Anglican bishops have been asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak out against the “unethical treatment” of migrants and climate change.
Justin Welby urged Church of England leaders to “take risks” in his most recent overtly political statement and cautioned that doing nothing would make them “one of the oppressors”
The former oil executive referred to climate change as a “undeclared war” and warned that its effects might be “tragic beyond anything in human history,” leading to 1.2 billion refugees.
He addressed the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, “To stay quiet on the immoral treatment of migrants, on war or tyranny, on the misuse of human rights, on persecution, is to be one of the oppressors.”
It had “tempted us occasionally in the Church of England to be too close,” he remarked, adding, “Not so much currently, I believe both the Cabinet and myself would agree.”
He claimed his organisation had been “embedded” in the Establishment.
It happened after he criticised Priti Patel, the home secretary, over her asylum arrangement with Rwanda during his Easter sermon.
The Archbishop continued, “Climate change, better named the climatic catastrophe or even better, the climate emergency, as we know, is the outcome of the richer nations having unintentionally, unconsciously, and beginning in the 19th century, launched war on God’s creation.
The affluent now throw trash in the seas, which is one of the signs of that battle.
“They advise the poor not to use carbon-producing fuels, and they tell the world too often, not by words but by deeds, “we will maintain our riches and you, the poor, must find other routes.””
In addition to stating that there are “severe ethical problems about transferring asylum seekers elsewhere,” he said that the Rwanda idea would not “hold up to the judgement of God.”
The Rwanda agreement had garnered criticism from “somewhat unexpected places,” said British PM Boris Johnson, after his comments and similar private statements allegedly made by Prince Charles.