Tag Archives: Occupy St. Paul’s

Occupy Christians removed from the steps of St. Paul’s

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From here:

A group of Anglican clerics have called on St Paul’s Cathedral to fully explain why praying Christians were dragged by police from the steps of the famous landmark during the eviction of the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp.

Five praying Christians were forcibly removed from the cathedral steps during the operation, despite the fact that an eviction order had only been granted for the land opposite St Paul’s which is owned by the City of London Corporation.

To some degree the Occupy protesters can be excused their incoherent protest against capitalism; the poor benighted souls, brains addled with Marxism and marijuana, could scarcely be expected to know better.

Christians, though, should. Praying on the steps of St. Paul’s was an act of asinine vane posturing; did they think that God wouldn’t be able to hear them from inside?

They should have been the first to be arrested.

Occupy St. Paul’s invited into a school

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From here:

The group behind the anti-capitalist protests outside St Paul’s Cathedral is to be invited into schools to teach pupils how to start their own campaigns.

Teenagers will learn about the Occupy movement, which has for months blighted London with its ‘Tent City’ protest, as part of their citizenship lessons.

Critics have attacked the move, warning head teachers it is ‘dangerous’.
It is feared that protesters could use the opportunity to indoctrinate youngsters and gain fresh recruits.

[….]

Mr Kelsey-Fry insisted that pupils will not be indoctrinated with Occupy’s beliefs, adding: ‘We want them to further their own ways of engagement. It’s not a recruiting situation.’

That’s a relief; for a moment I thought that the only reason the tent brigade could possibly have for going into schools was to convince children that they, too, should pick up their tents and Occupy.

What I had forgotten is that they would probably not be allowed to do what must be done for an effective recruitment drive: urinate on someone. Not on the first visit, anyway.

St Paul's occupiers to be evicted

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The Occupy St. Paul’s protesters have lost their court battle and will be evicted.

Reaction from the church was predictable:

The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, commenting on the ruling, said: ‘Whatever now happens as a result of today’s judgment, the protest has brought a number of vital themes to prominence.

‘These are themes that the St Paul’s Institute remains committed to exploring and, now through London Connection, we want to ensure they continue to have a voice.

‘Bishops cannot have all the answers to what are complex economic problems. What we can do, however, is broker communications and make sure that a proper connection between finance and its ethical and moral context is found.’

It will be a profound relief to the clergy of St. Paul’s to return to the main mission of the Church of England: criticising capitalism from comfy armchairs, sherry in hand, without the tedious inconvenience of having to wade through a tide of smelly protesters first.

 

A permanent tent may be erected in St. Paul’s

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From here:

He [Richard Chartres] said the encampment, that is currently fighting eviction orders, should leave some kind of tribute to the anti-capitalist message the protesters have been trying to get across.

It has been suggested a tent could be erected in the church itself where people can come together to discuss a more fair way to distribute income from the banks and work with companies to improve corporate responsibility.

The Rt Rev Chartres has called for the protesters to move on but he has also talked about the importance of listening to the powerless and looking after the poor, especially during a recession and at Christmas.

It’s taken 20 centuries to progress from the money changers to the money redistributors, so it’s high time the church which has made a religion of socialism installed an idol to its god.

Occupiers write 666 on St. Paul’s

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From here:

St Paul’s Cathedral has been ‘desecrated’ by the anti-capitalist protesters camped in its churchyard, the High Court heard yesterday.

Nicholas Cottam, the cathedral registrar, said graffiti vandals had attacked the 300-year-old building several times during the two-month occupation.

On one occasion they scrawled the ‘blasphemous sign 666’ – which represents the devil – on one of the famous pillars at the front of the cathedral.

[….]

He added that there were a number of clergy and staff at the cathedral who were ‘inspired’ by the message of the protest.

Which part of the “message of the protest” managed to “inspire” the clergy, I wonder?

Were the clergy inspired by the “666”? Is one of them the Antichrist?

It seems that you can desecrate, defecate in and deface the cathedral not just with impunity but with inspiration, so long as it’s all done in the name of anti-capitalism.

And the Church of England can’t understand why no-one takes it seriously.

Turning the tables on Rowan Williams

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Rowan Williams, having bungled his job as leader of the Anglican communion, now confines most of his bon mots to setting the British government straight. David Cameron, taking his cue from the Archbishop of Canterbury has a few suggestions of his own:

David Cameron last night called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to lead a return to the ‘moral code’ of the Bible.

In a highly personal speech about faith, the Prime Minister accused Dr Rowan Williams of failing to speak ‘to the whole nation’ when he criticised Government austerity policies and expressed sympathy with the summer rioters.

Mr Cameron declared Britain ‘a Christian country’ and said politicians and churchmen should not be afraid to say so.

Will Rowan Williams, after being revived with smelling salts, respond by pointing out that declaring Britain a Christian country is not inclusive enough for the Church of England? Will he repeat his plea to adopt sharia law? Will he point out that, as a Druid, he is free of dogma and any fixed set of beliefs or practices and can’t understand all this “moral code” and “Bible” nonsense.

Or will he give his anti-capitalist inclinations full expression by joining the other dishevelled, bearded man in a Christmas protest at St. Paul’s?

Rowan Williams confuses the steps of St. Paul’s with Tiananmen Square

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In 1989 millions of people gathered in Tiananmen Square to protest their totalitarian government and demand democracy. China’s military responded with guns and tanks killing hundreds of people in what became known as the Massacre in Tiananmen Square. Local hospitals filled with the wounded and dying and these images became iconic:

 

 

The occupiers of the steps of St. Paul’s took advantage of the fact that they already live in a democracy to broadcast their outrage at the recently discovered abomination that some people are paid a lot and others aren’t. Not only was no-one was shot at by police, but sympathetic clergy persuaded the police to leave, providing a tacit invitation for the protesters to stay – which they did.

There is as much similarity between these two events as there is between the first world war and a teddy bears’ picnic. That’s not the way Rowan Williams sees it, though:

He added that St Paul’s had become “a theatre” in which conflicts were played out and urban landscapes were often the scenes of defining, dramatic moments in history, citing Tiananmen Square, Cairo and Athens as examples.

The only conflict being played out in the theatre of St. Paul’s is the one between muddled clergy who can’t decide whether it’s better to promote social justice by letting the step squatters stay, or whether prophetic social justice making is served more deeply by collecting the £20,000 daily from visitors who are slightly more well heeled than the churls presently impeding their entrance.

Pick up your tent and walk

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The Rev. Graham Taylor has a truly radical idea for the St. Paul’s occupiers, based on the Bible verse that seems to have escaped the attention of other ecclesiastical potentates from the Church of England: 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

Graham Taylor is a successful author of children’s books (well, some adults including me like them, too), including his best known book, Shadowmancer; funnily enough, he’s always had to work for a living.

From here:

It is damnable that such a good man as Graham Knowles should be forced out by a crisis on the church steps which has the sole purpose of hijacking the media spotlight. Is there no one in the Church brave enough to say what most of the right-minded people in this country really feel about those surrounding our nations foremost church?

The Church should have realised that any offer of help to the anti-capitalists would have been used against them. If the protesters were people of honour, they would have thanked the Dean for his hospitality and moved on. St Paul’s Chapter should have been firm from the start, robust in its message and united in its determination for law and order.

I believe that the message of Jesus to the protesters would be to tell them to pick up their tents and walk – get a job – for the worker is worth his keep and not to be kept on state benefits. Much of what Jesus taught was tough love. It was about sacrifice, community and commitment.

His call to the protesters would be to put the time they spend sitting in their tents working for those who are really in need. If they are truly concerned about the economic crisis, then they should be contributing with hard work instead of hard talk. Their idle words should be translated into care for those around them.

In these difficult financial times, it is very easy to blame the bankers and financiers for all our financial woes. They have become the demonic enemy to be cast out of the City.

Yet, this dispute isn’t about the poor; it is an attack by a motivated liberalati on the way in which we live in this country. It is an attack not on our financial institutions but on our way of life. I have to ask those protesting about poverty why don’t they go and sweep the streets of the housing estates or clean up the mess still left over from the riots? After all, that is what Jesus would do.

And now for something completely different

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An Anglican clergyman says something sensible about how Christianity might be applied to the financial mess and the St. Paul’s occupation.

Read it all here:

The best thing the Church seemed to be able to come up with was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s support for a new ‘Robin Hood’ tax — in other words, another financial instrument to add to the pile. But what might have been a better response, given the complexity of the issues involved?

The first answer in any realm of public responsibility lies in the model Jesus Christ set before his followers, as the Lord of all who nevertheless came “not to be served, but to serve”.

I remember a lecturer many years ago who argued that this ought to be the guiding principle of Christians in the arts. The first goal of the artist, he said, should not be self-expression but service of others. The answer to the question, “What should I paint or sculpt or design?” should be, “What could I paint or sculpt or design that would be of benefit to someone else?”

Yet this can apply to financiers as much as to artists. The guiding principle here should be not “How much money can we make?” but, “How can I best be of service?” In every occupation and relationship, those who claim to follow Christ should follow his example of being “the servant of all”.

 

Rowan Williams interviewed on the St. Paul’s protest

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At around the 3 minute mark, the interviewer asks:

“Has the church seized the opportunity to put the Christian message forward?”

To which Rowan Williams, apparently missing the point, answers :

“There’s actually been quite a lot coming from the church in the last 18 months or 2 years on the economic crisis”.

Needless to say, none of what the church has said about the economic crisis had much to do with the Christian message, unless you believe that the Christian message is one of correcting the apparent failings of capitalism by redistributing wealth as prescribed by the dogma of socialism.