Project Description

RACIAL UNREST – A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE

On 29 July 2024, a mass stabbing targeting children occurred at a dance studio in Southport, Merseyside. Three children were killed, and ten other people – eight of whom were children – were injured, some of them severely. Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, a 17-year-old British citizen born in Cardiff to parents from Rwanda, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder, and possession of a bladed article.

In these days of social media, news of the atrocity spread like wildfire and as is so often the case, much of that news was false. It was reported that the culprit was a Muslim who had entered the country illegally on a boat. Others who ought to have known better stoked the tensions and the result was an immediate orgy of violence and destruction directed against ethnic and racial minorities across cities in England. Belfast – no stranger to sectarian violence down the years – was also the scene of rioting.

Thankfully, as we go to press, a measure of calm has returned to cities across the UK, and we trust that will remain the case. That said, there have been ongoing attacks on people and property in parts of NI, and we suspect some of it is being driven by loyalist paramilitary elements. It is racist, sectarian and repulsive, and much of it is based on ignorance.

In mid-August, a man employing staff and contributing to the economy had his restaurant business burned in Newtownabbey by thugs who, by daubing “Muslim out” on the wall, merely confirmed that ignorance.  Abjan Acharya is Nepalese-British, born into a Hindu family and raised and educated in Belfast. But those involved in that attack wouldn’t understand or care about any of that.

Violence against people and property on any grounds must be condemned without reservation or qualification. Yes, there are concerns about illegal immigration which will need to be addressed by the new Labour Government, but this cannot be used to explain away violence against anyone. Migration has long been part of human history, and there is such turbulence in our modern world that it will continue to present major challenges.

As evangelical Protestants, we must apply Biblical principles to this complex issue. Some of those whose actions led, directly or indirectly, to the violence in Belfast had the audacity to claim that they were Christians. Such nonsense. We are commanded by Christ to love our neighbour, and there are repeated illustrations of this in the Gospels. The Old Testament too contains clear teaching for the people of Israel which still applies today. In Leviticus 19:34 we read, “But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself”.  If we were to trace our own roots back far enough, I suspect that a substantial number of us might well be the descendants of those who at one time immigrated to these shores.  There are very few truly indigenous peoples.

We must pray for all those in Belfast and other places across the UK who feel afraid and vulnerable because of this madness. Many of them were born and reared here. They belong here. They make a major contribution to the economy and to public services. Some of them play a full part in our churches. Others from other faiths need to hear the Gospel. If we claim to be true Protestants, we will welcome them, support them and reach out to them. They have seen an ugly, secular, perverted and godless misrepresentation of Protestantism which is all too common in these days. By contrast let us show them the face of true Protestantism.