A pro-BLM Bishop says the Church needs to “further embed racial justice” and should not be afraid of being called “woke”. This has been enthusiastically welcomed by the Church’s entire leadership in an orgy of racial self-flagellation. The Telegraph has more.
The Church of England has told all of its parishes to draw up “race action plans” after a pro-Black Lives Matter (BLM) bishop urged it to embrace being “woke”.
The General Synod, the Church’s legislative body, passed a motion on Sunday which said it should “encourage parishes and deaneries to develop local action plans to address issues of racial injustice”.
The Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the Bishop of Dover, said the Church needed to “further embed racial justice” and should not be afraid of being called “woke”.
“Those who are frightened by the authenticity of this movement want to scare us into thinking that being woke is a sin created by people on the Left,” she said.
Bishop Hudson-Wilkin led prayers at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018 and has been an outspoken supporter of BLM.
She called on the Church to expand the number of bishops, cathedral deans and other senior churchmen who are from ethnic minorities.
The Very Rev Rogers Govender MBE, the Dean of Manchester, told Synod that the Church’s failure to do so before now was a “pernicious sin”.
No members stood up to make speeches opposing the motion as it passed by 364 votes in favour to zero against, with two abstentions.
The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, spoke animatedly as he said the Church “has not been good enough” on diversity and inclusion, that “racism and discrimination rupture our body” and asked, “May the Lord have mercy upon us”.
The Rt Rev Martin Gorick, the Bishop of Dudley, said every Anglican who becomes a parish representative in his Diocese of Worcester now has to undertake compulsory unconscious bias training.
Bishop Hudson-Wilkin said in response that every other diocese should follow suit.
The training was axed across government and the civil service in December 2020 because there was “no evidence” that it improved equality.
The Rev Rachel Webbley, team rector in Whitstable, Kent, told Synod she was a “recovering racist” and said she was shocked by “just how much white resistance there is to feeling discomfort about racial injustice”.
Daniel Matovu, a lay member of Synod, added that he had been forced to bear a cross throughout his life “because of the colour of my skin”.
“You white folks have no idea, particularly those of you who are white male, heterosexual and not disabled,” he said. “You’ve only been given small sticks to carry, with which to beat the rest of us.”
David Hermitt, another lay member, said the Church needed to become more anti-racist to reverse its falling membership figures because “young people” are “more radical than we are”.
The notion that the Church of England will attract more “young people” to the pews by forcing every parish to draw up “race action plans” is so wrong-headed it’s almost touching.
Worth reading in full.
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