Justin Welby criticises Church’s ‘deconstructing whiteness officer’ job advert

The Archbishop of Canterbury questions church officials who create such roles with job descriptions – Gregorio Borgia/AP

The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned the church for advertising for a “deconstructing whiteness officer”.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said he had questioned church officials who created such roles with job descriptions including “addressing white fragility” in order to “stand against the evil and pernicious sin of racism”.

Speaking to Times Radio, the Archbishop said he told the team behind one of the adverts that such language was similar to that used in the sitcom W1A, which satirises BBC managerial jargon.

One position with the title of “anti-racism practice officer (deconstructing whiteness)” has been created in the Diocese of Birmingham. Its brief is to work as part of an 11-person “racial justice” team across churches in the West Midlands.

The description explains that a group of dioceses have been given funding for the team “to help us ensure that structures, practices and behaviours embrace people of GMH [global majority heritage] and UKME [UK minority ethnic] backgrounds”.

Terms ‘imported from US’

Commenting on the role, the Archbishop said: “I rang up the person in charge of that area and said, ‘What on earth does it mean? Why on earth have you put it in?’ I said, ‘Look, this sounds a bit like W1A, can we please do these things in English?’”

He added: “What the person’s job is across six parishes is to make sure that those from ethnic minority backgrounds who apply for jobs have a level playing field.”

The terms have been “imported from the culture wars in the US”, according to the Rev Dr Ian Paul, who is a member of the General Synod and the Archbishops’ Council.

Dr Paul claimed that such language risked “alienating ordinary members of the Church of England”.

It comes after Church leaders were forced to defend the appointment of “racial justice enablers” whose mandate is to address “white fragility”. Several Church of England dioceses faced backlash after appointing individuals or teams to address racial inequality in their regions amid concerns they would alienate ordinary worshippers.

Earlier this month, the Church of England was told to raise £1 billion from wealthy donors for a fund set up to address its links to transatlantic slavery.

Following the publication of a report which found much of the Church Commissioners wealth originates from the slave trade, the organisation announced the establishment of a £100 million fund to “address past wrongs of slavery” in January last year.

However a report, published on March 4 by an independent Oversight Group, concluded that the £100 million fund would be too small and too slow to deliver on its aims and called for the target to be increased to £1 billion.

The group said the Church Commissioners “embraced a target of £1 billion for a broader healing, repair and justice initiative with the fund at its centre” after recognising the original £100 million sum was “insufficient” to counter the “historic and enduring greed, cynicism and hate with penitence, hope and love”.

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