The Church is culpable too
Sir: Will Rowan Williams start his call for ‘fresh scrutiny and regulation in the financial world’ (‘Face it: Marx was partly right about capitalism’, 27 September) by glancing at the institution he heads? I am told that the 2007 Church of England target for its investment arm was 6 per cent above Bank of England base rate. It should have been clear to the Archbishop that this could not be achieved without the Church getting involved in the murky world of City finance.
The Church of England was made to look even more ridiculous when the Archbishop of York called short-sellers ‘bank robbers and asset strippers’. Are these people not just parasites making good out of an overpriced economy which all, including the Church of England, have enjoyed for the past 15 years?
If Christianity teaches us one thing it is that none is without sin. The far-reaching consequences of the global stock-market crash has brought this into sharp focus. The majority have enjoyed the good times and therefore the majority must be culpable. For the Church to see itself as an institution which is not part of the problem, when it clearly is, smacks of the same self-worth which got Pelagius into such trouble.
Stephen Rand
London SW15
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