We witnessed this racism again on display over the weekend in Charlottesville when a young woman was murdered and many others were injured during a protest of a white supremacy rally. Our prayers are with her family and all the victims of violence and hatred.
We want to make it abundantly clear that as Anglicans we believe that all people are created in God’s image and, as image bearers, all are worthy of equal dignity and respect. God does not value one ethnicity above another. His Son shed his blood for us all. We find our meaning and value in his death, resurrection, and ascension for us, which both humbles and exalts people of all ethnicities. Christ is the source of our reconciliation with God and each other. White supremacy, therefore, is an affront to the gospel because it speaks against the Anglican (and wider Christian) doctrines of creation, salvation, and ecclesiology (the one people of God called from all the ethnicities of the earth). Racism and white supremacy have no place in Anglicanism.
We confess that as Anglicans we ourselves have a long way to go in reflecting in our churches God’s vision for his multicolored Kingdom and addressing the concerns of communities of color, but we are committed for the long haul to seek the fullness of God’s purposes in all these things. We ask you to pray for Charlottesville and North America—that racism would be overcome and that we might live together in harmony. We also ask that you pray for the Church—that God might grant us the wisdom to be salt and light during these challenging times.
Yours In Christ,
The Anglican Multi-Ethic Network (A.M.E.N.) Leadership Team
