At prayer with the new Carey Conservatism; FAITH & REASON

The Church of England may once again be becoming the Tory Party at prayer, suggests Paul Handley - but not for reasons which will please either organisation.

Perhaps it's just the hairline - or maybe the tired look about the eyes - but I keep getting William Hague and George Carey mixed up. It has been particularly bad this week, with the pair of them making long and important speeches within four days of each other: both staring into the future, both very definitely not seeing any void.

It was Tony Blair, of course, who first demonstrated how a party-conference address could sound like a sermon; but it wasn't until this week that I realised how a sermon, or rather, a lecture, by the Archbishop could sound like a party-conference address. Like William Hague's conference address, to be precise. Mr Hague told the party faithful at Blackpool last Friday: "Fresh, open, clear and united: that's what I wanted to see, and that is what has been delivered." Dr Carey's themes in his "vision for the millen-nium" lecture in Leicestershire on Monday night were confidence, mission (which meant openness) and unity.

"Never again will we have a divided organisation," said Mr Hague. "Unity and interdependence is God's vision for his creation," said Dr Carey. "Never again will the voice of our members go unheard," said Mr Hague. "How very tardy we have been in the past to recognise the ministry of the laity!" said Dr Carey. And so on. One of them used the phrase "I believe" 11 times, and it wasn't Dr Carey.

Perhaps the similarities in style are not that surprising, since both leaders have the same problem: a large, well-established organisation which is used to being in power and which is having to cope with the fact that it isn't. In the case of the Conservative Party, the loss of power came suddenly, and the numb, shell-shocked expression was still to be seen on the faces in Blackpool. For the Church of England there has been no election to lose: just a slow decline of numbers and influence over many years, leaving the faithful looking resigned and morose. In response, Mr Hague and Dr Carey have adopted similar tactics.

First: be honest about the past. "I want to tell you about a changing Conservatism that acknowledges its mistakes," said Mr Hague. "I have never denied the fact that statistics show numerical decline," said Dr Carey.

Second: present things in the best possible light. For Mr Hague, this is easy: anything that the Labour Government does which is successful and popular, must be shown to have originally been a Tory policy. Dr Carey has to rely a little more heavily on rhetoric. In his lecture, he listed some of the things we should celebrate about the modern Church of England. The simultaneous translation is mine. "Our capacity for reform and self- renewal has been demonstrated again and again. [With our backs to the wall, we've had to do something.] The empowerment of lay people. [Not enough priests.] Burgeoning numbers of non-stipendiary ministers. [Not enough money to pay them.] Reforms in the Church Commissioners and our national institutions. [Nearly not enough money to pay me.] The ordination of thousands of women to the priesthood. [Not enough men; besides, it's easier to get women to work for nothing.] Dynamic evangelising initiatives. [See next point.]"

Third, and most important: recruit or die. Last week's Sunday Times carried a critical report about Church of England bishops going "soft on sin": despite repeated claims that the Church upholds the institution of marriage, several bishops had admitted that they would not anathematise couples who were "living in sin". Three days later, the Jewish Chronicle carried an attack on William Hague by the former Chief Rabbi, Lord Jakobovits, who accused him of ditching traditional morality. "The Conservative Party used to insist on maintaining family values. It now wants to abandon this for a few votes."

In all this the Anglicans use a similar lexicon to the Tories. For both organisations, then, the discovery of a liberal, compassionate heart has grown out of failure and desperation. This does not make it any less genuine: confident, successful organisations seldom have the desire or the capacity to draw in new and potential disruptive recruits; or, if they do draw them in, they expect the recruits to change, not the organisation. With such a mindset, the organisation, be it a party or a church, doesn't stay successful for long.

So, is the Church of England becoming, once again, the Conservative Party at prayer? This was the one point where the two leaders differed. Mr Hague told his supporters that his party had "got up off its knees". Dr Carey hopes that his supporters will stay on theirs.

Faith & Reason is edited by Paul Vallely