Institutional Racism and the Church of England – 1
In February last year the Archbishop of Canterbury said the Church of England was ‘institutionally racist’, but with little amplification. But stated baldly the term is no more helpful than telling a doctor ‘I am sick’. The doctor needs to hear the symptoms of your sickness and then move on to giving a diagnosis, and then hopefully work with you to suggest a cure.
The term first achieved widespread use in the McPherson Report into the Death of Stephen Lawrence, which identified a specific list of factors where the police failed to respond adequately to the murder of a young black man: a casual, lethargic response immediately following the murder; the assumption that it was probably two-sided youth violence; a lack of empathy in its approach to the victim’s family. All undergirded by a ‘culture’ that was marked by prejudice against black people.
So, what specifically are the symptoms of institutional racism in the Church of England that warrants such an allegation?
Three preliminary points. Firstly, the term does not indicate overt, conscious intent - the Metropolitan Police’s initial aggrieved response seemed to take it in this way, but the concept refers to the actual results of an institution’s work, not what it intends. So undoubtedly people in the Church of England have behaved in racist ways – thus those appalling examples of clergy positively discouraging black people from attending in the early days of immigration; but that is not the institution itself acting in racist ways. The controversial black academic, Ibram X Kendi, speaks of racism as the property of policies not people.
Secondly it is not indicated by Inequality of Outcome, though this is widely assumed without questioning. So the fact that ethnic minorities are not equal participants, and more especially senior leaders, in an institution does not of itself indicate institutional racism, though it may cause us to consider the question. But ethnic groups can have such very different characteristics that assuming that there should be identical outcomes is misplaced. The very common practice of comparing percentages of participation or leadership simply points up differences; but it can not of itself explain, or even less condemn, such differences. (This is a complex area of widespread confusion which will be a future blog topic.)
A third point is that the factors lying behind institutional racism can be compared to a wedge of cheese. At one end are thick patterns of activity which are easily identifiable; at the other end of the wedge are thinelusive patterns, which it may be impossible for institutions to eliminate. This first blog is about thick patterns; next week about thinner patterns.
1. ‘Invisibile’ Minorities
“Who are we when we are seen but not spotlighted, when we are humble but not invisible, when we matter but not so much that the mattering drives us mad” lamented Patricia J Williams in her superb 1997 Reith Lectures ‘Seeing a Colour-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race’ (p 28). When the Church of England has been talking to itself black people have been invisible; not mattering. A survey of our literature indicates that this is so.
* ‘A History of the Church of England 1945-1980’ by Paul Welsby (OUP 1984) covered the period when England became very definitely a multi-ethnic society. Parishes had long been working at the challenges that were being raised. The Church of England was developing instruments to respond. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsay, had already been the chairman of the National Council of Commonwealth Immigrants, the first national body set up to address the burgeoning challenge of ethnic diversity. None of this is mentioned in Welsby’s book. He describes (sympathetically, I think) the offence many English bishops felt when Bishop Lakdasa de Mel, Metropolitan of India, Burma and Ceylon, scorned their patronising readiness to condescend to schemes of unity overseas, but to resist them at home. But the significant multi-ethnic developments that happened within England during the period are unnoticed as being of no significance for the life and ministry of the Church of England.
But more serious is such obliviousness in more recent books which consciously adopt ‘progressive’ approaches to the church’s life in a rapidly changing context.
* ‘Mission Shaped Church’, a Report to the 2004 Synod, could take a close look at culture, yet scandalously not recognise the growth and diversity of Britain's minority ethnic population as amongst the significant social trends of the past thirty years! Nor did it consider the church’s specific ministry to minority ethnic groups
* ‘Beyond Common Worship: Anglican Identity and Liturgical Diversity’ by Mark Earey (SCM Press 2013) explored how commonalty can remain in Anglican Worship as churches change or new churches emerge in an increasingly fluid society; but without reference to how we might respond to the exponential increase in national diversity that a multi-ethnic society generates. I try to rectify this in my ‘Worship in a Multi-Ethnic Society’, Grove Booklet W236. (Grove never listed it as a new publication; am I being paranoid?).
* ‘Church for Every Context’ by Michael Moynagh (SCM Press 2012). Surely this is a title that arouses the hope that serious thought will be given to the church’s ministry to people from ethnic minorities; but despite its 490 pages one searches its index in vain for such words as ‘race’, ‘ethnicity’, ‘black’, ‘Asian’, ‘African’ etc. The title should be ‘Church for Every White Context’. Overall, church planting literature suggests we have more concern for ministry to surfers than to Somalis.
To return to Patricia J Williams: she wrote that how black people are viewed exhibits ‘a dynamic of display that ricochets between hypervisibility and oblivion’ (p 15). Today Black Lives Matter has created a ‘hypervisibility’ that has burst out of oblivion and that will not disappear any time soon. But neither state is conducive to wise and specific strategies that will move from invisibility towards effective ministry across the range of ethnic identities that there are in England. It seems that whilst periodically ethnic minorities are in the church’s mind, they are very rarely in the church’s heart.
2. Inert Authorities.
‘Wilful Apathy’ was the phrase used to me by an American priest in the 1970s to describe the Church of England’s response to a multi-racial society. Since then we have had ‘Faith in the City’; the setting up of the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns, and the periodic bouts of accusation and apology that have followed their reports; and especially attempts (which need long term evaluation) to increase the numbers of minority ethnic clergy and then senior leaders, but few initiatives to train and equip all leaders or the wider church.
In an interesting article in the Church Times Pat Ashworth described the thoughtful initiatives being taken to develop rural ministry in England. Although I would guess more clergy have a closer familiarity with rural society than multi-ethnic society, yet despite that we have not been anywhere near as fecund in responding to the latter, more demanding context. (Though it is encouraging that, under the influence of the Bishop of Burnley and others, initiatives are being taken to address the long-running need to develop effective estates ministry; a specific challenge which tended to get buried under the broader question of working-class ministry in ‘Faith in the City’).
In particular the Church Times article spotlighted several potentially transferable initiatives in rural ministry that stand out as contrasting with our inertia and lack of creativity as regards cross cultural ministry.
a) An institute.
A couple I know moved from two multi-ethnic parishes in west London to a joint parish ministry in the Yorkshire Dales. An informal condition of their appointment was that they attended a course at the Arthur Rank Centre for rural ministry, which – good to report – they found helpful. Had they been moving in the opposite direction no such support would have been available. The tv series ‘Rev’ showed Adam Smallbone as a decent, well-meaning, likable fish-out-of-water having moved from a country parish to the inner-city. But there was no institution capable of helping Adam orientate himself to his new context. Dioceses such as London run one day courses on ‘Diversity’ but the types of diversity considered are far too disparate to equip people for specific cross cultural encounter. The Arthur Rank Centre’s strap-line of ‘confident rural ministry’ cries out for a cross-cultural counterpart.
The Church of England badly needs such an urban, cross-cultural equivalent of the Arthur Rank Centre, both to contribute to initial training, provide in-service training, and to be a focus for accumulating a body of shared and developing experience in such ministry. Part of the original brief for CMEAC was to share good practice, but in contrast to its concern to forward minority ethnic leaders that responsibility has lain dormant. Anne Morisy, a leading thinker on urban ministry, has said the parish where I was vicar should have had ‘beacon status’, but at present there are no mechanisms in the Church whereby positive experience can be retained and passed on, or initiatives assessed and learned from.
b) Pathways.
A couple from our church were getting married in the west country. It so happened that friends lived nearby and after the wedding we went to see them. It so happened that their son-in-law was visiting them. It so happened that he had a friend who had deferred ordination for a year so that he could work in a multi-ethnic parish. It so happened we needed such a curate, and thankfully the bishop allowed us to receive this ordinand from another diocese.
As a result the curate was instrumental in setting up a multi-ethnic youth group; in helping start a Hindi/Urdu service; in strengthening our ministry to Tamil people. It was also beneficial I believe for the development of his future cross-cultural ministry. One response to this story is to praise God for his providential over-arching care for his people. Another (not contradictory) response is to say that no serious, professional organisation should ever be so careless and haphazard in deploying its human resources so aimlessly.
The Church Times article referred to the Sarum Centre’s Rural Ministry Pathway, identifying, preparing and placing people with a vocation for rural ministry. Since ‘Faith in the City’ (1984) we have been aware of the challenge for the church of urban and cross-cultural ministry yet there is still no national plan to call, train, place and support people for such ministries. Some urban parishes, like some rural parishes, are not that different from the national norm; but by contrast others include minority ethnic sub-cultures and contexts upon which the church has virtually no impact, and nor will it until it is intentional about specifically training and commissioning ministers for such ministry.
At selection we identify and seek to prepare ordinands who are seen as able to make a serious contribution to academic life. It is good that we now also have a general focus on training ‘pioneer’ ministers, but we need to give much more specific attention to developing people who are called to minister to particular ethnic minorities.
c) Training.
As well as specific pathways for those with a particular calling to cross-cultural ministry there is the more general need in the church for all its ministers to be aware of the issues of ‘race’ in our society, and confident in relating to people of other cultures and backgrounds. This ought to be happening informally as our training institutions become more ethnically mixed. It is significant that the best book in this area, Malcolm Patten’s ‘Leading a Multi-Cultural Church’, grew initially from his friendship with a black student at college. Yet it is alarming how often minority ethnic students on courses speak of their peers unconcern to learn from their experiences and backgrounds.
But there needs to be more formal input into the curriculum. It seems that even the expectation for training in ‘Racial Awareness’ that once existed has now dropped off the syllabus; the more specific issues that are raised for ministers in pastoral care, evangelism and congregational formation have never been there. In 2004 Les Isaacs, the founder of Street Pastors, wrote that for two of their three years of college training students should be placed in multi-ethnic communities. That such an experienced minister should make a strong claim underlines his assessment that for most people in training there is a very considerable gap in cross-cultural experience that needs to be bridged if the church is to be at home in a multi-ethnic society. Whilst my attempts to persuade colleges to feature such issues have come to very little, the sudden explosion of Black Lives Matter into public consciousness has put them in a sudden rush to catch up.
Summary.
Patricia J Williams used the word ‘ricochet’ to describe black people’s jarring experience of alternating between oblivion and hypervisibility. Perhaps this goes in tandem with white authorities ricocheting between paralysis undergirded by guilt and a desperate sense that something must be done. What has been absent is the creation of considered, specific, and regularly evaluated responses to new and challenging contexts. Ultimately it is grace from God and between each other that will liberate us to take initiatives with confidence and humility.
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Add Ons
‘Difficult Histories: Christian memory and historic injustice’ is a superb, must-read paper by Professor John Coffey of Leicester University on the Jubilee Centre website that is theologically shrewd and historically well documented. As both memorials and, increasingly, reparations are in debate it is a most helpful resource. Jubilee Centre are hosting an on-line seminar with him on Wednesday, 20th January at 7.30.
The New Testament Church of God annual Oliver Lyesight Lecture will be on-line on Saturday, 13th February at 1.30 on ‘The Voice of Women in Christian Worship and Leadership’ with Rev Dr Carol Tomlin. More details from the NTCG website.