A Church of Ireland general synod has agreed to press credit card companies to refuse paying websites distributing child porn—something credit card companies already refuse.
“Child pornography is going further and further underground, but do we care? The industry is based on people who are prepared to pay money for the destruction of children," said Bishop Richard Clarke of Meath and Kildare to the Ireland Post after the synod agreed to the proposal.
Clarke said credit companies could refuse Internet child porn site payments, though he thought concurrently that such refusal carries difficulty. “It would not be easy, and there would be many reasons why they might not wish to do so," he told the Post. "However, an institution of the size of the Church of Ireland would have sufficient financial clout to put pressure on banks – in the first instance – to push credit card companies into doing this."
Representatives of Visa and American Express did not return queries for comment before this story went to press. "We have a very strict policy of no illegal activity," said a MasterCard worker when that company was reached for comment, adding the reasoning behind the Church of Ireland's decision was unclear.
Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection executive director Joan Irvine agreed that credit companies already refuse child porn payments, and suggested the Church of Ireland might be going for the public relations value. "No reputable credit card or billing company permits payment for child pornography," she said.
Clarke and Bishop Michael Mayes of Limerick told the paper that the central church might have the influence that individual dioceses on their own might not have in promoting the idea.
