Dual Standard Church

I see from the paper today that the Church is once more meddling where it is not wanted.

This time it is over plans to charge for parking on Sundays.  Their case is that this is another sign of the commercialisation of Sundays.

If they wish to object over this then they should first of all put their own house in order.

As an example consider York Minster.  On Sundays, as on all other days when the Minster is open to visitors a charge of £9.00 is made per adult, with an additional £5.50 charge if you wish to climb the tower.  The church will of course claim that this is to contribute to upkeep costs.

How does this differ from charging for car parking, where the revenue is to pay for upkeep of the car park?

Furthermore, within the Minster there is a shop, trading on Sundays.  Again this is commercialisation and I would have thought this went against the teaching of the church that Sunday should be a day of rest with no work.

Of course this is repeated in many religious buildings across the whole country.  This is pure hypocrisy.  If the church wishes to abolish working on Sunday and the commercialisation of their day of rest they should start by setting an example.