Dave WalkerDec 23, 2022

Challenging blog post from @RichardJMurphy

"The Christian message at Christmas is one of radical economic reform. Why doesn't the Church say that? Is it just too embedded with the proud and the mighty it's meant to be pulling down?"

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2022/12/23/the-radical-economics-of-christmas/

#ChurchOfEngland #Magnificat #JustinWelby #ArchbishopOfCanterbury #Church #Economics

The stock market is failing according to the CBI. So why don’t we just let it go?

I posted this on Twitter this morning: https://twitter.com/RichardJMurphy/status/1942861045426516103 My point is serious. The CBI is saying that the situation with regard to the UK stock exchange is getting desperate, because it is losing out to overseas markets and not attracting sufficient business. The question that needs to be asked is, why is that?...

Funding the Future
Show threadPersephoneDec 23, 2022

@davewalker This is where I am in my journey right now. I'm not in the UK, so the specifics are different, but in general I think the Church has been too entwined with imperial/colonial/capitalist power, for a long, long time.

I'm clergy. I love the church. But sometimes I want to overturn some tables.

Show thread🔥 The Quirky Pastor 🔥
@nicedragon @davewalker “sometimes” I want to overturn some tables? Every dang day I want to just start flipping sh*%. Church structure is such, however, that when you start flipping things, esp the economics, you become more like Jesus than you might like to be.
Dec 24, 2022 at 12:20pmWeb
Show thread🔥 The Quirky Pastor 🔥Dec 24, 2022
@nicedragon @davewalker I don’t think any pastor actively serving can effectively make these changes as long as we rely on the church for a salary & benefits bc your church will lose all the $$ it relies on to survive once you alienate the people with $$. Ask me how I know this… 😵‍💫🙃
Show threadPersephoneDec 24, 2022

@quirkypastor I hear you. I'm actually not actively serving a congregation (I retired early due to disability), but I've seen how wealthy families can dominate a congregation.

For a time, I sort of specialized in temporary service to struggling churches, and being there on a temporary basis gave me some "outsider" leverage to question the norms. But you're right, being enmeshed in the system can make change seem impossible.

Show thread🔥 The Quirky Pastor 🔥Dec 24, 2022
@nicedragon I keep looking for other supplements to my income so I’m not reliant on the church. The problem is ministry work really is a full time job so no matter what I’m working on on the side it doesn’t pick up the difference enough to be all “sure cut my salary in half I don’t care… I can still pay my bills…” 🙃
Show threadPersephoneDec 24, 2022
@quirkypastor True. Even "part-time" ministry tends to be full-time, just paid less. (and, not entirely unrelated to this thread, that's also where I see the highest concentration of female pastors)