Tag: racism

The shameful case of anti-Semitism in British politics

The EHRC report on anti-Semitism in the Labour Party has now been published.[1] The headline summary is that: “The Party is responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act (2010) relating to: political interference in antisemitism complaints failure to provide adequate training to those handling antisemitism complaints harassment”[2] Before I go on with further comment… Continue reading The shameful case of anti-Semitism in British politics

You don’t have to be my Facebook friend

I was asked a brilliant question the other day. The questioner explained that they have friends on social media who they really struggle with, they find their regular comments about immigration hard to stomach and often there is an undercurrent of racism.  For balance, they observed that they find some of the Black Lives Matter… Continue reading You don’t have to be my Facebook friend

Refugees – Blessing or burden?

Thinking back to a conversation I had with two other Christians about the Home Office’s approach to processing asylum claims, I was struck again by how much our perception of the asylum system is shaped by our view of asylum seekers themselves. If I think that asylum seekers are very likely to be fake, just… Continue reading Refugees – Blessing or burden?

How do we allow others to help us remove our logs and specks?

In a previous post I began to build on Steve Kneale’s post on the challenges of “logs and specks” in the eye of the church.  Steve said that the challenge is that we often cannot see our own logs to remove them. Here are some further thoughts. First of all, whilst I may not be… Continue reading How do we allow others to help us remove our logs and specks?

Racism is a sin of omission not just comission

One of the things that has been concerning for white church pastors like me in response to some of the discussion about racism has been the level of defensiveness. We want to say that we are not racist and so we get very defensive when people talk about systemic racism going on in our churches… Continue reading Racism is a sin of omission not just comission

When a community has a blind spot

I want to pick up on a brilliant question that was raised by one of our church family on the Zoom discussion last Sunday. We had listened to James preach on Matthew 7:1-6 and then one of the members asked “is it possible for these verses to talk about a whole community, church or institution?”… Continue reading When a community has a blind spot

If we are going to see racial justice we will need to escape the monster/angel narrative

It did not take long did it.  Fairly soon after George Floyd’s murder and the outpouring of grief, anger and protest, the stories were circulating. Floyd was high on meth, Floyd was a serial, violent criminal so why was he being celebrated as a martyr. Of course those stories started with the socially required statements… Continue reading If we are going to see racial justice we will need to escape the monster/angel narrative