Worsening Wonga-gate

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It seems that the Church of England has investments not only in Wonga but in gambling, tobacco, pornography and arms dealing, not to mention alcohol – I expect that is just communion wine, though.

I think that the real problem is not so much what the church invests in, but how much it has to invest in the first place. An organisation that wastes no opportunity to heap opprobrium on a secular government for not doing enough for the poor, is sitting on £5.2billion which, instead of distributing to the poor, it invests, taking advantage of the capitalist system of which it disapproves, at the highest possible interest rate, all the while venting its indignation on Wonga for – that’s right – charging the highest possible interest rate.

From here:

It also emerged that the Church’s ‘ethical’ rules allow it to invest its £5.2billion assets in firms involved in gambling, tobacco and alcohol.

Even firms involved in arms dealing, pornography and human cloning are not barred from receiving Church investment.

The Archbishop confirmed the Church had a £75,000 stake in US venture capital firm Accel Partners, which injected capital into Wonga in 2009.

Wonga arrives in Canada to the sound of Justin Welby gnashing his teeth

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I’d never heard of Wonga until today but, thanks to the free advertising provided by Justin Welby, I’ve not only heard of the company but discovered that it now has a Canadian branch.

The Archbishop of Canterbury – eager to set the world to rights, presumably because it looks easier than setting his church to rights – was furious to discover that, having denounced Wonga, the CofE has indirect investments in it; Wonga is a short term loan company with outrageous interest rates.

Investing in Wonga is, according to Anglican lights, not ethical, implying that Wonga itself is not ethical. The reason, I imagine, is Wonga’s interest rates: if you borrow $500 from Wonga and repay it in one month, you will have to repay $600 – 20% interest per month. That is atrociously high; but unethical? Surely it would only be unethical if the actual interest rate were concealed from the hapless borrower until it was time to repay.

When does an interest rate cross the threshold from ethical to unethical? A credit card company’s 1.5% per month is still high but it doesn’t seem to have met the Anglican criterion needed for ritual excoriation.

Justin Welby clearly doesn’t think charging interest on a loan is inherently unethical because he wants to set up credit unions in competition with Wonga. They will still charge interest but they won’t make a profit.

So profit – or capitalism, really – is the enemy.

Here we go again: another Archbishop of Canterbury who hates capitalism.

Anglican Church of Canada asks clergy for three-year extension to bridge underfunded pension plan

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Ironically, one of the threats the Anglican Church of Canada holds over clergy considering extricating themselves from its tender embrace to join ANiC is that they would be jeopardising their pensions by leaving.

As it turns out, clergy may be jeopardising their pensions by staying.

From here:

The Anglican Church of Canada is asking members of its pension plan to vote in favour of a proposal that would buy it more time before having to top up its underfunded pension plan by hiking premiums or cutting benefits.

By law, the plan must have the support of two-thirds of members before government will consider giving their OK to the proposal. A vote is scheduled for Sept. 6 in which the plan members hope to get permission from its active, inactive and retired membership.

[….]

Pension liabilities are calculated in two broad ways. They are valued on a “going concern” basis (that measures the plan’s health on the assumption it will operate indefinitely) and on a “solvency” basis — which measures the plan’s ability to pay all its debts if it were liquidated immediately.

On the first count, the church’s plan isn’t faring too poorly. At the end of the church’s last fiscal year, the pension plan had $602.8 million in assets, but a $28.7 million shortfall. Still, that’s considered 95 per cent funded over the long term. On the second count, however, the plan faces a cash crunch. The Anglican Church’s pension plan is only 70.5 per cent funded on a solvency basis were it to be wound up tomorrow.

The plan’s administrators are asking for a three-year extension on having to address that gap. The hope is that by then, the plan’s finances will have improved, no doubt helped along by rising interest rates that improve the plan’s valuation.

“With funding relief, we will have three years to try to improve our plan’s funding level,” the plan administrators told pension members in a recent letter. “At the end of three years, we will do another valuation of the plan. If there is still a solvency funding shortfall, we will likely have no choice but to cut benefits.”

The church’s pension plan returned 13.2 per cent last year, and has averaged 7.5 per cent per year for the past decade.

A spokesperson for the Anglican Church of Canada declined to comment on the story.

Justin Welby: diversity is a gift

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If by “diversity´ in a Christian context, one means things like diverse styles of worship or diverse church architecture, then perhaps diversity is a gift.

If by “diversity” one means a multiplicity of religions such as Islam, Christianity and Hinduism, then diversity is an unwanted gift. If the claims of Christianity are true, then all other religions have, to a large degree, got it wrong; their followers are deceived and their good works, insofar as they don’t lead to salvation, in vain.

Unfortunately, Justin Welby appears to be using “diversity” in the latter sense.

From here:

Archbishop Justin told his audience that diversity was a “gift not a threat” and he did not want to live in a “monocultural” society. He said he “rejoiced” in the example of inter faith co-operation and community work he had witnessed in Southall.

Archbishop Justin was speaking after visiting St John’s Church, the Shree Ram Mandir Hindu Temple and the Sikh Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, where 20,000 free meals are served every week in Southall. He also met Muslim leaders, currently observing the Ramadan fast, at the Central Jamia Masjid Mosque in Southall.

The Diocese of Niagara’s addition to Canon 4.6

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Canon 4.6 is full of turgid prose offering advice on things like where to stick your solar panels and what sort of permit is needed before erecting a tent within three metres of a building.

There is this interesting sentence, though, added in July 2013, displayed prominently in both the full document and much briefer summary:

All church buildings and land are either the property of the diocese or are held in trust on behalf of the diocese.

Parishioners basking in the blissful delusion that what they pay for they own, beware: you don’t, the diocese owns everything, even the tents.

A contrast in responses from Justin Welby

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Archbishop Justin Welby’s reaction to attacks on mosques following the murder of Lee Rigby by Muslims contains words like: “evil”, “unacceptable” (the PC version of “evil”), “inexcusable”, “scandal”, “terrible”. He had little difficulty in roundly condemning the attacks – quite rightly, since some of the foiled attacks used nail bombs:

Speaking at Featherstone High School in Southall, west London, the Most Rev Justin Welby described attacks on mosques in the wake of the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby earlier this year as “evil actions”.

“The attacks on minority ethnic groups across the country that there have been over the last few weeks are inexecusable, [sic] unacceptable and a scandal to a tradition of hospitality in this country of which we should be deeply proud and which has contributed far more to us than it has taken from us,” he said.

He added: “I want, as I have already done, to acknowledge the pressure that our Muslim friends and colleagues have faced over the last few weeks.

“There have been terrible attacks, I know that the vast majority of those in this country and especially people of faith would join me in condemning utterly any act of violence against anyone because of their faith.

Contrast that with his official statement on Lee Rigby’s murder:

The Right Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said on Friday regarding Rigby’s murder that Christian and Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom have been helping to bring reconciliation. “I want to recognize the response of churches, mosques and other faith and civil society groups as well as those of brave individuals who have done so much to bring our communities together at this time,” said Welby.

“The strong response from the Muslim Council of Britain and many other organizations has rightly emphasized that these acts have no place in Islam.”

Welby also mentioned his involvement with the interfaith British organization the Christian Muslim Forum, which was founded in the 1990s and comprised of leaders from both faiths. “As Patron of the national Christian Muslim Forum I know that the Forum is offering support and encouragement for these meetings to happen and I continue to hold all those working in these efforts in my prayers,” said Welby.

The Right Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said on Friday regarding Rigby’s murder that Christian and Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom have been helping to bring reconciliation. “I want to recognize the response of churches, mosques and other faith and civil society groups as well as those of brave individuals who have done so much to bring our communities together at this time,” said Welby.

“The strong response from the Muslim Council of Britain and many other organizations has rightly emphasized that these acts have no place in Islam.”

Welby also mentioned his involvement with the interfaith British organization the Christian Muslim Forum, which was founded in the 1990s and comprised of leaders from both faiths. “As Patron of the national Christian Muslim Forum I know that the Forum is offering support and encouragement for these meetings to happen and I continue to hold all those working in these efforts in my prayers,” said Welby.

“This is very much a time for communities to come together.”

Notice the completely different emphasis here. Nothing about “evil”, “terrible”, “inexcusable” and so on; rather, the murder is a signal for reconciliation for us to come together to not blame Islam.

An act of ultimate wickedness – murder – is soft-pedalled because the murderers are Muslims.

Admittedly, imams were quick to denounce the murder and assure everyone that it had nothing to do with Islam; the murderers, we are expected to believe, shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the beheading due to a severe misunderstanding of Islam. Yet, there seems to be something inherent to Islam that inspires such violence, something absent in, say, Christianity; when was the last beheading performed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost?

To maintain his credibility – with me, at least – the Archbishop of Canterbury would do better if he could bring himself to condemn, with equal conviction, crimes perpetrated in the name of Islam – according to the clear and vociferous declaration of their perpetrators – and crimes attempted against Islam.

Jettison the impulse to give every benefit of the doubt to the cultural influence of Islam, none of which would be afforded the heritage of Christendom.

Tim Hortons bludgeoned into removing filtre blocking gay website

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When Tim Hortons blocked Dailyxtra.com – “everything gay, every day” – from its free WiFi access, it probably assumed that most customers didn’t want their children accidentally stumbling upon everything gay, every day.

It seems this provoked a twitter storm; profit being everything, Tim Hortons reversed its policy.

For years, Tim’s slogan has been: Always fresh. Now it’s Everything fresh and gay, every day.

From here:

Tim Hortons has apologized for blocking a gay and lesbian news website from its free in-store Wi-Fi networks.

The popular Canadian coffee chain was facing an online backlash Friday after it was revealed that it restricted customers from accessing Dailyxtra.com, the online home for the free newspaper Xtra that’s distributed in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

When the publication asked that the site be unblocked, assuming it might have been blacklisted in error, it received an email stating the site was “not appropriate for all ages viewing in a public environment.”

“We try to ensure that all of our guests can enjoy a safe and pleasant experience when visiting us. We look at all of these types of requests in detail in order to provide the most latitude we can while keeping our restaurants a friendly environment,” reads an email from the address timhortonswifi(at)timhortons.com, which Daily Xtra forwarded to The Canadian Press.

“While there is no way to change this decision, we can assure you that it was not an easy decision to make.”

On Friday afternoon a few hours after Twitter users began promising to boycott Tim Hortons, spokeswoman Michelle Robichaud apologized on behalf of the company and blamed a third-party service provider for the error and the resulting miscommunication.

Dailyxtra.com “shouldn’t have been blocked. In fact, we’re working on unblocking it. It may already be unblocked. It should’ve never been blocked in the first place,” Robichaud said in an interview.

 

Rev Tittle from Ponsonby steals the limelight

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After Rev Glynn Cardy refused to marry a same-sex couple, another vicar has out-liberalled him by offering to perform the ceremony.

Rev Tittle from Ponsonby will officiate for the delighted winners of the ZM Fabulous Gay Wedding Competition.

No, I’m not making this up – eat your heart out, Monty Python.

From here:

A vicar has stepped in to marry a gay couple as part of a radio station competition after an Anglican parish was unable to host the ceremony.

Reverend Dr Matt Tittle of the Auckland Unitarian Church in Ponsonby will officiate at the wedding of the couple that wins ZM’s Fabulous Gay Wedding competition.

The broadcaster had hoped to hold the event – on August 19, the day legislation allowing same sex marriage comes into force – at St Matthew-in-the-City parish in central Auckland.