The refined art of Anglican hypocrisy:

After what it must have deemed a decent interval since triggering a furore over its attack on traders and bankers as “robbers and assassins” last year, the Church of England is shamelessly seeking more yield.

Just to refresh your memory, Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church, last September said it was right to ban short selling, while John Sentamu, archbishop of York, called traders who cashed in on falling prices “bank robbers and asset strippers“.

But the Church Commissioners had a tough year in 2008, as the Church’s total assets dropped from £5.7bn to £4.4bn, a 23 per cent fall over the period. Clearly, faith alone was not enough.

As the FT’s People column reports on Wednesday in an appropriately headlined piece “God meets Joy”, the Church of England has appointed fund manager Tom Joy to run its £4.4bn investment portfolio from a “very strong field of more than 70 applicants”.

Tom Joy of RMB Asset Management manages hedge funds which – you guessed it – employ as one of its techniques, asset stripping short selling.

In commenting upon the appointment of Joy a spokesman noted:

The spokesman added that belief in God wasn’t a necessary requirement for someone to take up the job.

This is entirely understandable,  since one does not have to believe in God to take up the job of Anglican bishop either.