dawkins produced figures showing that most Christians based their opinions on secular influences rather than Christianity, Fraser asked Dawkins to give the full title of Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, which Dawkins struggled with.For once, Richard Dawkins is lost for words, Stephen Pollard, The Daily Telegraph, 14 February 2012Richard Dawkins' debate with Giles Fraser, Conservapedia
==External links==
* His Twitter account, @giles_fraser
==References==
Category:Authors
Category:British people
Category:Living people