This article in Premier Christianity magazine explores how the majority of UK churches are split on racial lines and asks: “Can we re-unite a segregated Church?” While there are a few notable exceptions, today’s situation of most churches and Christian Festivals being mono- rather than multi-cultural is a legacy of racist attitudes going back 70 years.
“The tragedy of the Church’s racial divide is that much of it could have been avoided were it not for the racist attitudes that often prevailed in Britain and its churches in the mid-20th century. The first Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants to the UK in the late 40s and 50s brought their Christian faith with them. But they failed to find a welcome in British churches, frequently being told that they were not welcome to attend. So, they began their own churches.”
How much does the Church simply reflect wider society and how much does it demonstrate another, better way of relating to each other? If Martin Luther King’s words “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning” apply here too, it would seem that there is work to be done on justice and reconciliation among the people of God. Read the full article here.
