The Church of England and Wonga - a tale of hypocrisy

[Staunton]

Hang on! - About half of the regular posters on this forum claim they don't want anything to do with churches and ridicule them for their belief in 'sky pixies'... It's strange how that changes when they want the churches to give them something, though, isn't it?

 

That late first century text that I referred to in an earlier post which goes by the title of Luke makes much of the term 'neighbour', whilst the Matthew text's message about the centrality of loving god and neighbour is unambiguous.

 

However, Sheffield Cathedral managed to combine a spectacular level of hypocricy with a hopeless failure to recognise the opportunity offered by Occupy Sheffield – simultaneously referring to the monumentally monstrous Barclays Bank as their 'neighbour' whilst viciously sticking the boot in to those at their gate whose 'hunger and thirst for righteousness' (Matthew, 5: 6) was clear for all to see.

 

The church was not being asked to give something, it was given a chance to live up to its fundamental principles – and it failed!

[Hairyloon]

However, Sheffield Cathedral managed to combine a spectacular level of hypocricy with a hopeless failure to recognise the opportunity offered by Occupy Sheffield...

 

Let us not start that up again. I had high hopes for the Occupy movement... and then I met Occupy Sheffield Cathedral.

 

Ignoring them though, the Occupy movement overall were in a position to accomplish something, but they let themselves get rail-roaded by the rent-a-mob career protesters.

[Staunton]

Let us not start that up again. I had high hopes for the Occupy movement... and then I met Occupy Sheffield Cathedral.

 

Ignoring them though, the Occupy movement overall were in a position to accomplish something, but they let themselves get rail-roaded by the rent-a-mob career protesters.

 

This is precisely the point I am making - if Sheffield Cathedral had embraced that 'hunger and thirst for righteousness' instead of giving way to a gutless cringing before Barclays Bank and HSBC, there might have been a real opportunity to articulate a powerful argument to counter the poisonous neoliberal agenda of the financial sector and their friends in government.

[Mr Bloom]

Hang on! - About half of the regular posters on this forum claim they don't want anything to do with churches and ridicule them for their belief in 'sky pixies'... It's strange how that changes when they want the churches to give them something, though, isn't it?

 

What difference does that make? Did Jesus say only help other Christians? I don't think so. Poverty affects Christians and non-Christians alike. It's not the CofE's place to differentiate.

 

To be honest I don't think our church acted in a very 'Christian' manner with regard to the Occupy movement, quite the opposite in fact.

 

I think the people complaining are not necessarily wanting the 'churches to give them something' but want the church to do what is morally right.

[Hairyloon]

This is precisely the point I am making - if Sheffield Cathedral had embraced that 'hunger and thirst for righteousness' instead of giving way to a gutless cringing before Barclays Bank and HSBC, there might have been a real opportunity to articulate a powerful argument to counter the poisonous neoliberal agenda of the financial sector and their friends in government.

The Cathedral gave the campers ample opportunity to demonstrate something worth embracing.

[Staunton]

The Cathedral gave the campers ample opportunity to demonstrate something worth embracing.

 

The cathedral was vague and ambivalent during the initial stage of Occupy, and became highly cynical and hostile in the ensuing weeks.

 

But this is to miss the point - that the church failed to embrace the cry for justice that the Occupy movement represents. And in so doing they failed to live up to the fundamental principles of the faith they so publicly profess. This highlights the hypocrisy of the Established Church and represents a shameful legacy that is of devastating impact to the institution.

[Rupert_Baehr]

The cathedral was vague and ambivalent during the initial stage of Occupy, and became highly cynical and hostile in the ensuing weeks.

 

But this is to miss the point - that the church failed to embrace the cry for justice that the Occupy movement represents. And in so doing they failed to live up to the fundamental principles of the faith they so publicly profess. This highlights the hypocrisy of the Established Church and represents a shameful legacy that is of devastating impact to the institution.

 

Not at all!

 

Occupy targetted the wrong department. The department they went after is the 'Sky Pixie' department.

 

The 'Let's build hospitals, universities and schools; lets hand out money to anybody who wants it' department moved a couple of years ago.

 

As for the 'devastating impact to the institution' somebody else was complaining that they hadn't managed to squander their pension funds. They seem to manage to get by, so who, exactly, is being 'devastated'?

 

Surely all those who are far too smart to be taken in by the Sky Pixie brigade can get their act together and do their bit to provide support to the needy Occupy?

 

(Or do they think occupy should support themselves?)

[Staunton]

Occupy targetted the wrong department. The department they went after is the 'Sky Pixie' department.

 

The 'Let's build hospitals, universities and schools; lets hand out money to anybody who wants it' department moved a couple of years ago.

 

As for the 'devastating impact to the institution' somebody else was complaining that they hadn't managed to squander their pension funds. They seem to manage to get by, so who, exactly, is being 'devastated'?

 

Surely all those who are far too smart to be taken in by the Sky Pixie brigade can get their act together and do their bit to provide support to ... Occupy?

 

Occupy did not target the church, they targeted the people of Sheffield, with the express hope of raising awareness of the devastating impact that free market capitalism is having, both locally and globally.

 

Among other things, they were supporting the notion that our hospitals and schools should be maintained rather than handed over to cynical corporate operators, and that supporting the vulnerable and the needy is more important than giving bonuses to multi-millionaire bankers.

 

These themes should be central to the agenda of the church, an institution which is unequivocally founded on the principle of love for neighbour. That the cathedral failed to recognise this is a sad reflection on the condition of Anglicanism in the 21st century.

[Hairyloon]

The cathedral was vague and ambivalent during the initial stage of Occupy, and became highly cynical and hostile in the ensuing weeks.

Hmmm. I wonder what brought that on?

Could it be the same reasons that made me cynical and hostile towards them?

[Halibut]

Hmmm. I wonder what brought that on?

Could it be the same reasons that made me cynical and hostile towards them?

 

I don't know - why were you cynical and hostile towards them?