C of E should sell Google shares; ‘Disappointing’ Church did not take lead on marriage; Tutu says he would not worship a ‘homophobic’ God
C of E should sell Google shares
Daily Mail – A Government aide has urged investors to sell their Google shares to try and pressure the internet giant into blocking child abuse images.
Conservative MP Claire Perry, an adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron on preventing the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, urged the Church of England to cut ties with the search engine that they back.
Ms Perry told the Church to pull its money out of Google in a bid to force the company to take a stronger line over pornographic and abusive images widely available through its engine.
She told The Daily Telegraph: ‘It is quite clear that many companies, in particular British internet service providers, are finally now taking a really responsible approach to this. They are seeing that we want a level of social responsibility.
‘There are others out there who have not got that attitude. The Prime Minister was saying Google have a responsibility, they are effectively helping people for which there can be no case made.
‘They (the Church of England and other investors) have a role to play, they have questions to ask themselves. They are moral leaders.
‘If they are going to opine on things then putting your money where your mouth is is an incredibly powerful tool.’
Her demands follow the Archbishop of Canterbury’s pledge to to review the Church’s investment strategy, after ‘very embarrassing’ revelations that it has holdings in firms that profit from payday lending.
The Church of England holds millions of pounds worth of shares in companies in everything from oil to pharmaceuticals and technology as part of an investment portfolio worth around £7.5 billion, documents show.
Google, Apple, Shell, BP, GlaxoSmithKline and Vodafone are among the companies backed by the Church’s three bodies that manage and administer investments, according to documents available on its website.
Others include mining firms Rio Tinto and Anglo American, food producer Nestle and British supermarket Tesco.
It was also revealed that it may have invested in companies involved in arms dealing and pornography.
The Most Reverend Justin Welby said he was irritated and embarrassed to discover that the Church has indirectly invested in payday loan firm Wonga, which earlier this week he vowed to drive out of business.
It also emerged that the Church’s ‘ethical’ rules allow it to invest its £5.2billion assets in firms involved in gambling, tobacco and alcohol.
Even firms involved in arms dealing, pornography and human cloning are not barred from receiving Church investment.
Ecclesiastic financial activity is monitored by the Church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG), which makes recommendations on ethical investment policy.
The EIAG, in its annual review for 2012/2013 says that these three bodies – the Church of England Pension Board, the Church Commissioners and the CBF Church of England funds – have a ‘moral and legal responsibility’ to further the interests of their beneficiaries.
But it adds: ‘While mindful at all times of beneficiaries’ need for financial returns, the investing bodies seek to align their investment policies with the ethics of the Church by acting on the recommendations of the EIAG.’
Google has come under fire recently after refusing to install automatic filters that would force users to ‘opt in’ to online pornography.
However, in June it donated £1 million to the Internet Watch Foundation, a charity that polices images of child abuse and can get them removed.
And last month Google, along with BT, TalkTalk and Facebook, pledged an additional £1 million over four years to the foundation.
A Google spokesperson said: ‘We have a zero tolerance attitude to child sexual abuse imagery. We use our own systems and work with child safety experts to find it, remove and report it.
‘We recently donated $5million dollars to groups working to combat this problem and are committed to continuing the dialogue with the Government on these issues.’
‘Disappointing’ Church did not take lead on marriage
Christian Concern says it is “deeply disappointing” the Church did not speak out as strongly on gay marriage as it has on payday lenders.
The advocacy group said the headlines around the Archbishop of Canterbury’s criticism of payday lender Wonga this week demonstrated the potential impact of the Church if it had made similar statements against the legislation that brought in gay marriage this month.
Archbishop Justin Welby said in an interview in Total Politics this week that he wanted to “compete” Wonga “out of existence”.
The story was widely publicised in the press but also caused some embarrassment for the Church of England when the Financial Times revealed the Church had indirect links to Wonga through its stake in a venture capital fund that has invested millions of dollars into the payday lender.
Head of Christian Concern, Andrea Minichiello Williams said: “We called on Archbishop Welby and the bishops many times, asking them to stand strong for marriage and speak out.
“The news this week shows the possible impact they could have had on the marriage debate. It’s deeply disappointing that they didn’t take the lead and make similarly robust statements about marriage when it mattered.”
Christian Concern also strongly criticised the Prime Minister’s plans to “export” gay marriage abroad.
David Cameron said in an address this week that he wanted the team of ministers and officials that put the gay marriage bill together to now work on promoting similar legislation in other countries.
Christian Concern said: “It’s important that not just David Cameron, but also his advisers, know that there will be a political price to pay for such disregard of those who believe in traditional marriage.”
The group is not the first to accuse the Church of England of not being strong enough in its defence of traditional marriage.
The chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and Primate of Kenya, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala said: “We are painfully aware that the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada continue to promote a false gospel and yet both are still received as in good standing by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“Furthermore, the Church of England itself, the historic mother church of the Communion, seems to be advancing along the same path.
“While defending marriage, both the Archbishops of York and Canterbury appeared at the same time to approve of same-sex Civil Partnerships during parliamentary debates on the UK’s ‘gay marriage’ legislation, in contradiction to the historic biblical teaching on human sexuality reaffirmed by the 1998 Lambeth Conference.”
Tutu says he would not worship a ‘homophobic’ God
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said he would rather go to hell than worship a God who was homophobic.
The South African Nobel peace laureate made the outspoken comments at the launch of a global United Nations campaign against homophobia.
The Free & Equal campaign will promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, as well as an end to homophobic discrimination and violence.
Archbishop Tutu said he was as passionate about the campaign as he was about ending apartheid in South Africa.
“I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” he said.
“I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.”
Archbishop Tutu has been a long time campaigner in support of gay rights.
He said discrimination against homosexuals was “unjust” and that they should not be seen as a “peculiar breed” but as human beings.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the UN was working to decriminalise homosexuality in more countries and wanted governments to strengthen protection for members of the LGBT community.
“I constantly hear governments tell me, ‘but this is our culture, our tradition and we can’t change it’… So we have lots of work to do,” she said.