On Tuesday 11th March the new Bishop of Manchester, David Walker  was interviewed by Manchester Climate Monthly (MCFly). He came out against further expansion of airports in the UK.  In response to a question “Would Jesus fly, knowing what we know now?” he said “We’ve moved to a position where it seems the answer to people’s desire to fly is to create more airports, or extend airports. And I really don’t think that’s the way forward. A certain amount of flying will be essential in our society, but there’s an awful lot of places we can get to without that.”

MCFly then went and …mangled the footage. Only the first 5 minutes survive –

Here are the questions;

Up to 50 secs What the “Bishop of Manchester” job entails?
0 mins 50 secs What did you do before?
1 mins 15 Have there been any surprises since you came into post?
2 mins Food banks – why not a good thing?
3 mins 30 You’d like to see them no longer necessary – higher taxation, better enforcement of existing tax laws?

Fortunately, the Bishop kindly agreed to be interviewed a second time.  Here’s the interview conducted on Monday 31st March, unmangled (and backed up in a gazillion places).

Here are the questions
00mins 30 secs Can you say a bit about the research you did into why people go to church?
2mins 30 and will that research be published?
2mins 45 Will that research change anything about how you practice, or the church more broadly practices?
3 mins 50 secs And that will change through the course of a person’s life?
4 mins 50 Is some of the mindless consumption you sometimes see connected to a sense of loneliness and disconnection from other people, from nature?
6 mins 30 seconds Can you talk about leadership – on climate, anti-poverty, social justice
9 mins 30 secs What is the Boaz Trust?
11 mins 15 secs Lots of these people you work with are of other faiths? That makes no odds?
12 mins What would you say to a Christian who came to you and said “we’ve been given this to dominate, and God has a plan anyway, so it will be okay.”
14 mins 10 secs Who was St Francis of Asssisi and why does he matter?
14 mins 45. You’re in Francis’s shoes, and you hear the BBC reporter talking about the latest IPCC report – “this isn’t just about birds and butterflies anymore, it’s about humans!” What would you say?
18 mins What sorts of things has the church been doing, and what HASN’T the church been doing
20 mins Would Jesus fly? Time to confess – I am flying to Australia to see my family. Is that a sin? If it isn’t, does that mean I can do it every year, and if it is a sin, what should I do about it? And what do you do about your flying?
23 mins 50 Beyond the church’s infrastructure – its buildings, its light bulbs, I am interested in the cultural, intellectual aspect – sermons, writings and engaging in dialogues with parishioners. Can you point to examples of what the Church of England is doing around that?
25 mins 40 Worst-case scenario – you’ve got a skeptic (or lazy) vicar. Is there any monitoring/sanctioning going on about how much dialogue etc is going on around climate change.
27 mins “Low Carbon Culture” – what does it mean? How would we know if we were living in it?
30 mins 30 secs On adaptation and vulnerabilities – the Church’s role in helping people in disaster situations…
33 mins 10 secs And flu pandemics?
35 mins It’s 2026, your retirement party…. Manchester is more prepared, has taken substantive action and they say to you “we couldn’t have done it without the church because…”
36mins 20 secs And speaking truth to power?