If Ukraine has taught us anything it is a truth we should much rather ignore — that brutal violence is not racially or regionally confined, and that its effects are never just local. The ripples of atrocity and suffering elsewhere will always, sooner or later, reach our doors

Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, Mosaic Middle East Annual Report, 3 July

Crucially, most people don’t even know the policy exists — with frontline advice services across our region reporting countless families learning about the two-child limit [on Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit] after they have already had their third baby. Evidence has shown that the policy has had no impact on family size or choices made, but that it has simply pushed more families into poverty

Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, Northern Echo, 4 July

I absolutely believe in a woman’s right to choose. I do not believe in anyone’s right to deny the humanity of another. But we must not defend the former by insisting upon the latter. “Not yet a human” will always be a terrifying phrase

Giles Fraser, UnHerd, 30 June

Many people don’t leave Jesus or religion because they hate both. They leave because they realize how often we love theology more than people, control more than inclusivity, arrogance more than humility, assimilation more than freedom, and power more than love

Danté Stewart, US speaker and author, Twitter, 2 July

I’m having a big post-adrenaline dip as a thrilling weekend of Ordinations segues into a long staff meeting. What must it be like for the newly ordained?

Philip North, Bishop of Burnley, Twitter, 4 July

There is a good case for a national memorial commemorating the wrongs of the slave trade. . . But if the memorial is to tell the full story of Britain’s involvement in slavery and continue to educate future generations it must be more than a mea culpa and additionally acknowledge our central role in the global abolition of the malign trade

Michael Mosbacher, Spectator website, 2 July

Our youngest child is going into Year 10, so we needed to find a school place for him in London for September. When we went to see the school, we weren’t quite sure whether there would be any places but they said “no, no — everyone’s moving out of London to Brighton, why on earth do you want to move from Brighton back in to London?”

Archie Coates, Vicar of St Peter’s, Brighton, interviewed in The Argus, 3 July, about his move to London to be Vicar of Holy Trinity, Brompton (News, Leader comment, 10 December 2021)

We invite readers’ contributions. Quotations have to be from the past few days (or quoted therein), and we need author, source, and date. Please send promptly to: quotes@churchtimes.co.uk