How can a church accept Lottery cash?

4:07pm Friday 4th July 2008

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COULD I ask a question through your newspaper, an anomaly I know many people would like answered?

Hopefully the Dean of Hereford Cathedral and/or Bishop or Vicar of Leominster can give a clear answer. Why has the C of E accepted upwards of £5million in grants from the Lottery Fund, recently awarded to the Priory Church, Leominster, and Hereford Cathedral, when it is against gambling in all forms and realises full well many buying lottery tickets are the low paid, some in debt looking for a way out of a desperate situation - the abject poverty they find themselves in?

The Church has enjoyed unparalleled growth in wealth, privilege, influence and subsidy over many centuries to become the richest institution in the land and still, as illustrated by the quango that is the Lottery committee, holds this privileged position.

Why beg Lottery funding for many village churches that, like village shops, have become a redundant part of rural life, so little are they used? One of the joys in life is viewing historic buildings and there is no more a beautiful sight than studying historical architectural styles, Norman (as in church), Tudor, Elizabethan, Georgian/Regency, Victorian, but so many £billions are given each year. It’s too much and so disproportionate in priority and so undemocratic in the way it is decided and distributed.

I won’t hold my breath for an answer but I am sure there are many peasants, pagans and atheists like myself who would be interested in the replies.

Ray Borge, Buckfield Road, Leominster