ORIGINS
CCMJ began in Scotland in the late 1950s with the work of the Congregational Union of Scotland (CUS) and its Christian Doctrine of Wealth Committee. The first report, often called the Dundee Report, was presented to the CUS Assembly in Dundee, May 1962. It aroused much public interest, was reprinted several times, and finally emerged with the title Money - A Christian View, with an enthusiastic foreword by the Very Rev George McLeod DD. The second report of the Christian Doctrine of Wealth Committee appeared in 1964 and reaffirmed the findings of the First Report in light of comment received from academics, economists and churchmen. The Second Report was lost in committee, was never adopted by the CUS, and was not widely published. Copies of both reports can be made available from Vice-Chairman Ken Palmerton - see contacts page.

Two key findings of the Second Report were:-
1. That the existing system impedes the development, production and distribution of wealth (God's providence). In the face of vast human need this fact calls for Christian protest and demand for reform.
2. The monopoly of credit issuance held by the banking system is indefensible and justifies the term "fraudulent" (without personal implications).

The 1998 AGM of CCMJ endorsed this statement of beliefs in matters of Monetary Justice. Much has changed in the global economy since 1998 and readers might care to propose or debate possible amendments for the 2004 AGM 
"We believe that:
• Money for Industry and commerce should be issued by elected national and possibly in some instances local government only, in amount appropriate to the goods and productive capacity which it represents.
• Such money should be interest-free but for genuine cost of administration.
• Bank Loans should be limited to the actual assets held by Banks, i.e., the present practice of Banks "lending" say ten times their holdings should end.
• The National Debt, and local council debts, and many debts of firms and of persons are "phoney" to the degree that they relate to money created as above out of nothing by institutions which have gathered a private monopoly of credit creation.
• If the Banks have a monopoly of credit-creation and want more back than they create, in consequence of charging interest, they ask the impossible so that the public "debt" grows continually.
• The computerised "Global Money-Market" has acquired a momentum of its own, yet it is irrational and is damaging to the poorer nations that it exploits on our behalf.