Rural parishioners accused of racism by archbishops’ review

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An inquiry set up by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has called rural parishioners racist, provoking a backlash from the Christian community.

A report by the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice has denounced the “lack of cultural awareness” displayed by congregations in predominantly white rural areas and found evidence of “structural and institutional racism”.

The report, titled Behind the Stained Glass, also identified prejudice in the preference for white male leaders who speak the Queen’s English.

“The evidence confirms the existence of both structural and institutional racism within the Church of England,” the report concluded, warning that “systemic racism has continued unabated in the CofE”.

It added: “Institutional racism is believed to be a pervasive barrier within the Church, demonstrated through discriminatory practices and lack of cultural awareness.”

The report split the CofE into four types of church, with the liberal and progressive urban variety at one end of the spectrum, where people from ethnic minorities were “welcomed and accepted”.

In traditional and conservative churches found in rural and remote areas, ethnic minorities were instead deemed to be “viewed with suspicion” and there was a “preference for white male leadership”.

The commission singled out “Northern and rural areas” for having fewer ethnic minority clergy, suggesting these areas were seen as less “attractive or welcoming”.

Discrimination was found to have a “profound impact” on the mental health of Black and Asian clergy, which was “exacerbated by a lack of cultural awareness and historical mistreatment within racially homogenous communities”.

The report, which was produced after six months from internal data and interviews with 109 people from 24 out of the 42 dioceses, identified instances of overt racism and discrimination.

A “preference for a certain type of Englishness” was deemed overtly racist, with one participant saying: “If you’re working class, Black, mixed race ... you’re less likely to ever preach ... they don’t want that; they want Queen’s English”.

Several instances were also reported where parishioners “refused” to have an ethnic minority person preside over the funeral services of loved ones.

The report picked out “resistance to anti-racism efforts”, citing an occasion where a senior leader opposed the term, preferring “inclusion” or “racial justice”, as another example of overt racism.

The report said “educational experiences” and “vocational gatekeeping” had impeded the careers of clergy from “non-traditional Anglican backgrounds”.

Lord Boateng, who was Britain’s first black cabinet minister and is now chairman of the Archbishops’ Racial Justice Commission, took issue with CofE leaders paying “lip service” to Black History Month while presiding over an institution rife with “structural and systemic racism”.

Women and those from low-income backgrounds were included in being subjected to a “tougher time” than the “archetypal Church of England priest who is white, middle class, UK born and/or educated, male”.

“The Church tends to recruit people from a certain type of background, which often excludes those from working class communities”, one participant remarked, while another suggested: “There’s enormous prejudice especially if you are not well-educated and white-skinned and English enough.”

The comments on class come after a report last year found working-class priests felt alienated by a middle-class “wine and cheese” culture in the church.

Rev Dr Ian Paul, the vicar of St Nic’s, Nottingham, and a member of the General Synod and the Archbishops’ Council, told The Telegraph that the latest report from the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice was “thoroughly terrible”.

He said: “It’s very clear they don’t understand the Church of England. They talk about career progression, which is not the way the Church of England talks about it.

“They talk about anti-racism, which actually is racist language from the culture wars in the States.”

He added that it was “complete nonsense” to describe the Church of England as “structurally racist”.

“It’s nonsense, complete nonsense. They demonstrate no evidence at all. They don’t define what they mean by these terms. And the way they’ve done the research is very poor in terms of process, and it doesn’t support the conclusion. It is as if they have pre-decided this and that is what they have reached for.”

He also pointed out that a lot of ethnic minorities in the UK are Hindu, Sikh and Muslim and therefore do not tend to go to church.

“What do you expect us to do, have Muslim bishops? It is bonkers,” he added.

Prudence Dailey, a veteran General Synod member, told the MailOnline: “The thing I find most upsetting and offensive about this report is that it correlates an attachment to tradition and history with racism.”

A Lambeth Palace spokesman said: “We welcome the report from the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice into the lived experiences of [UK Minority Ethnic and Global Majority Heritage] people in the Church of England.

“The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are committed to promoting racial justice within the church, so it is sobering to read that there are still structural and racist barriers to [UK Minority Ethnic and Global Majority Heritage] clergy progressing to leadership roles.

“The Archbishops reaffirm the work of the Racial Justice Unit, and hope and pray the Church of England will become a place where everyone can thrive and flourish.”