From Occupy Wall Street to Occupy London: The Disastrous Week for St Paul's and the Church of England
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 10:02
On Friday, St. Paul's Cathedral re-opened after a week's closure, blamed on health and safety issues related to the OccupyLSX (Occupy London Stock Exchange) tent village outside the iconic London tourist spot. While it was a significant seven days for Occupy London, with a second camp established at Finsbury Square and the printing of their own newspaper The Occupied Times, but the week was dominated by the public relations battle that has erupted around the proper role of the Church of England in social justice movements.
Let's not sugarcoat the outcome. This has been a disastrous week for not only the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral but for the Church of England as a whole, as an institution that claims to have any relevance in the modern world. There are two main charges against the Church, but both revolve around that eternal question "What Would Jesus Do?"