FAR-RIGHT groups are “unChristian”, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned. Their misuse of Christian imagery is an offence to the faith, and Christians should not associate with them.

Archbishop Welby was writing in The Guardian on Monday in response to the rioting that spread through the UK last week. He said that these criminal acts — “underpinned by hatred and violence” — should not be “dignified” with the “treasured” word, protest.

Violence broke out in towns and cities after the murder of three girls at a dance class in Southport on 31 July (News, 9 August, 3 August). The riots were led by far-right groups and individuals spreading false rumours online about the man charged with the murders. Muslims and asylum-seekers were targeted; mosques and hotels in which refugees and asylum-seekers are being housed were among the buildings damaged.

“It is racist,” Archbishop Welby wrote of the violence. “It targets ethnic minorities. It is anti-Muslim, anti-refugee, and anti-asylum-seeker. It was detonated by lies and fuelled by deliberate misinformation, spread quickly online by bad actors with malignant motivations.

“The lies and misinformation flourished in fertile ground cultivated by years of rhetoric from some of our press and politicians, arriving at a point where some felt emboldened to try to set fire to a hotel housing asylum-seekers and target mosques.”

How could people respond adequately, the Archbishop asked, without simply “murmuring inadequate truisms: rioting is bad. Law and order is good. Be nice to people.”

Brave statements were not enough, he suggested, to propagate peace, which took careful meeting and planning.

“Disagreeing is healthy, and being disagreed with can be strengthening, unless it is underpinned by hatred and violence.”

Archbishop Welby argued that “free speech, freedom of worship, and the right to peaceful protest must be protected. When freedom of religion and belief is forbidden to many around the world, it is important that we defend these things as a matter of policy — and encourage religious literacy in education and in government, to equip people to live in a faith-filled world.”

Ignorance was not an excuse, he said. “And to remove any doubt, the Christian iconography that has been exploited by the far right is an offence to our faith, and all that Jesus was and is. Let me say clearly now to Christians that they should not be associated with any far-right group — because those groups are unChristian. Let me say clearly now to other faiths, especially Muslims, that we denounce people misusing such imagery as fundamentally antiChristian.”

The most powerful scenes from the past week were ones of conversation, support, and community, the Archbishop related: an imam in Liverpool bringing food to a small group of far-right rioters; bricklayers helping to rebuild a mosque that had been vandalised; a C of E chaplain working with international students to clear away debris after an evening shielding Sunderland Minster from damage.

“We must develop and cherish these examples of civic virtue that have been counter-messages to those of the mob.”

He wrote of the “difficult path” of living well together, which meant laying foundations for reconciliation. “Rather than the idea of a quick fix or a warm hug after a disagreement, reconciliation is the long and often painful process of addressing injustice, careful research into the deep-rooted causes of division, and facing uncomfortable truths. It requires enormous care, where the misuse of privilege and power are put aside and we turn outwards to one another as the starting block of building a flourishing community.”

This could not, the Archbishop said, be achieved “accidentally”. It required “real intent together . . . rooted in the common good and in solidarity. That means no preferences except on the basis of need. It means good housing, health, and education for marginalised communities in our urban centres and former mill towns, as well as on the coasts and in the outer estates.”

He concluded: “Let us make no mistake, those communities left behind in our country’s race to growth reflect the rich and precious diversity that is our nation today. . . Embracing the opportunities and challenges offered by living in such a diverse country is a task for all of us, and it is clear from the last few weeks that that work is long overdue.”

Read more on this story in this week’s Press column here.