A Press Release has been prepared and made public, signed by many Christian leaders in Ipswich and Suffolk in response to the killing of George Floyd. If it is picked up by the press and published, you will notice that I have not added my signature. In the poignancy and power of this cultural moment, such a decision invites misunderstanding, and so in this post, I outline my reasons for taking the difficult decision i did. In case you haven’t seen it, here is the text:
Joint Statement from Christian leaders in Ipswich in response to the killing of George Floyd
The killing of George Floyd was a tragic act of violence that has revealed the racial injustices that are still present across society. George Floyd was denied the fundamental right to life, and his killing is an insult to the God-given dignity of every human being. George Floyd’s death has provoked anger across the world and we, as church leaders in Suffolk, join with those who call for justice.
Many people in our community face racial discrimination every day. This discrimination, expressed in many forms, all too often goes unchecked. We must unite to call out racism wherever we see it and hold one another accountable for our words and actions.
We reaffirm our commitment to eradicating all forms of racism in all parts of society because every human life is precious and honoured by God.
We ask you to join us to shine as lights in the darkness, to uncover the forces of prejudice and discrimination that still divide our community.
Let me start by saying that I substantively agree with everything that is written here, although arguably it is both too brief and too tame in its language. I want to be clear and unambiguous in my own opposition to racism in all its forms and equally clear that Christians should be at the forefront of fighting injustice in all its forms and wherever it is found in our society. Likewise I fully affirm that the death of anyone in such circumstances is truly 'a tragic act of violence', and I agree that it is symptomatic of an injustice that reflects an ongoing societal discrimination that is in no way limited to the American experience. We are seeing that there is clearly resonance within the British context. The outcry against racism that has been sparked by Floyd’s death - the latest in a long line of such deaths - and which is quickly assuming global proportions must be listened to and acted upon. So much seems self-evident to any Christian. So why my reluctance to sign the Joint Statement?
In short my decision is based not on what the statement is saying, but in what it fails to say. And given that this is a statement which I was asked to sign specifically in my capacity as a Church leader in Ipswich, the inadequacy of it as a Christian document is simply too significant to be ignored. The statement is not wrong in what it says, but rather in what it does not say. At a juncture as significant as this, what the Church does NOT say can be more important that what it does. For us to fail in our prophetic mandate during such a key - indeed a kairos - moment would be a tragedy in its own right.
So, what does the statement not say? A lot, but let me briefly highlight 4 staggering omissions:
The statement does not acknowledge the ongoing presence of discrimination within the life of the Church. A legacy of racism is not only the preserve of the Church of England, but this oversight is astonishing given that it was only at February’s General Synod (2020) the ArchBishop of Canterbury was headlined as saying the Church of England is ‘still deeply institutionally racist’; and that Synod recommitted the CofE to "stamp out conscious or unconscious" racism. The racial inequities of the Church generally in the UK, and the CofE in particular, threatens to critically undermine a statement of this nature, and failure to acknowledge that, explicitly leaves the Church open to the charge of hypocrisy. Insofar as the statement is indicative of Christians’ own commitment to address racism in the life of the Church, as well as being involved in addressing these issues as part of society as a whole, it is to be welcomed, although how that might be done is not addressed.
The statement does not offer a specifically Christian analysis. In fact it almost deliberately shies away from doing so, settling for joining with the ‘anger’ of others, and calling for what they are already calling for. This is captured in words such as ‘justice’, while failing to acknowledge that what Christians mean by justice must go far beyond what many others envisage by such words. Perhaps we could even explain what a Christian vision for justice might look like, showing that it goes far beyond simply eradicating racism, accountability and uncovering the forces of prejudice and discrimination (important though such things are)? It is entirely right to express solidarity, but as Christians we have something more to say. Racism is not merely a sociological issue, it is a theological - even a Christological - one. Yes, the statement includes phrases such as ‘God-given dignity’, and yes it speaks of human life as honoured by God. But these are not ideas unique to Christianity, and they are phrases that will be used by those of many faith-traditions and none.
Neither is there any acknowledgement that racism is symptomatic of a sinfulness and a falleness that affects us all; and that we are all complicit in the divisions that scar human society and the structures that perpetuate precisely the kind of tragedy that we are seeing unfolding in Floyd's death and in the rioting and unrest that has followed (to which there is no explicit reference in the statement, but which I presume we also would want to see that eradicated?).
The statement offers no distinctively Christian hope for the present. There is no call for repentance. There is no offering of forgiveness; no plea for grace; no call to prayer or fasting. There is no offer of healing, or restoration. There is no commitment to a fresh preaching of Christ, in whose Cross alone is the power to break down the dividing walls of hostility, and by Whose Spirit can the Church hope to reconcile humanity, and eradicate the sinful divisions of human prejudice, racism, discrimination and injustice, creating a unity that truly reflects the image of a God who has community built into the very fabric of His being. There is no prayer or any other expression of support for the Church leaders in Minneapolis, or more widely in American communities and families that are being deeply affected by the horror of all that is unfolding.
Neither is there anything planned to follow this statement. Whilst those who have drafted this statement, and who have signed it, undoubtedly resist the notion of its being tokenistic, it is hard to see how it has ‘teeth’ when there is no actual plan to follow it up with action. The statement asks for accountability. Who will fulfill this responsibility, and on what grounds?
The statement offers no explicitly Christian hope for the future. You have heard me speak many times on the heavenly vision of the united Church as drawn from ‘every nation, tribe, people and language’ (Rev.7:9). When the Church has a clear vision of her future, that future ‘bleeds back’ into the life of the community of God’s people here and now. This is what lies behind Luke’s observation in Acts 13:1, ‘Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul’. The leadership of the Church in Antioch was clearly a multi-ethnic phenomenon. The same dynamic is captured by Tutu’s famous and prophetic description of the Church as ‘the rainbow people of God’. But without the vision of our future, we will not have the resources to anticipate that future in our present.
This is hardly an exhaustive list, but it is representative of some of the things the Church must be clearly heard to say, and be seen to do, in the midst of tragedies such as the one that is unfolding around us. At a personal level I found their absence troubling.
In the interests of transparency, I need to say that when I raised these concerns it was brought to my attention that this Statement was a Press Release, and thus tailored for a media that may not respond to much that is of any substantial length. On two key points I disagree. I disagree that we should be allowing ‘the media’ (or our perceptions of the media) to define the limits of what the Church is heard to say in days such as these. I also disagree that such limitations necessarily exist. They may in fact be self-imposed. In recent weeks a common complaint in the media is precisely that Christian Leaders are not offering a distinctively Christian perspective. Widely publicized comments about Bishops opting to talk like middle managers, or who act more like health workers that physicians of the soul, or who or who are quicker to offer opinions on political matters than spiritual ones all spring to mind from recent weeks’ news cycles. In principle at least, ‘the media’ wants the Church to say something different. Maybe even, something about Jesus? …who, as we’ve noted above, is conspicuously absent from the Statement.
If Church Leaders are going to say something public, please can we say something the shows the world how the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to and indeed answers the horrific tragedies of a fallen world. Please can we offer something more authentically Christian than simply joining our voices to a call for justice and the eradication of discrimination. The Gospel calls us to higher ambition. Please can that be reflected in any Statement that we make as Church leaders together?
Such a sentiment might be challenged on the grounds that a statement such as this is aimed at those who are not part of the Church. My response is that this is all the more reason to be clear, transparent and explicit about all that the Gospel has to say in addressing and dealing with the ugliness and horror of human sin. But I also reject the false dichotomy. As Church Leaders we are never in a position of speaking to the Church or to society. We are always doing both - although the center of gravity shifts in different contexts. When I speak publicly, I am also speaking to the Church, and I either build up or discourage, I either bring clarity or confusion. A public statement by Church Leaders that makes no reference to Jesus, or the power of His death and resurrection alone to deal with the virulent sin of the human heart in all its expressions not only confuses and disheartens Christians, it undermines our mission, and denies hope to the very world we claim to be speaking to.
So, may I finish as I started, by reaffirming my own commitment to opposing racism in all its forms and by stating as unambiguously as I can that Christians should be at the forefront of fighting injustice in all its forms and wherever it is found in our society… and in ourselves and in our Church. I am not ‘folding my hands’, and I am most emphatically not standing against those who have written or signed this statement per se. We must fight, and fight together, but we must surely do so in the Name of Christ, offering a distinctively Christian vision of a future, and struggling not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, powers and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, and as those find expression in a fallen human society. We must offer - in Martin Luther King’s memorable phrase - a Testament of Hope.
