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Church responds to draft Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and religions

24 June 2008

The Church of England has expressed a number of concerns about the Charity Commission’s latest draft guidance on public benefit and the advancement of religion while welcoming the progress the draft represents in recognising the contribution of religious bodies to the public benefit.

Responding to the latest Charity Commission consultation, the Archbishops’ Council, Church Commissioners and Church of England Pensions Board welcome, in particular, the Commission’s recognition that religious bodies may generate a wide range of different benefits for the public, including both direct benefits to individuals and indirect benefits to society at large.

However, the Church’s response identifies a number of areas that need further clarification. For example, it questions the assertion that pastoral work and social welfare activities should “be distinguishable from purely secular and/or social work in similar fields”, seeing no legal basis for that proposition. It also argues that, while accepting that “it should plainly not be charitable to promote the views of particular individuals”, it is unclear why “it should not be possible to establish a charity for the promotion or better understanding of a particular tradition within a religion, which is not necessarily shared by all within it.”

The response in full.