From Lament to Action

Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce published its report ‘From Lament to Action’ proposing a suite of changes to begin bringing about a change of culture in the life of the Church of England:

The taskforce’s work is rooted in Christian theology, they emphasise, flowing “not from identity politics but from our identity in Christ”.

The report accepts the definition of ‘Institutional Racism’ adopted by the Macpherson report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence – covering processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination – as applying to the Church of England [see notes] and speaks of racism as a “sin” requiring repentance.

“We share together the understanding that racism is a sin,” they say. “Racial sin disfigures God’s image in each one of us. Racial sin dehumanises people by taking away their fundamental God-given human dignity. “Wherever racial sin flourishes systematically, either in society or in our church, we must challenge it together. We must repent of racial sin, turn away from racism and be reconciled, so that we may all experience the love of God.”

The report highlights the lack of people from UK minority ethnic backgrounds in senior leadership in the Church, noting that the new Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, will be the only UKME or GMH diocesan (senior) bishop in the Church of England. There are four suffragan bishops from a UKME/GMH background.

You can read more about it here.

Find out more about what we are doing as a parish as we work toward’s racial justice and equality.