What has the Church of England said?
2004 General Synod motion
"That this Synod, noting the recent success of the British
National Party in local elections in parts of Lancashire:
a. believe that
any political movement that seeks to divide our communities on the
basis of ethnicity is an affront to the nature of God revealed in
creation and scripture and is a grave danger to harmonious
community relationships; consequently voting for and/or supporting
a political party that offers racist policies is incompatible with
Christian discipleship;
b. call on all
Christians in England to nurture a loathing of the sin of racism
and to model the teaching of Christ in loving all our neighbours;
and
c. commit
the Church of England to work in partnership with our ecumenical
partners, other faith groups, voluntary and statutory
organisations, mainstream political parties and all people of good
will, in building cohesive communities and affirming our
multi-ethnic, culturally and religiously diverse society."
2006 Communications statement on Christian Council of
Britain
The response of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
(CTBI) to the Christian Council of Britain appears below. The
Church of England is a member of CTBI, the instrument of Churches
in Britain for thinking, working and praying
together.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland associates itself with
the recent statement from the Methodist Church concerning a body
calling itself the "Christian Council of Britain", and wishes
to make absolutely clear that there is no connection between CTBI
or its predecessor the British Council of Churches and the
"Christian Council of Britain".
The statement from the Methodist Church said:
A body calling itself the Christian Council of Britain and
apparently associated with the BNP recently started joining
protests against Jerry Springer: The Opera. Anthea Cox, Methodist
Coordinating Secretary for Public Life and Social justice, said, "I
am outraged that the BNP and its allies are using Christianity to
further their agenda of segregation and division. I think most
Christians will be deeply affronted by this and want to speak out
against such misguided extremism. We reaffirm our earlier
statements that Christian belief is incompatible with any political
party or philosophy that is based on hatred or treats people as
inferior because of their race, beliefs or for any other reason. We
are deeply concerned that some people are now appropriating
Christian language and symbols for policies that are the very
opposite of Christian values."
The CCB has claimed that the Bible justifies its support for
the BNP's repatriation policy. But the Revd Ken Howcroft,
Coordinating Secretary for Conference and Communication, said "this
was a way of interpreting scripture that was used to justify
apartheid in South Africa, the banning of mixed-race marriages and
the setting up of homelands. The South African Council of Churches
condemned this interpretation, and some of the churches that did
support this interpretation later formally repented. In Galatians,
Paul writes 'In Christ there is no Jew or Gentile,' and this makes
it clear that there is no Christian basis for racial discrimination
or separation."
2006
Faithful Cities report
see Chapter 3 esp. 3.24-3.27; 3.38; page 26
Recommendation 4
'Social cohesion depends on the ability of people to live in
harmony. Faith groups in particular must combat racism, fascism and
religious intolerance at all levels of society.'
2007 General Synod
motion
'That this Synod, rejoicing in the enrichment that minority
ethnic Anglicans bring to the Church of England and the wider
society and reaffirming our abhorrence of the grave sinfulness of
covert, overt and institutional racism:
(a) request all dioceses to assess what further
developments of their structures and practices are needed to secure
a greater use of the gifts of minority ethnic people in the life of
the Church at all levels and an increase in the number of ethnic
minority young people in leadership;
(b) request the Archbishops' Council to review the
results of these assessments, consider whether further national
action is required and report to Synod within three years; and
(c) reiterate that support for political organisations
whose policies engender racism is inconsistent with Christian
discipleship.'
Background paper Present and Participating (GS 1655)
2009 General Synod
motion
'That this Synod, noting that in 2004 the Association of Chief
Police Officers
adopted a policy whereby
"no member of the Police Service, whether police officer or
police
staff, may be a member of an organization whose constitution,
aims,
objectives or pronouncements contradict the general duty to
promote
race equality" and "this specifically includes the British
National
Party",
request the House of Bishops to formulate and implement a
comparable policy
for the Church of England, to apply to clergy, ordinands, and
such employed
lay persons as have duties that require them to represent or
speak on behalf of
the Church.'
Background papers
2009 Archbishops' Statement on European
Elections
"The European Parliamentary and local elections on June 4th will
take place at a time of extraordinary turbulence in our democratic
system. It is a time for great vigilance over how to exercise
our democratic right to vote.
"The temptation to stay away or register a protest vote in order
to send a negative signal to the parties represented at Westminster
will be strong. In our view, however, it would be tragic if
the understandable sense of anger and disillusionment with some MPs
over recent revelations led voters to shun the ballot box.
"Those whom we elect to local councils and the European
Parliament will represent us and our collective interests for many
years to come. It is crucial to elect those who wish to
uphold the democratic values and who wish to work for the common
good in a spirit of public service which urgently needs to be
reaffirmed in these difficult days.
"There are those who would exploit the present situation to
advance views that are the very opposite of the values of justice,
compassion and human dignity are rooted in our Christian
heritage.
"Christians have been deeply disturbed by the
conscious adoption by the BNP of the language of our faith
when the effect of those policies is not to promote those values
but to foster fear and division within communities,
especially between people of different faiths or racial
background.
"This is not a moment for voting in favour of any political
party whose core ideology is about sowing division in our
communities and hostility on grounds of race, creed or colour; it
is an opportunity for renewing the vision of a community united by
mutual respect, high ethical standards and the pursuit of justice
and peace.
"We hope that electors will use their vote on June
4th to renew the vision of a community united by
the common good, public service and the pursuit of justice."
Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and Dr John Sentamu,
Archbishop of York