poliphilo: (Default)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2011-10-30 12:00 pm

Deus Est Deus Pauperum

So much fuss about a few tents in a churchyard! Why can't the clergy of the cathedral and the city fathers and all the other enrages just look skywards as they hurry past? Why does it offend them so? I really don't believe there's a health and safety issue- and from the images I've seen, the cathedral steps are empty and the gates unblocked. The campers- who seem to be mostly nice,  well-meaning people, latter-day hippies and the like- offer no violence.  What's the problem?

Simple. The people who run St. Paul's are ashamed. They can't bear it that  the scruffs on their doorstep look more like Christians than they do.

(Anonymous) 2011-10-30 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)
We've been there recently and it's very well ordered, clean and tidy. I like what you've written about this issue. Interesting article on it by David Mitchell in the Observer today.
Jenny

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-10-30 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't been there in decades. I don't suppose I'll ever visit again- at least not unless they drop that enormous entry fee.

I like D.M. I'll go and check out what he says.

[identity profile] ibid.livejournal.com 2011-10-31 06:57 am (UTC)(link)
I agree. I'd be there if I were in England

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-10-31 09:07 am (UTC)(link)
So might I be- if I were younger....

[identity profile] daisytells.livejournal.com 2011-11-01 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
At 70 I am there, although our Occupy site is not on church grounds. I do not stay overnights, though, in respect for my poor old aching bones.
"They can't bear it that the scruffs on their doorstep look more like Christians than they do."
A big "Amen" to that!
(Oh, yes, one question: you mentioned an entry fee???? Really? For a church?

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-11-01 09:05 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, St. Paul's charges an entry fee of £14.50: that's an enormous amount.

[identity profile] ooxc.livejournal.com 2011-11-01 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
I thought that the resignations were in support of the camp - that the resigning people don't want the eviction to take place

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-11-01 09:06 am (UTC)(link)
I'm assuming the early resignees were in the minority.