A Christian camper writes…
Poor old Church of England. They were hoping to get away with another 100 years of not saying anything at all about anything at all, then OccupyLSX comes and lands on their doorstep. What a pickle they’re in. What’s that they’re moaning about? Injustice? Theft? Something about the massive concentration of wealth and power in a few hands? Gosh. Should we say something…?
It took a while, but finally a couple of senior church figures spoke out. George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, cast his loving arms about the protest, and branded it “opportunistic and cynical”. Carey cried out against the injustice at the heart of the occupation: that “yet another blow has been struck against Christian worshippers” who can’t get into the cathedral to pray. Because, don’t forget, there aren’t any other empty churches in central London.
His sentiments chimed with the Bishop of London, who summoned up every last ounce of charity in his bones to say: “the time has come for the protesters to leave, before the camp’s presence threatens to eclipse entirely the issues that it was set up to address.” Yes. We wouldn’t want a few dozen tents and some homemade banners eclipsing the impending global financial collapse. Good point, Bishop.
To be fair to both these venerable clerics, it’s likely that in their busy lives as churchmen they’ve never managed to find time to read the Bible. If they had, they would have seen Jesus telling his disciples: “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Mark 10:21). They’d have heard him say he had come “to preach good news to the poor” and “to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).
To many Christians, the closing of St Paul’s and the chilly reception from senior clergy, has been a real crisis of faith – a “scandalon” in the ancient Greek. There’s a schism growing, between those who would cast out the protesters, and those who are scandalised by the moral weakness of the Church. Tony Gosling of Bristol says that: “many would be shocked that you have to pay to enter a cathedral, so that the poor – whom Jesus’ ministry was all about – are excluded from the temple! Extraordinary.”
He also notes that irony that “there is evidence St. Paul himself was a tentmaker. St. Paul’s chapter are supposed to be stewarding the land using Christ’s teachings and looking after these dispossessed. The people there in the tents have come because they have been shut out of the democratic process.”
And coming there, we find ourselves facing eviction. And have a former Archbishop condemn their “self-indulgence” for being there. Jesus Christ must be spinning in his grave. Oh no, hang on…