DON'T PAY
WE LEARN that the World Council of Churches has given £4,000 to the `Broadwater Farm Defence Committee' to help the families of those convicted after the Tottenham riots of 1985, including those who murdered PC Keith Blakelock. The WCC citation justifies the grant on the grounds that the 'uprising which took place on Broadwater Farm [was] a result of racist attacks on the community'. Although some might try to argue that the Church of England itself need take no responsibility for this arrant nonsense — on the grounds that the grant comes out of a special fund of the WCC's 'programme to combat racism' to which the Church of England does not specifically contribute — the Archbishop of Canterbury, both as hierarch of the Church of England (a member of the WCC) and as president of the British Council of Churches, is clearly implicated in this decision and its consequ- ences. The Church of England will next year give £98,500 to the WCC and £219,400 to the BCC to carry on their `good works'. The decision to do so is effectively made by the Church's Central Board of Finance whose report goes before the Synod which has the power to reduce (though, thankfully in this case, not in- crease) the amounts recommended. In practice, however, this does not happen and the monies distributed to bodies such as the WCC and the BCC may properly and increasingly — be seen as a form of political levy with no opt-out provision for ordinary members of the Church of Eng- land who may prefer not to contribute to such bodies and their schemes. Over recent years many clergymen believe that the substantial sums given by the WCC to organisations such as the ANC and Swapo . have led some church-goers to show their displeasure by voting instead at the offer- ing plate by not giving. Who could be sur- prised if many more now join them in the wake of this latest news?
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