GP Taylor: Once again, our Church’s leaders are wrong-footed, divided and out of step

Luckily, I was the guest speaker at a packed rehab night put on by a Church that had decided to put faith into action. It was scary and I was out of my comfort zone, but the shaven-headed former Brethren minister who drove the car didn’t seem to mind.

To him, this is what he had been called to do. “Messy Church” he called it with a wry smile as he asked: “What would Jesus do?”

It seems strange that this same comment has now become the backdrop to a peace camp on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. It is really easy to use faith to justify many things, after all, scripture was used to condone slavery and war, those things both clearly contrary to the Christian gospel.

As a retired priest, the scenes surrounding one of our most famous places of worship anger me. It seems as if the Church of England is in turmoil over the issue and is losing the respect of all those involved.

The Rev Dr Giles Fraser resigned as Canon Treasurer because he couldn’t sanction the use of force to rid the streets of a bunch of “Trustafarians” and middle class anti-capitalist protesters, part of the Occupy London movement – the same familiar masked faces that turn out at the first sign of taking on the Government, swinging from the flags of the Cenotaph and fighting with the police.

Now, this pseudo-political group has used for political motives what was, in fact, an offer by St Paul’s of a breathing space to calm a fraught situation.

The anti-capitalists soon realised the media potential of them camping on the steps of this fine church.

It is not only in the heart of the City of London, but also the heart of the nation.

St Paul’s is the place that has in many ways played a part in all our lives.

It is rightly the centre of the folk religion that most of us adhere to, and the place where the great and the good throughout history have been hatched matched and dispatched.

I remember the scenes of the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, even though I was only six years old. I watched my mother as she wiped the tears from her eyes as this great man was carried up the steps of St Paul’s – the same steps now occupied by anarchists who are using the Church in their cynical and orchestrated dispute with the City.

As is often the case, those in charge of the Church are seen to be wrong-footed, divided and out of step with what is happening around them.

Before he resigned, the body language of Graham Knowles, the Dean of St Paul’s, was like a rabbit in the headlights. It was only a matter of time that he should quit over what he described as insurmountable issues. His drink had been spiked by the media savvy protesters who didn’t seem to care who would have to fall on their swords because of them.

Every casualty of this dispute brings even more media attention and fills the column inches the protesters crave for their destructive cause. The crisis of the siege of St Paul’s has become a PR nightmare.

In so many ways it has damaged the reputation of the faith. The Chapter are culpable in their naivety of the destructive potential of the situation.

With each fresh revelation of turmoil, there seems to be no direction or leadership coming from those who are supposed to be the moral compass of the nation.

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.

• GP Taylor, from Scarborough, is an ordained priest, writer and broadcaster.