Guernsey Press

Why is church court still in operation?

I COULD not believe on reading the front page of a recent edition of the Guernsey Press that the Ecclesiastical Court is still in existence and still making money for the Church of England, especially having been informed of its pending closure at the end of 2018.

Published

For the Dean of Guernsey (the Very Rev. Tim Barker) to make his usual excuses ‘It’s not me but the States of Guernsey’ is just ridiculous. He must have known the court was due to close at the end of 2018. Obviously it was in the interests of the Church of England for him to remain silent, a very clever financially orientated move.

As the closure of this court should have been given priority some form of delay has been purposely concocted, because having a staff of 40+ working at the offices of the Law Officers this matter should have been given precedence over everything else to be ready by 1 January 2019.

It is clear as crystal, somewhere along the line, a spanner was thrown in the works to halt the closure of this Church of England money-making court.

Having now read the information in the Guernsey Press of 27 February, in Nick Mann’s article it included statements made by the Dean of Guernsey which certainly answers the question, why was the closure of the Ecclesiastical Court delayed?

Just how much involvement did the Dean of Guernsey have, if any, in the delaying of this court’s closure, or was there the usual interference from the Church of England in the UK?

Can I remind atheists in Guernsey that the C of E taking of money via the parish rates is still active.

It’s rather mystifying when being told by Church of England members they only take a few pounds from us, so if the amount is minimal why can’t they pay it themselves?

These religious people don’t care about the poor and elderly of our island and never have. Why do they not pay for the use of our churches, better still why do they not purchase some themselves, and dispense of the burden of atheists paying for the upkeep of the churches just for the use of a religious minority? We are not criminals and have a human right to be atheists.

It is a great pity the likes of Dave Jones are no longer with us.

E. MAUGER

Address withheld.