BAME Anglican

Dear Naomi, Thank you for tweet asking how to be a good ally. In our current situation, it is important that liberal voices unite and stand together, as Christians, we are commanded to speak up against injustice. Racism like ever other discrimination is ugly and has the power to hurt and humiliate. Unpleasant interactions have the power to cause people to lose their faith. To be an ally takes courage, to listen and act, it requires self-examination. You will hear things that will make you feel complicit in racism, it is uncomfortable to hear this as you are an ally, however this is where you must ask yourself how you benefit from this system. For example as a non disabled person I benefit from a world that caters to my body, seldom thinking about ramps, parking, hearing aids and crowds. While I am sympathetic to the cause I benefit from being able bodied. To change that I must change the way I think of the world. This change takes time but it is possible.

A few days ago we were talking about BAME inclusion the in CoE. M other Elaine Wykes asked how to facilitate inclusion, here are a few quick thoughts we have on the issue.  We are grateful to her for starting the process of thinking inclusively.  Dear Mother Elaine, Thank you for asking. We know you are genuine and someone who has had to prove themselves in Church just as much as we do. Our issues with race are similar to those you have experienced as a woman priest. 1 Our faith rather than culture must be given priority. Culture we find can be oppressive; while some aspects of it are wonderful it must not be accepted uncritically. Example- forced marriages happen within certain cultures, it is more important to respect women and the law rather than culture in these cases. 2 We want to be included in everyday activities of the church, cleaning, making tea, alter serving are all part of it. 3 We want to be included in discerning our vocation. While BAME me

James H. Cone  (August 5, 1938) is  an American theologian, best known for his advocacy of Black Liberation Theology. His  book Black Theology and Black Power (1969) provided a new way to comprehensively define the distinctiveness of theology in the black church.  Recommended reading Black Liberation Theology, in its Founder's Words Recommended viewing 

A while back we were talking about how to reach out to BAME people in church. I said it would be nice to organise events that celebrated blackness and included black people in the daily services. After a minute of silence someone said ‘we can celebrate Eid with the local Muslims to improve race relations’.  Most of the white people in the room looked pleased with themselves, the only other person of colour and I looked at each other rolled our eyes.   We were specifically asked about race not religion and the issue of inclusion of BAME Anglicans. Islam is not a race and the religion is not confined to race or ethnicity. All people of colour are not Muslim either. BAME Christians live under a constant gaze, we are asked to prove our credentials at all times. The church often becomes a checkpoint where we have to display our documents to prove we are who we say we are. Our allegiance is always suspect. I worship in a church with white neo converts, they are assum