What Would Jesus Do? The Occupy Movement and the Intersection of Greed, Ethics and Faith

"The church was presented with an opportunity that it probably gets once in a generation...and completely blew it." -- Rev. George Pitcher, St. Bride's Church, London[1]

Since last month, dozens of tents have been pitched outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London by Occupy Wall Street-inspired protesters who were moved from their original location outside the London Stock Exchange. And these protesters have turned this landmark -- and the Church of England which it represents -- into a flashpoint for the intersection of greed, ethics and faith.

The protesters came to challenge the income inequality that has been epitomized by the excesses of corporate world. But in ultimately making their stand at the seat of the Bishop of London, they have foisted a popular moral question onto the global financial crisis -- and in particular, corporate greed: "What would Jesus do?"

AT FIRST, SOLIDARITY...

Standing with the protesters, Reverend Giles Fraser said, "I'm very happy that people exercise their right to protest peacefully."[2] At the time, Fraser was the canon chancellor at St. Paul's, which is much more than a London icon. Having survived several bombings of the city during World War II, this 17th-century church has become a symbol of British strength, perseverance and national unity. Winston Churchill is buried there.

Indeed, at times of conflict and societal instability, religion has often provided guidance, or at the very least, solace from a chaotic world. However, the Occupy Movement's presence set off a chain of politically charged events at St. Paul's, issuing a stark reminder that the house of God sometimes forgets that it subscribes to a "higher authority."

...THEN, A SCHISM

On October 21, Graham Mills, the dean of St. Paul's, announced that the cathedral would be closing for the first time since the bombings of World War II due to concerns over public health and safety. And that's when things started to unravel for the Church of England.

"My red line on this issue was I don't believe the church should sanction any course of action that could lead to violence against the protesters," said Fraser, who quit his post after the chapter, the church's corporate ecclesiastical body, decided to pursue legal action to evict the protesters. "I would prefer that to be negotiated."

The sudden departure of a beloved cleric ignited a new subplot in the public debate about the financial crisis and the Occupy Movement: the role of the church. Four days later, the Dean of St. Paul's, Reverend Graeme Knowles, also resigned. The Bishop of London Richard Chartres took over the helm.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH: NOT TECHNICAL PROBLEM, BUT AN ETHICAL ONE

"This story is central to how we go forward to build on a new foundation," said Bishop Chartres. "Nobody's against creating wealth. We want people to be prosperous and we want them to be generous. But how that wealth is distributed and how it's invested for the common good -- these are major ethical problems and people don't want to think about finance simply in a technical way. They want to think about it in the context of ethics, morality and God."[3]

"The opportunity there for Christian ministry in terms of mediating between [the protesters'] plight and the authorities, speaking 'truth to power' if you like -- simple ministerial, pastoral matters like making them a cup of tea -- appear to have been squandered in favor of health and safety and legislative issues and they slammed the doors on them," said Reverend George Pitcher, an Anglican priest at St. Bride's Church in London. "If you set out to do it worse, you couldn't have made a better a job of it."[4]

"They were seen as siding with the fat cats of the city," said Ruth Gladhill, religion correspondent for the Times of London. "The church was seen as taking the position of the very people the protesters were criticizing."[5]

IT'S NOT ABOUT RELIGION, IT'S ABOUT FAITH

"Virtually all religions preach...the virtues of a Golden Rule, and standards of conduct that parallel the Ten Commandments," writes John C. Bogle, the founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group, in his 2009 book Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, Life, in which he stresses the importance of corporate accountability and stewardship. In 1999, Bogle was named one the four "Investment Giants" of the 20th century by Forbes. "We thrive as human beings and as families not by what faith we happen to hold, but by having faith, faith in something far greater than ourselves."[6]

And while the Church of England may have, as Rev. Pitcher noted, missed a great opportunity to seize the Occupy Movement moment and succumbed to its own crisis of faith, it seems that for now it has at least righted the ship, abandoning the decision to take legal action against the protesters and instead giving them their support. Several Occupy LSX protesters even told the BBC that their interest in the church has been reignited because of the double about-face.

Perhaps the story isn't all that surprising. "We've got to remember," said Gladhill, "that the Christian story that the church represents is all about snatching resurrection from the jaws of death."[7]

###