Christians Bail-In Against the Cuts
Christians concerned about the cuts will be holding an ecumenical service in Barclays on 16-17 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 1BH at 2pm. Be in the store at 2pm and join in when you here “O Come All Ye Faithful” start.
The British taxpayer bailed-out the banks with £1 trillion of public money and they haven’t paid us back. So now we are bailing-in and transforming this Barclays into a church. Churches play a vital role in supporting thousands of communities across the country, and we want to show the millionaires in cabinet that we know what their cuts are doing to our communities and they should be making the banks pay, not our communities and congregations.
Barclays was founded by Christians – Quakers to be precise. It's early success was at least in part due to the reputation the Quakers had as fair and honest people. But just last month Barclays paid £3.5bn in bonuses, with average pay per employee in the investment banking division rising to £236,000 – that's ten times the UK's average salary. It was this greed, and the recklessness of the banks, that caused the economic crisis. Yet the government are making ordinary people pay the price. David Cameron himself has said that the cuts will change Britain's "whole way of life". We call on the bankers and the government to act fairly and honestly to ensure that the banks that caused this crisis pay.
This will be an ecumenical service, and we will be praying in solidarity with those affected by the cuts and for the banks and government to listen to Jesus's message of justice. The liturgy for the service will include a sermon, Bible readings, silent reflection and a closing litany. If you want to contribute something for the service, please email christiansagainstcuts@gmail.com .
