Should we ever applaud a church leader making a political statement?

I ask because of reports in the UK that the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England, is ready to slam the government's Big Society programme, saying it will be an excuse to cut state support for the vulnerable. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/23/rowan-williams-big-society-cameron

Like most liberals…

Interesting story in the UK today; Richard Dawkins approves of government plan to put Bible in all state schools.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/may/19/richard-dawkins-backs-free-bible

Prompted two thoughts. One is that there's a lot of complaints from christian groups here that they are persecuted by militant secularists, and this shows that atheism is essentially a tolerant…