To give or not to give? The choice should be our own
GUERNSEY and its residents have now to face yet another year where the Church of England, via both the Ecclesiastical Court and the parish rates, remove from the public over £1m. into their own hands. This figure does not include the so-called parish share of over £600,000, which is apparently voluntarily given by members of their congregation and of course fees obtained from weddings and funerals. Remember none of this money has to leave our island but much of it does. The Diocese of Winchester, according to their own deanery summary dated 28 March 2014, was committed in that year to receive a total of over £10m., with Guernsey committed to sending £640,768 and Jersey a total of £858,945. Please bear in mind there were at the time 42 current dioceses divided into two provinces.
Dare I have the audacity to yet again suggest the Church of England's pot of gold, namely the Ecclesiastical Court, be removed from their hands and replaced by a Civil Court with any financial gains being used for the benefit of Guernsey and its islanders? It is also mystifying how on our island approximately 3% of the population who are Church of England members are allowed, with the help and no doubt encouragement of their clergy, to cleverly manipulate money through the parish rates payments. Any parishioner who does not wish to monetarily financially benefit the Church of England has a human right not to do so and to have to appear in front of the Dean of Guernsey or his representative is to me degrading. It would never surprise me if, in the future, laws are passed in Guernsey that we have to either bow or curtsey (whichever is appropriate) to the Church of England clergy. The apparent domination they have over what happens to not only our churches, but other buildings not owned by them is, to put it mildly, deplorable. I am certain many islanders have been aware for several years that at the very least one long-standing deputy is nothing more than a puppet of the Church of England in Guernsey, with yet another becoming a deputy at the 2016 elections.
It is not against the law to not wish to give money to any religion or charity, it is our human right to do as we wish. Why do I mention this? Printed in this paper on 6 January was a letter from Rex Ferbrache concerning Guernsey Overseas Aid money, which amounts to £2.6m., leaving the island on an annual basis and I support the writer's comments 100%. What really concerned me was the response from Deputy Emilie Yerby who, as far as I can ascertain, is intent on seeing that as much local money as possible is removed from our already in-debt island – an island that can only afford to give senior citizens virtually a few pence increase in their pensions for 2017. Having just counted up how much money my small family gives to many charities both local and English, plus charitable donations in lieu of wreaths, the figure we voluntarily give exceeds £200. This does not include donations we already make to assist relief organisations. Does it not occur to the members of the Guernsey Overseas Aid and Development Commission members, and in particular Deputy Yerby, that at present Guernsey needs every penny it can obtain?
Could I finally just mention that when I and my family evacuated to England at the time of the last World War, when we arrived there the English were under the impression we wore grass skirts and spoke no English. How times have changed. We residents are bombarded with requests for donations from the UK virtually on a daily basis and yet we are still subject to giving money that we have not really got. Finally, I would just like to mention that the Archbishop of Vienna Christoph Schonborn, who has apparently been tipped as the next Pope, has questioned German leader Angela Merkel's open border approach, stating 'Europe is fit to burst because of unbelievable refugee numbers.' Just as I have argued for months in previous letters. Then recently the Dalai Lama urged caution on the migration crisis in Europe, stating there are too many refugees in the European Union. He went on to say 'Europe, Germany in particular, cannot become an Arab country, Germany is Germany.' I trust aid workers will take heed of what these important people have said, but I doubt this will be the case as honours appear to take priority.
It is a great pity aid workers continue to incite both refugees and emigrants to head to the UK, a country that is already in chaos with the NHS overrun with patients and the emergency services clearly under severe pressure.
E. MAUGER,
Address withheld.
