Religeous Taxation

I’ve not bothered to count the exact number of places of worship on this Island but there are about fifty to my reckoning. Some ancient, some modern, some large, and some small.
 
So how come I only have to pay for one of them?
 
Or to put it another way, why do I have to pay for any of them ?
Why should my money go to support one specific parish church building and a sect to which I choose not to belong?
 
I’m all for people having a religion and for regularly worshiping their God. I just don’t see why I have to be an involuntary financial sponsor.
 
But the parish churches are integral to the life of Guernsey, they are part of the traditional fabric. They are our community.
 
Agreed.
 
But it still doesn’t mean that I want to pay for it.
 
I don’t pay to help the Society of Friends meet regularly.
 
I don’t financially subsidise Friday prayers for our Muslim residents.
 
I don’t even pay for that most communal of groups, the Catholics.
 
So, why must I pay for an Anglican building?
 
We have a population of about 65,000 give or take the odd thousand. With 50 churches, of differing denominations, I calculate that each church should have about 1,300 worshipers.
 
Alternatively, if everyone just used their parish church then we’d be looking at 6,500 people at each main service.
 
Enough people to overflow into the streets for every service and enough to warrant the use of loudspeakers on the tower of every church.
 
Why hasn’t this happened?
 
Because the regular churchgoing public of Guernsey doesn’t approach anywhere near 65,000. 
 
I’m willing to be convinced differently but, as I see it, we have a small but influential group of people who want to keep their privileges that have come about through historic happenstance. 

They’re just not happy paying for the privilege of worshiping in a nice old church.
 
Now, if we’re all paying for these ancient buildings, then I guess we all own them.
 
We usually employ people to look after the stuff we own in common, they’re called civil servants.
 
So why can’t the States look after this small property portfolio as well as all of the other heritage sites on the Island which they already manage?
 
The Anglicans can still use the buildings, they’d just have to pay a cost like everyone else does who use property they don’t own.
 
Perhaps they could look to their parent organisation to help out. After all, the Church of England is known to have a few millions stashed away. They could take out long term leases and assume responsibility for the maintenance of the buildings.
 
The world has moved on from when the majority was of the one true faith and worshiped in the same church.
 
It’s time Guernsey caught up.