Anger as Cofe archdeacon makes call for ‘anti-whiteness’
A CHURCH of England archdeacon has called for “anti-whiteness”, in comments which have been criticised as divisive.
The Ven Miranda Threlfall-holmes, Archdeacon of Liverpool, also called for people to “smash the patriarchy” but insisted her comments were “not antiwhite, or anti-men”.
Her statement prompted an angry reaction, with one person asking if it would be “safe to attend church” if Dr Threlfall-holmes “holds racial prejudice against white people”.
Just weeks ago, the Church said it would be hiring a “deconstructing whiteness” officer as part of a new 11-person “racial justice unit” being set up by the Diocese of Birmingham.
Senior clergy have also faced criticism for calling for the church’s £100 million slavery reparations fund to be increased to £1 billion.
Dr Threlfall-holmes wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I went to a conference on whiteness last autumn. It was very good, very interesting and made me realise: whiteness is to race as patriarchy is to gender. So yes, let’s have anti-whiteness, and let’s smash the patriarchy. That’s not anti-white, or anti-men, it’s anti-oppression.”
Her words were criticised as “divisive” and “nonsensical” and one user said it would appear she had “given up Christianity to join a new and sinister cult”. Dr Threlfall-holmes, who was appointed archdeacon last year, also holds a role advising church leaders on implanting safeguarding reforms. Dr Threlfall-holmes told The Telegraph: “I was contributing to a debate about world views, in which ‘whiteness’ does not refer to skin colour, but to a way of viewing the world where being white is seen as ‘normal’ and everything else is considered different or lesser.”
The Rev Dr Ian Paul, who is a member of the General Synod and the Archbishops’ Council, has warned that “importing” such language from the culture wars in the US risks “alienating ordinary members of the Church of England”.
‘Let’s have anti-whiteness and let’s smash the patriarchy. That’s not anti-white or anti-men’