So it came to pass that their Graces the Bishops, or perhaps the plural is exaggerated, pronounced themselves on the matter of IVF, not coincidentally just after the Government has started the process of legislating on the matter. 

I'm not about to go into any "angels on pinheads" arguments or try to point out, respectfully, that perhaps the matter of the intention of the parties does make something of a difference when it comes to differentiating between abortion and IVF, at least insofar as concerns moral grounds.  And before the Right to Lifers start hollering, I'm on record as being against abortion, though I would not arrogate to myself the right to judge any one else.

Nor am I about to mention my disgust at the way Their Graces described embryo freezing as the creation of orphanages and used other such emotive ideas, used to rouse the rabble and start some sort of Holy Crusade against IVF.  I have visions of the massed ranks of Muzewisti and assorted nuns marching up and down waving fiery crosses, but that might just be something I ate.

Just as an aside, it's going to be interesting to see Labour squirm their way out of this one: on the one hand they will want to appease the religious fundamentalists lest they lose a vote or two, while on the other they will want to pretend to be all progressive and trendy and try to shoot down the Government's ideas as not going far enough.  Quite a dilemma to be horned on, that.   No doubt they'll have a social impact assessment and tell us what they will do after the election, which would be par for the course.

But to get back to the main thrust of my argument, my disgust at Their Graces' way of putting across their argument, this is caused in the main by the way they called on the multitude of parents who have resorted to IVF to reconcile themselves with God, as if they were sinners cast out in the darkness and need to have a beacon to light their way back.  These are people who have gone through so much, with such tension and pain in their lives, to bring babies into the world and to love them and nurture them and these men, these inhabitants of a moral plane that so clearly they see to be loftily superior to where the rest of us live, blithely tell them they should atone for their sins.

If that isn't arrogance, what is it?