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Non-white Jesus as refugee will replace Edward Colston stained glass window

Stained glass window approved at St Mary Redcliff Church in Bristol - Adam Hughes, SWNS
Stained glass window approved at St Mary Redcliff Church in Bristol - Adam Hughes, SWNS

A stained glass picture of Jesus in a migrant boat will replace a church’s window featuring Edward Colston, the slave trader, after a religious body approved the decision.

The Anglican St Mary Redcliffe church in Bristol made the decision to remove four stained glass panels dedicated to Colston two years ago after the toppling of his statue.

Having temporarily replaced the original depicting the slave trader, members of the public were invited to submit new designs as part of a competition.

Permission has now been granted by the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Bristol - a body founded in the 16th-century that once dealt with offences including sexual immorality, blasphemy and clerical misdemeanours - to proceed with the replacement.

In his judgment, diocese chancellor, Justin Gau, said that “the historical behaviour of (St Mary Redcliffe) in excusing the life of Colston… is a sin,” Bristol24/7 reports.

“To encourage parishioners to look at a memorial to a slave trader and to be encouraged to ‘Go thou and do likewise’ is not only grotesque but entirely contrary to the Gospel command to love one another,” Gau added.

New stained glass window design to be installed - Adam Hughes, SWNS
New stained glass window design to be installed - Adam Hughes, SWNS

The new windows show Jesus in a number of situations, including him joining the Bristol bus boycott, on a Bristol ship on a slaving voyage, as a child refugee fleeing to Egypt and among a diverse group of neighbours.

The four new panels are designed to “depict a crucial aspect of our shared Bristolian history as neighbours, and reference a relevant aspect of the character of Christ”, according to Ealish Swift, the artist.

Among them is one that “portrays the current refugee crisis, and Jesus as a child refugee fleeing to Egypt”, Ms Swift, a Bristol-based junior doctor, said in her artist’s statement.

“Jesus is depicted as multiple ethnicities to counter the Anglocentric narrative of ‘white Jesus’, and running water flows between the panels to centre the designs in the seaport city of Bristol,” she added.

Another of the new panels celebrates the Bristol Bus Boycott, which Ms Swift said “paved the way for the Race Relations Act of 1965, with Jesus as a fellow protester and radical”.

Another of the new panels celebrates the Bristol Bus Boycott - Adam Hughes, SWNS
Another of the new panels celebrates the Bristol Bus Boycott - Adam Hughes, SWNS

The Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 arose from the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ black or Asian bus crews in the city.

Ms Swift said her design draws upon the “the deep and complex history of Bristol, from atrocities of the past to modern day concerns, to remind us of the journeys of our neighbours and how we have come to be together at this moment, looking forward towards a shared future”.

St Mary Redcliffe Church needed permission from an ancient ecclesiastical court in order to replace their stained glass windows commemorating Colston.

The historic Grade I-listed church is deeply rooted in British history, having been described by Queen Elizabeth I upon her visit in 1574 as “the fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England.”