LILY ALLEN is in more trouble over her views on drugs, this time from the church.
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Yesterday, LondonNet ran a piece about the singer’s upcoming debut as a West End actor, a story that raised a barbed response from the Bishop of Greater London, Jonathan Blake.
“Get her to stop advocating drug taking first please,” Blake said, via Twitter.
“Lily Allen has her moments but she’s no Amy Winehouse,” was our reply to Blake, a leading member of the Open Episcopal Church and the holy man who presided over the wedding of tragic reality TV star Jade Goody.
Blake hit back by referring to quotes from Allen in which she seems to back drug-taking.
“Recently she has declared that she takes drugs and thinks its fine to do so,” said Blake.
“Drug taking causes greater devastation than terrorism and we wouldn’t welcome a terrorist onto a London stage,” he added this afternoon.
The Allen quote Blake was referring to read: “I found [drugs] and find them fun and I don’t think I’m a bad person because of it. I can’t live a lie.
“I think that, as long as you’re not being malicious and hurting people, you should not be ashamed of what you do.”
The Fear singer has been in schtuck before on the drugs issue.
“The only story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you; you will become a prostitute, a rapist or a dealer,” she said back in January.
“But that’s not true. I know lots of people that take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work every day, no problem at all.”
After that line blew some bad publicity Allen’s way, her handlers issued a firm anti-drugs statement.
“Lily Allen would like to state unequivocally that she does not condone illegal drug use and has every sympathy with individuals and families whose lives have been blighted by drugs,” it read.
In general, Blake is on the liberal wing of Christianity, favouring, for instance, gay marriage and the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. On drugs, however, he holds a tough line.
“While ever government, parents or friends send out a soft or liberal message re cannabis, they are complicit with the devastating effects this has upon others,” he says.
Blake’s solution to the drugs problem is for addicts to use consecrated hosts – the wafer-breads seen in some churches – at times of deepest craving.
“I want to encourage all those who have a damaging material addiction to replace it with the reception of the Body of Christ,” he advises.
“Carry consecrated Hosts with you at all times and pop them as many times as you need.”
Allen is currently in Brazil for a mini-tour involving gigs in Sau Paolo and Rio de Janiero. She is due to start a full-on British tour in November, with several nights at the Brixton Academy.
