OOH that Justin Welby he does say some strange things. The Archbishop of Canterbury says: “I sometimes wonder whether God exists.” He added: “There are moments when you think, ‘Is there a God? Where is God?’” He – Welby, I mean, not God – gives us a brief autobiographical sketch, a vignette from his fascinating life which he wishes – as modern churchmen love to say – to share with us: “The other day I was praying as I was running and I ended up saying to God, ‘Look, this is all very well, but isn’t it time you did something – if you’re there?’”

I imagine God out on his morning run – just a gentle million light years jog around the Andromeda galaxy – and thinking: “Well, Justin, this is all very well, but isn’t time you did something about the parlous state of the Church of England?”

Welby looks at the suffering and tribulation in the world and wonders if there is a God. I look at the Church of England and wonder if there is an Archbishop of Canterbury.

Surely an Archbishop who had good intentions would not allow the church to degenerate into such a shambles? But degenerate it has, and that’s what makes me wonder whether the Archbishop really exists.

I’m afraid it’s the old story: Archbishop doesn’t know much theology; Archbishop fails to read the Bible. He’s worried about the so- called problem of human suffering and so, presumptuously, tries to justify the ways of God to man.

Wrong from the start: it is we who are under the judgement of God and not God who must conform to our ideas about what is good and what is evil or from whence these concepts originate.

If the Arch of Cant had bothered to read the Bible – only the first few chapters mind, I’m not requiring him to make a greater intellectual effort than to get past Genesis III – he would learn that the Bible says clearly near its very beginning that evil is a mystery into which we are commanded not to pry – on pain of death: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

However, since, in the old parable, Adam took Eve’s apple, God has not left us clueless about this forbidden mystery.

Alongside the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is the Tree of Life. And the Tree of Life is the Cross of Christ.

Whatever else this might mean, it declares firmly that in the matter of suffering God does not exempt himself. The Creator, in his Son, by whom the worlds were made, suffers alongside his impudent creatures.

Justin Welby is not unique. It has long been the trademark of archbishops publicly to air their doubts about the Christian doctrines they promised at their ordination to uphold and proclaim.

Why do they do it? I think it’s in order to identify with the punters. Unfortunately today’s Church of England is run by a form of non-believing bureaucracy which regards Christian doctrines only as metaphors for social involvement. That’s why the church is on its uppers nationwide. There are places where the church is thriving and it’s among priests and congregations who believe the full gospel. Why not join them, Justin?