Saturday 20 November 2010

FAITH or FINANCE – which is the better investment?

We at The Voice do not know how many people in Jersey regularly attend a church or participate in worship. Obviously, there are many thousands.


Yet, during a recent States debate, one member was reprimanded for referring to the Christian beliefs of another. How strange – especially since the Dean joined in the same debate and of course, all States sessions commence with The Lord’s Prayer.

We have suggested to the appropriate Scrutiny Panel that the “the Church” is such an important part of Jersey life that it should be considered as part of the Cultural Strategy of the Island. After all, what would Jersey be without its twelve Parish churches besides the multitude of other places of worship for all manner of denominations and beliefs?

Here we interview Richard Syvret, who was the founding Director-General of the Jersey Financial Services Commission and has a strong Christian faith.

We ask Mr. Syvret about the ethics of the finance industry, the potential conflicts for those with a faith and wonder what the future might bring to Jersey.

In subsequent blogs we propose to interview others with strong faiths or views but who are not part of the Island’s traditional, political framework.




Submitted by Thomas Wellard

7 comments:

TonyTheProf said...

This is extremely good, thank you.

TonyTheProf said...

More of this kind of interview please.

rico sorda said...

Very interesting interview but my "god" do the staff need some training. Crash bang wallop all the way.

Religion has a big part to play with some of our elected and non elected law breakers. A thew hail mary's on a sunday morning paves the way for a week full of sin

rs

rico sorda said...

Rules and regulations aren't sufficient you need ethics to supplement them. Without ethics unscrupulous people will just find ways to break the rules and regulations.

Good Governance. Truth Honesty & Integrity

Its my Government that are opening my eyes to all of this. Im fascinated the role Religion plays in Jersey Politics and one I hope to look at

rs

Damocles said...

Very interesting point about regulations not working well and the superior alternative of "changing the hearts of men".

I've always wondered how true Christians, who follow Jesus the (son of) man, can square being part of a society like Jersey's which consists largely of usurers, tax gatherers and, above all else, Pharisees.

Here is an excerpt from the Wiki entry on Pharisees
"An important binary in the New Testament is the opposition between law and love. Accordingly, the New Testament, particularly the Synoptic Gospels, presents the Pharisees as obsessed with man-made rules (especially concerning purity) whereas Jesus is more concerned with God’s love... Because of the New Testament's frequent depictions of Pharisees as self-righteous rule-followers (see also Woes of the Pharisees), the word "pharisee" (and its derivatives: "pharisaical", etc.) has come into semi-common usage in English to describe a hypocritical and arrogant person who places the letter of the law above its spirit."

Hang your head in shame, Magistrate Shaw

Damocles said...

Sorry. One link in my comment above was wrong. This is the correct link to the Wiki article on Pharisees (scroll down to the section headed "Pharisees and Christianity").

Anonymous said...

Doesn't the bible also teach that usury is wrong?