THE Church must “reclaim each the flag and the religion” from the far Right, the Bishop of Kirkstall, the Rt Revd Arun Arora, has said.
Bishop Arora, who’s a co-lead bishop for racial justice, made the comments during a sermon preached at a licensing service in St James’s, Manston, in east Leeds. It is one mile away from the Britannia Hotel, within the Seacroft suburb of Leeds, where there have been weekly protests against asylum-seekers housed there.
Bishop Arora said that the message of God’s love needed to be heard afresh, “especially at a time when, in our city and in our nation, the language of exclusion and division is on the rise” and when “whole groups of persons are being labelled as unwelcome, unwanted, uninvited. The rising toxic tide of racism — the sin of racism — and its impact is being felt each on this city and all around the country.”
Some of those within the Britannia Hotel were “Christians who worship at our churches here in Leeds”, he said. One of them had recently been set upon by three men “who beat him, punched him, and broke his tooth”.
“Such incidents have followed weeks of hotel protests and flag-flying with barely concealed racist overtones,” Bishop Arora said. “Sentiments that even five years ago would have been considered shameful at the moment are being broadcast at public gatherings, accompanied by cheers and applause. Such sentiments have been accompanied by reckless voices of hate searching for to camouflage themselves within the language of patriotism and faith, all of the while debasing each.
“The time has come for us as a Church to reclaim each the flag and the religion that’s being desecrated by those that would use each to divide us as a nation.
“Our overriding duty because the Church — to like the Lord our God and to like our neighbour as ourselves — requires us to face firm in a faith rooted within the common good that recognises the face of God in all those we’re called to serve.”
