RELIGIOUS identity in the UK has been “misused to intimidate and divide”, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said. She called for “a renewal of hope”, “a rejection of hatred and division, and a turning towards one another”.
Archbishop Mullally was speaking in the House of Lords on Monday during a debate on the King’s Speech, two days after 60,000 people attended the “Unite the Kingdom” rally in central London, organised by the far-Right activist Tommy Robinson (News, 18 May).
“As human beings, we are naturally drawn to those who resemble us or reinforce our views, particularly in times of adversity or perceived scarcity,” she said. “Yet such instincts do not lead to a flourishing society.”
She continued: “The Church of England has long held that the right of all people to practise their faith without fear must be protected. We have also seen religious identity misused to intimidate and divide.
“Let us be clear: to follow Jesus Christ is to love your neighbour as yourself, to love without exception, and to seek the flourishing of all.”
The pressures faced by communities across the UK must be addressed, she said, “while ensuring that systems for new arrivals are fair. And we must undertake the harder task of bringing communities together — of making strangers neighbours — and ensuring that all who reside here have both the opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to our shared life.
“This becomes far more difficult if those refugees for whom we hold responsibility lack clarity about whether or when they may be required to return to their country of origin. We embed insecurity rather than stability when those seeking British citizenship are put through a decade-long game of immigration snakes and ladders.”
Archbishop Mullally said that the “work of integration has never been more urgent”, and referred to “a deeply concerning deterioration in intercommunity relations” in relation to a series of anti-Semitic incidents in recent months (News, 1 May).
“I . . . welcome the commitment in the Gracious Speech to do more to protect Jewish communities following recent appalling attacks,” she said. “In doing so, I wish to assure both Jewish and Muslim communities of my support as they face the unacceptable rise in hate crime, intimidation and hostility.”
Concluding on an optimistic note, she said: “Our debate on immigration can, however, be a source of hope: hope that attitudes can change; that fairer societies are less divided; and that daily life alongside people of different backgrounds reduces fear and suspicion.
“Through its presence in every parish across England, the Church of England helps to build communities where people know and care for one another. In doing so, it builds bridges and fosters relationships across lines of race, faith, class, and more. In these acts of mutual care, the seeds of belonging are sown. It is this patient work of integration and community-building that policymaking must support.”
The Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, spoke in the education debate on 14 May, welcoming the Government’s support for “industrial renewal” and “closer co-operation with our European neighbours”. She said: “The proposed European Partnership Bill is important for regions such as the north-east. Our relationship with our neighbours is not an ideological abstraction but a matter of practical economic significance.”
Dr Hartley continued: “As we pursue growth and competitiveness, we must resist any tendency to treat human beings merely as economic instruments or units of productivity. Every person possesses inherent dignity and worth, which no labour market can define and no economic circumstance can erase.
“Good growth is not growth at any cost. The success of this session of parliament will not be measured solely through national growth figures or investment totals. It will be measured by whether people truly experience greater dignity, stronger communities, wider opportunity and renewed hope in the places that they call home.”
Giving her maiden speech in the Upper House on Monday, the Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, Dr Joanne Grenfell, expressed hope that the Government “will give due weight to those whose voices are hardest to hear — individuals maintaining their innocence over many years from within prison, and the families who stand alongside them”. She continued: “Any system worthy of public confidence must be able to correct and learn from its mistakes.”
Also speaking in the justice and home-affairs section of the debate, the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, said: “For far too long, we have let the public narrative and media headlines shape our penal policy. It is, therefore, not surprising that, too often, our system leaves people stuck in cycles of reoffending. We are not being courageous in acting on the evidence regarding what enables change and transformation. Our long-term vision must be about reducing offending and reoffending, with a long-term aim of building stronger communities. It must be about investing in restorative rehabilitation, braver community alternatives, valued probation, and, of course, victim support, because we cannot be siloed in focusing either on offenders or on victims.”
The Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, spoke on Tuesday in the debate covering energy security, education, technology, and culture. He raised the matter of online safety, asking: “Where in the gracious speech is the legislative vehicle to deliver the urgent changes needed to the online safety regime? Where is the strategic approach to AI safety? Where is the careful balancing of ethics with innovation? Where are the laws binding development on superintelligent AI?”
Dr Croft said: “On behalf of the Church of England, I welcome the proposed reforms of the Special Educational Needs system. They align with the Church of England’s vision for education centred on human dignity, belonging, inclusion, and enabling every child to flourish, regardless of their needs or abilities.” But he continued: “However, we need to pay much more attention to the ordering of the digital world our children will inhabit.”
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, was due to speak on health and housing on Wednesday, and the Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker, was due to speak about foreign affairs and defence on yesterday.