Hazel Southam reports from the Alliance’s sixth annual Temple Address,
held in London on 15 November 2006...
Christians must better seize the challenges of our diverse society, says Trevor Phillips, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality and Human Rights. Addressing key members of society from the world of religion, politics, media and business, he said, “We are, whether you are a believer or not, being put to the test. And our prize could not be greater: mankind’s very survival.”
Phillips believes that the human race faces two great challenges in the 21st century. “One, amply described in the recent Stern Report, is the issue of climate change [see p13],” he said. “The other is the desperate, growing number of human conflicts driven by human difference.... In short: how do we live with our planet, and how do we live with each other?”
He argues that people of faith should make diversity a benefit rather than a burden. “We are becoming a more interconnected world, with technology and travel shrinking our horizons. And that worldwide change carries dangers and has a real presence in our communities, our workplaces, our high streets and our schools,” he said. “Bill Clinton’s maxim about globalisation is absolutely right. Globalisation, he said, is not a policy; it is a fact. The only thing that matters is how we respond to it.”
"What moral cause could be of greater import today than the cause of anti-racism"
Trevor Phillips
Phillips believes Christians can’t be complacent on this issue. Churches, he said, can no longer sit this one out. “If faith institutions have any larger purpose in society, it must be to give a moral lead” he said. “And what moral cause could be of greater import today than the cause of anti-racism? Can faith mobilise itself to place racism where it belongs, outside the pale of civil society?”
His comments came after the British National Party’s leader Nick Griffin was acquitted on the charge of inciting racial hatred. He had been quoted as describing Islam as a “wicked, vicious religion”, then claiming that his views represented those of “white Christians” in Britain.
“If Nick Griffin is a Christian, the Pope is a banana,” Phillips said. “Churches have the role to say, ‘We don’t want anything to do with anyone like Nick Griffin and we abhor the BNP’s latest attempt to co-opt Christianity to that cause.’ The Church should use every instrument at its disposal; ex-communication is one of their weapons.”
Champions of Respect
Phillips was addressing a cross-section of Church and community leaders who met near the Houses of Parliament for this year’s Temple Address on the theme of Respect, focussing on racial and religious diversity. During the evening, the second Champions of Respect awards were presented, recognising young people who have made a difference in their communities.
This year’s overall winner, and the person who received the Anthony Walker Memorial Prize, was Luke Clifford from Roehampton. He has bought land to build a garage in Kenya, where he hopes to train young mechanics and give them a skill and work.
"I thought it would be like a holiday, but it was more than that:
it was life-changing"
“I was getting into a lot of trouble,” he said, “but I was given the opportunity to go out to Kenya. I thought it would be like a holiday, but it was more than that: it was life-changing. We camped out with the street kids and built relationships with them. I visited a garage where some of them work. They had no facilities and tools and didn’t know about the engines, so I spent some time teaching them how stuff worked. It was great.
“They wanted to build a new garage and I thought that would be an opportunity for me. I’d always had a dream of building a garage, I just never thought it would be in Kenya. It’s a privilege and an honour to be here tonight and I’m grateful.”
Clifford won a £250 prize, plus £250 for his favourite charity and the opportunity to travel abroad with a Transform team under the auspices of the development agency Tearfund.
Clifford was the winner in the 17-25 age group as well as the overall winner, while Daniel Cronin won the 10-16 age group. Cronin is a football referee who is training to become a football coach. He aims to play a key role in a football academy in Brentford, London, through which he will reach out to young football players with the Gospel.
The runners-up were 11-year-old Ailidh Henderson, who raises money for orphans in Rwanda, and 22-year-old Carwyn Hill, who is raising funds for a hospital in Haiti.
The Alliance’s General Director, Rev Joel Edwards, said, “With so many negative statements about young people flying around it is such a privilege to have models of positive lives. Champions of Respect has shown us that there are thousands of young people who take respect seriously, and we have had the chance to meet them.”
www.championsofrespect.org
