A new item of clerical fashion has appeared: the rainbow dog collar. Clergy in the Church of England are being urged to wear rainbow collars during Lent in protest at the refusal by the House of Bishops to endorse same-sex marriage. The campaign is being led by the Anglican pressure group Inclusive Church, and uses the rainbow colours as a symbol of the gay-rights movement. The idea of using dog collars as a protest has been inspired by Archbishop of York John Sentamu’s dramatic gesture in 2007, when he cut up his clerical collar live on television in protest at Robert Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe, and declared that he would not wear it again until Mugabe was no longer the country’s president. On the issue of same-sex marriage, the House of Bishops’ statement last mon