AAcross Britain, people are appalled by the scenes of violence in our towns and cities. Most of us are left to mutter inadequate platitudes: riots are bad. Law and order are good. Be nice to people.
The problem with such statements is that they contain just enough truth to immunize you against reality. The violence in England and Northern Ireland in recent days has common threads. It is racist. It is directed against ethnic minorities. It is directed against Muslims, refugees and asylum seekers. It was sparked by lies and fuelled by targeted misinformation spread rapidly online by bad actors with malicious intent.
The lies and misinformation thrived on fertile ground fed by years of rhetoric from some of our press and politicians, to the point where some felt emboldened to attempt to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers and attack mosques.
So how can we find a way forward, abolish these divisive and violent forces, and instead forge a path to peace? Bold declarations and grand announcements do not bring peace; peace is achieved through painstaking meetings and careful plans developed in one place and tested in another. Change takes time.
Some short-term answers Are It’s simple. Rioting is wrong. Rioting (don’t dignify it with the precious word “protest”) is criminal and must be controlled. Contempt for others is wrong. Dissent is healthy and dissent can be empowering, provided it is not underpinned by hatred and violence.
It is vital that freedom of expression, freedom of religion and the right to peaceful protest are protected. When freedom of religion and belief is denied to many people in the world, it is important that we defend these things politically – and promote religious literacy in education and politics to prepare people for life in a world of faith.
Atheism or agnosticism are choices people can make, as are the different faiths, but neither choice is an excuse for ignorance of others. And for the avoidance of doubt, the Christian iconography exploited by the far right is an insult to our faith and to all that Jesus was and is. Let me now clearly tell Christians that they should not join any far-right group – because those groups are unchristian. Let me now clearly tell other faiths, especially Muslims, that we condemn people who misuse such images as fundamentally anti-christian.
Against a backdrop of racism and violence, some of the most poignant scenes following the riots included an imam in Liverpool bringing food and chatting to a small group of far-right rioters, bravely crossing boundaries to demonstrate common humanity and defusing tensions.
In Southport, a group of masons helped rebuild a mosque that had been vandalised. And in Sunderland, a Church of England chaplain helped clear away rubble with foreign students after joining with others for an evening to save the cathedral from damage. He then accompanied black nurses to their work at a nearby hospital despite violent threats. We need to develop and value these examples of civic virtue, which were counter messages to those of the mob.
The philosophical turn to the self has been a tremendous gift for developing ideas in all areas of knowledge. But it doesn’t necessarily help us build community life. Jesus told stories of people like the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. At the heart of his teaching was the message of loving God and your neighbor – not in an emotional way, but in a hard, practical way that actively seeks the flourishing of others.
And “neighbour” for Jesus meant not only neighbours who lived “like us” but also those who were different, even old enemies. This country has shown at times that it is capable of this acceptance of difference. Let us build more such bonds and learn from those in troubled areas, like the imam in Liverpool and the chaplain in Sunderland, who have shown us a better way.
This difficult path to living well together requires laying the foundations for reconciliation. Reconciliation is not the idea of a quick fix or a warm embrace after a disagreement. Rather, it is a long and often painful process of addressing injustice, carefully exploring the deep-rooted causes of division, and facing uncomfortable truths. This requires tremendous care, putting aside abuses of privilege and power and turning to one another as a starting point for building a thriving community.
We cannot do these things by accident. We can do them if we focus and work together with real intention. And we must do this work to achieve a better future rooted in the common good and solidarity. That means no favoritism except on the basis of need. That means good housing, health care and education for marginalized groups in our urban centers and former factory towns, as well as on the coasts and in the outskirts.
Because make no mistake: The communities left behind in our country’s race to growth reflect the rich and precious diversity that makes up our nation today. There will be serious conversations about what it means to live well together, knowing that we have much in common: roads, schools, universities, jobs, media, as well as our basic humanity. Embracing the opportunities and challenges that come with living in such a diverse country is a task for all of us, and the past few weeks have made clear that this work is long overdue.
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