Christians call for answers in letter to St Paul’s Cathedral
The authorities at St Paul’s Cathedral are about to receive a letter from Christians who were dragged by police from the cathedral’s steps as they knelt in prayer.
The five signatories to the letter were forcibly removed from the steps during the eviction of Occupy London Stock Exchange. They asking for a meeting with cathedral authorities and a clear statement over the cathedral’s role in the eviction. The letter has been counter-signed by over twenty clergy, to express their support for the requests made by the signatories. It has been reported in the Independent.
The Cathedral Chapter have yet to give clear answers about their role in the eviction. The court’s eviction order applied only to land belonging to the City of London Corporation, but the police claimed that the cathedral had given them permission to clear the steps.
The signatories will gather on the steps of St Paul’s at 9.30am tomorrow (Tuesday 13th March), two weeks after the eviction, before handing in the letter. The letter will then be published on this site. The five signatories are Sam Walton, Symon Hill, Siobhan Grimes, Jonathan Bartley and George Barda.
Christians for Economic Justice 
Whilst I can understand the distress that those dragged from their knees experienced, and also understand the (perhaps in the longer-term more important) issue of wanting answers from the Chapter on its involvement in the eviction, I myself feel that it would be good to draw a line under the tragic events.
To play out a discourse in the public sphere between the Chapter and those who were, rightly I believe, saddened by the Cathedral’s stance regarding the Occupy camp, is not furthering the cause of unity in the Body and the preaching of the Gospel.
I believe that the cathedral has been on the wrong side too often during these events, and I commend you for your stand of solidarity with those seeking economic justice, yet my personal view is that the members of St. Paul’s Chapter should now be left to judge for themselves if their actions were in accord with the Gospel imperative to speak up for the oppressed, and to thereby be prompted in their own personal walk with God.
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