After 30 years chained to the organ of my local church, I know one thing. Organists and vicars are the Montagues and Capulets of the ecclesiastical world – two tribes, forced into close proximity, yet doomed to bicker unto eternity. They are usually united by a desire to use their respective talents to glorify God, yet separated by a gulf of mutual incomprehension.

Organists often think that priests and their sermons get in the way of the main reason why people still go to church – which is to have a good sing. Priests think organists have missed the point of religion. Many also believe that organists who favour traditional hymns and robed choirs are handicaps rather than assets in church communities struggling to attract young families. They would much rather use a couple of guitarists and a drummer. Both tribes are appallingly remunerated. But whereas an Anglican vicar will customarily receive free lodging and is virtually unsackable, an organist is (or was, until today) peculiarly vulnerable. For an annual salary unlikely to exceed £5,000, and often much less, he or she will be expected to play every Sunday, plus high days such as Christmas, Good Friday and Ash Wednesday, and probably run a weekly choir practice as well. Yet there are countless instances of organists being summarily sacked, simply because their musical tastes don’t coincide with the vicar’s.

The new ruling may change that. Or, if it gives organists the right to stay put in parishes where they are hopelessly at odds with the clergy, it may make things worse. The feud has gone on since the 18th-century days of J. S. Bach, who spent almost as much energy writing vitriolic letters to his employers, the Leipzig church authorities, as he did composing his mighty toccatas and fugues. It’s unlikely to stop now.