The Anglicans get neighbourly

[crocoduck]

If you live in the UK, be careful buying a house near a church. The Anglicans are hoping to make you pay for church repairs.

As the cost of repairing 12,000 listed churches rises, Anglican authorities are hoping to use an ancient law that requires nearby homeowners to foot part of the bill

People like Andrew and Gail Wallbank. In the early Nineties, they inherited Glebe Farm in Aston Cantlow in Warwickshire. They vaguely knew about the ancient covenant on the property, but thought that at most it meant putting a tenner in the vicar’s collecting bucket when he came round for a sherry before Christmas. Then, in 1994, they received a bill for £100,000 for their share of repairs to the nearby Saint John the Baptist church. They appealed, all the way up to the House of Lords, but lost in December 2008. The law may be an old one, but the obligation remained.
The Wallbanks were forced to sell Glebe Farm to pay. The local diocese of Coventry had a very simple reply. “The parish had to bring this action because they couldn’t get any financial support from any other agency.”

Their dilemma neatly encapsulates the crisis facing the custodians of the 12,000 listed Anglican parish churches around the country, two thirds of which are in rural areas with tiny and dwindling congregations struggling to pay maintenance bills. The desperation caused by this funding shortfall has been brought into sharp relief this week by the news that thousands of homeowners living near ancient churches potentially face large bills for the upkeep of their fabric, even if they never set foot inside them.

[FSM]

WTF?
Are they serious?
I think I'd rather declare myself bankrupt than pay those bastards one red cent

Dave.

[gruber]

How the fuck is this law even upheld, extorting money off people who dont even belong to the religion.

[rayne]

Well I know what to look for when getting my next house so I can avoid them..

[Darwinsbulldog]

The UK seriously and urgently need to look at some of their old laws.

[Logic please]

Originally Posted by Such xtian compassion for others...

The Wallbanks were forced to sell Glebe Farm to pay. The local diocese of Coventry had a very simple reply. “The parish had to bring this action because they couldn’t get any financial support from any other agency.”

Well no, actually.

They didn't have to bring this action, at all. They made a conscious choice to impose upon those who have the (arguably now) multiplied misfortune to live near a church, rather than to limit their fundraising to the people that fucking well use the church building.

Both cost-shifting and blame-shifting, all in one fell swoop. Hey bishops, you don't need to wonder why your religion might be somewhat *on the nose* with the rest of society, eh.

[Mjt]

This just puts into stark relief where the churches priorities lie- in their fancy buildings, and not in people
And they wonder why they are struggling for support. I wonder how many of their actual congregation had to sell their farms to pay for the work that was done?
They should all be thoroughly ashamed of themselves

[Sieveboy]

Originally Posted by The Irreverent Mr Black

The CofE, in E itself, is pretty-well a State-established religion.

What with a few Bishops in the House of Lords, etc, the privilege is well-entrenched.

I see yet another argument for secularisation of charity.

26 of the house of lords are Lords Spiritual, 92 members are heriditary and the balance of 775 members are appointed. Not sure how they break down in terms of goddists to freethinkers but I doubt that the balance is in favour of the freethinkers.

[Mithridates]

Next they'll be fining people for playing football after church on Sundays, instead of practicing their longbow shooting (one of Edward III's laws apparently still on the statute books in the UK).

It illustrates what lies at the heart of religion despite all its lip-service to spirituality - money. God, apparently, is a fucking idiot when it comes to money-management, and continually needs more cash all the time. If one of His houses is in disrepair, I would have thought He could work a miracle (or two), but apparently this is not possible without large amounts of that lovely coloured paper invented by us fallible human beings as a convenient means of exchange.

Omnipotent deity? Yeah, like fuck He is!


Regards

Mith.

[AUSloth]

Any other business gets in financial difficulty they fold or trade their way out, a god business gets to rape and pillage its way out