While the United Methodist Church’s call for divestment is described as “bordering on anti-Semitism”, it’s good to be reminded that not all Church leaders are similarly prejudiced.

Irene Lancaster has drawn our attention to a debate in the House of Lords on the UK’s academic boycott.

Here we meet one of the good guys in the long-running tale of good versus evil (well, how else would you describe the hatred, thinly disguised as a desire for justice, which drives these destructive initiatives against the Jews and their State?). Admittedly, and sadly, it's like a sighting of a rare bird.

He is the Anglican Bishop of Manchester, Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch.

You can read the whole debate over at Irene's blog (and it's worth reading) but here is his intervention:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I declare an interest as chairman of the Council of Christians and Jews. Does the Minister agree that if any academic seminar is to be worth while, it needs to address at some stage the serious and complex issues that relate to the theology of land in the Middle East, most particularly in Israel? Until those issues are addressed, the fine line which exists between concerns about Israeli policy and where they begin to merge into anti-Semitism is a serious one, deserving of the most stringent academic exploration.