A senior Church of England bishop has warned that faith groups will not step in to fill the gap left by state spending cuts, saying it would be “completely irresponsible” to leave the care of the vulnerable in the hands of “amateurs”.
The bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, who has spoken forcefully about David Cameron’s proposals for a “big society”, said that although faith groups were ready and willing to play a greater part in community life, their enthusiasm and engagement should not mean the government rolled back on its responsibilities to the needy.
The warning follows fears expressed by a leading charity figure this week, David Robinson of Community Links, who said massive public spending cuts threatened to undermine the big society project.
[blockquote]A senior Church of England bishop has warned that faith groups will not step in to fill the gap left by state spending cuts, saying it would be “completely irresponsible” to leave the care of the vulnerable in the hands of “amateurs”.[/blockquote]
The mind boggles at so asinine a statement. Was St. Paul an amateur? Was Jesus Christ an amateur? If Christians did their job right, then the government wouldn’t need to do these things.
No, Archer, what seems to be happening here is that they want the churches to do all of the work for free BUT be bound by the “tolerance” laws of the country. In other words, they would have to provide all sorts of services and not “discriminate” or they could be sued/closed down. The conscience clauses are not protective enough, from what I understand.
And, yes, the churches are indeed amateurs when it comes to this sort of thing. It’s a Brave New World — you can’t simply provide charity and comfort freely anymore without facing the legal ramifications.