Barry Morgan

Barry Morgan (born 1947) has been the leader and Archbishop of the Church in Wales since 2003.

Archbishop Morgan was born in Neath, Glamorgan, and studied at University College, London, and Selwyn College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1973 and became a parish priest and later a lecturer in theology. In 1993 he became Bishop of Bangor and in 1999 Bishop of Llandaff. He is Welsh-speaking, and has written books on various subjects, including the poetry of R. S. Thomas.

In September 2006, he challenged the UK government's plans to renew the Trident nuclear missile system. According to the BBC, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/5362342.stm BBC NEWS | Wales | Archbishop hits out over Trident ] ] he expressed concern "about the government's apparent commitment to a long-term replacement for the Trident weapons system. With that kind of money we could prevent 16,000 children dying every day from diseases caused by impure water and malnutrition. The deaths of 16,000 children a day is the equivalent of 40 jumbo jets crashing every day of every week. Our world would not tolerate that - just look at what happens when our airports grind to a halt. But we do tolerate hunger, poverty and impure water, and are prepared to contemplate spending our resources on weapons of mass destruction." The Archbishop clarified that the view expressed were his own, and not those of the Church in Wales, however, the Church Governing body later supported his views, [http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/press/0339e.html] supporting the motion that "...the Governing Body deplore the decision of Her Majesty’s Government to consider the maintenance and renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons programme."

In December 2007, Morgan blamed "fundamentalist atheism" for the phenomeneon of de-Christianisation in public life, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7156783.stm BBC NEWS | Wales | 'Atheistic fundamentalism' fears ] ] saying that Christmas was being called "Winterval," hospitals were removing Christian symbols from their chapels, and schools were refusing to allow children to send Christmas cards. [http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/uk-and-world-news/2007/12/22/archbishop-in-attack-on-atheists-84229-20279788] This attack has followed in a tradition of similar attacks claiming that atheists are destroying Christmas, [ [http://www.secularism.org.uk/whatthesetheyrebanningchristmass.html National Secular Society - What these “they’re banning Christmas” scare stories really mean ] ] a charge hotly contested by secular and atheist groupsFact|date=February 2008.

Offices held

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