New Church of England report recommends more state funding for cathedrals

19 January, 2018

A new draft report by the Church of England’s Cathedral Working Group recommends that it should begin negotiations with the Government for more state funding to repair and maintain its 42 cathedrals in England. Humanists UK questions whether in an increasing non-religious society, where only 15% of the population claim to be members of the Church of England, it is appropriate for yet more taxpayers’ money to be spent repairing its privately held property.

Despite the Church of England being the custodian of a £7.9 billion investment fund, which returned over 17% on assets in 2016, the report claimed ‘we think it is time to revisit the complex but important issue of whether there should be some kind of state funding for cathedrals.’ The report concedes that the financial problems currently experienced by cathedrals are due to ‘recent failures of governance and management.’

Church of England cathedrals already received substantial public support, estimated to be over £810 million from Government and lottery sources since 1999, including £40 million from the First World War Centenary Fund.

This report echos the findings of the recent Taylor Review into the sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals, carried out by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, which despite taking the view that the Church of England should reach a state of ‘reduced reliance on Government funding’ recommended £15 million per year of public funds be spent on creating a network of ‘Community Support Advisors’, to promote the church more widely within its local community, and ‘Fabric Support Advisors’ to advice on repair work. The former is extremely close to the privileging of one religious group. No equivalent funding has been proposed to promote Mosques, Synagogues or buildings belonging to any other group within their local communities.

Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson commented, ‘The Church of England is the largest private landowner in England and one of the wealthiest organisations in the world. The current problems experienced by the Church of England with regard to its cathedrals are due to a combination of internal problems and collapsing congregations. Under these circumstances, it is incredible that there is an expectation that the taxpayer should foot the bill for repairs to buildings that it owns privately. The Government urgently needs to think again about the appropriateness of funding one religious group to the detriment of all others.’

Notes

For further comment or information please contact Humanists UK’s Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson on richy@humanists.uk or 020 3675 0959.

Read the report: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2018-01/Cathedrals%20Working%20Group%20Report_0.pdf

Read the Taylor Review: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/669752/Taylor_Review_Final.pdf

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