Organisers of protests outside migrant hotels have been urged by the Rt Revd Arun Arora, Bishop of Kirkstall and one of the Church of England’s lead bishops on racial justice, to put megaphones and placards aside and join talks aimed at building bridges between communities.
Bishop Arun said the Church of England’s role is not only to "unashamedly and unapologetically" speak against the racist violence and abuse aimed at minority communities but to help facilitate listening and conversation between opposing groups.
Bishop Arun was speaking at a UK Minority Ethnic clergy and ordinands gathering in Methodist Central Hall in London organised by the Church of England's Racial Justice Unit and attended by more than 150 people from across the country.
Bishop Arun said that not all those who take part in the demonstrations are racist, and there is a need to listen to the voices of people taking part who feel ignored and are struggling to pay their bills, while speaking up against the ‘exploitative’ voices of people who suggest it is the fault of migrants, he told a conference for ethnic minority clergy and ordinands.
He urged the Church of England to ‘embrace’ St George’s Day next year and ‘celebrate a positive patriotism’ rooted in Gospel values and the love of God for all.
Bishop Arun said: "Let me encourage you to embrace that day. To own it, to celebrate it, to reclaim it. To celebrate a positive patriotism rooted in Gospel values.
"A positive patriotism that enables a bold, welcoming, confident English voice which celebrates the love of God for all and His Church, a love which speaks of Jesus Christ and which seeks to serve all throughout this green and pleasant land.
"A positive patriotism which is available to all and can be embraced by all."
Warning against dehumanising opponents, Bishop Arun said there needed to be a way of becoming ‘not enemies’ but opponents on different sides who can disagree well.
He said he had already put this into practice – offering cup cakes and prayers to protesters outside a hotel housing asylum seekers – while he was attending a counter protest in Leeds – and also contacting the organiser of the demonstrations in the city and meeting him for a meal.
Following the meal, he said there had been an agreement that they would bring six people from each side and bring them together for private meetings in one of the Diocese of Leeds churches.
Calling on protesters to explore ‘conversation and listening’ rather than ‘placards and megaphones’ he said: "Today I would invite every protest co-ordinator up and down the country to go beyond protest to meaningful engagement and find a way forward that enables us to work together for the common good.
"I would say to them contact your local priest or bishop. Let us meet together. Let us find common ground."
The Archbishop of York presided at a Eucharist service marking the end of the conference.
In his address he told the conference: “Sisters and brothers, each one of us is known. Each one of us is beautifully and fearfully made. Each one of us bears the image of Christ, and we belong to each other.
“And therefore one of the ways in which we acknowledge God, in the way that Jesus invites us to here, is by acknowledging Christ in each other, and acknowledging the sacredness and beauty of every human life."