The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has criticised a Church of England job advert for a ‘deconstructing whiteness’ officer, comparing it to the BBC satire W1A.
The advert was posted by the Diocese of Birmingham and sought an employee to work across several areas in the West Midlands. Archbishop Welby questioned the language used in the advert, asking “what on earth does that mean?”
Speaking to Times Radio, he likened it to the comedy series that mocks BBC management. He said: “Birmingham Diocese did put that in an advert. And when I saw it, I rang up the person in charge of that area and said, ‘What on earth does that mean?
“Why on earth have you put that in?”
The Archbishop said the person taking the role would be in charge of making sure people from minority backgrounds had a “level playing field” when applying for jobs in the Church of England’s 15,000 parishes.
The Diocese of Birmingham, led by Bishop Michael Volland, advertised the £36,000-a-year post for an “anti-racism” officer to “deconstruct whiteness” within its 11-person racial justice unit.
It comes just days after the Diocese of York advertised for a part-time “racial justice enabler” to implement a diversity training programme addressing ‘white fragility’, it was revealed earlier this week.
Reverend Dr Ian Paul, an associate minister at St Nicholas’s Church in Nottingham and member of the Archbishops’ Council, criticised the Church’s approach. Speaking to MailOnline, he said: “The racist nature of this ‘antiracism’ approach is evident in the actions being taken.
“How have we ended up with such a diverse group in our church? It was not by importing divisive critical race theory language from the US. ‘It was not by making people feel guilty about their ‘whiteness’.
“It was not by imposing quotas, or virtue signalling, or making a power play. It was by taking each person, with their language and culture, seriously, and ensuring that they were welcomed and had an honoured place in the community of faith.”
Earlier this month, a report from an independent oversight group set up by the Church Commissioners called the Church’s £100 million slavery reparations fund too small. They suggested it should be increased to £1 billion.
The Church of England said it wouldn’t add more money but agreed that super-rich families and investors should help create a big pot of money to fix the lasting damage from slavery. Geetha Tharmaratnam, the vice-chairman of the oversight group, hinted that the £900 million gap could be filled partly by rich families and companies who feel bad about their old ties to slavery.
The report caused anger because it seemed to say sorry for the work of Christian missionaries in Africa. Archbishop Welby said he was very happy with the report’s suggestions at the time, saying ‘we must continue to work together remembering that all are created in the image of God’.
But yesterday, he seemed to change his mind when he said ‘we haven’t accepted’ the suggestions that the Church should increase its reparations fund to £1 billion.