Worshippers should pay to restore Town Church

Monday 19th January 2009, 2:59PM GMT.

From John Heys.
I SEE that the Town Church needs a fortune spending on its inside, after a £900,000 splunge on the outside, and the priest thinks that the people should pay.

Well, I, for one, absolutely strongly object if any of my tax money is used on this religious exercise, just as I would if the place was a mosque or a Hindu place of worship. It is wrong.

It is down to the people who believe in this particular God to maintain the building where they go to worship and definitely not people of other beliefs.
53 Primrose Place,
L’Hermitage Gardens,
Beaumont,
St Peter.

1
Bean here before

January 19, 2009 at 3:43 pm

Well said Mr Heys.

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2
Ann

January 19, 2009 at 4:59 pm

Quite right Mr Hayes, it is up to the worshippers to contribute to the upkeep of the Town Church.

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3
Pescatarian

January 19, 2009 at 10:34 pm

I fully agree that the cost of maintaining the building should be the responsibility of those who wish to use it. If they cannot afford it then they should sell it, if they can, and downsize to something more economical.

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4
Dickie Bean

January 20, 2009 at 9:53 am

Seeing as it is nothing more than a big fancy club house for those who believe in a certain god or follow certain practices I see no reason why those who don’t believe or follow those practices should pay anything at all for its upkeep.

Not every tax payer is in that club and I strongly object to public money to be used for this in exactly the same way that I would object if the Mason’s wanted tax payers money to tart up their big and fancy club house?

If the argument is to be that the building is of historical importance than I might agree IF the building was removed from the control of the church and handed over to Jersey Heritage as a museum to display artefacts of our historical religious heritage – including early pagan practices.

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5
John

January 20, 2009 at 1:57 pm

Totally Agree and that goes for all places of worship for all religions

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6
Reginald Le Sueur

January 20, 2009 at 3:48 pm

Well done John Heys, exactly right. It is time this parasitism was firmly discouraged. Many years ago I similarly declined a suggestion that I should invest in new stained glass windows for St Peters Church.

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7
Mike R

January 21, 2009 at 2:11 pm

Whilst in principle Mr Heys may be correct, in practice this is an iconic town building, one of the oldest in Jersey. I see this as no different to funding the upkeep of cathedrals – if the building was going to collapse would Mr Heys advocate leaving it to do so? I hope not – the island and St Helier would be a lesser place for all that. When an important methodist church went up in flames last year the public was quick to demand that its facade be saved – proving that the public believe such buildings in some form “belong” to the public consciousness – we can’t have rights without concomitant responsibilities.

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8
Reginald Le Sueur

February 3, 2009 at 9:09 am

I would agree with Mike R about preserving the facade of the Methodist Church, and perhaps redesigning a new interior as a concert hall.
Each building should be judged on its own merit. Perhaps keep the best architectural churches, and cancel construction of any more modern monstrosities?

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