Church of England Bishop: Synod Kairos vote ‘adds to a growing tide of antisemitism’
The Bishop of Blackburn criticised the addition of the highly controversial Kairos II document in a motion which was passed by the church at the annual meeting
A Church of England bishop has vehemently criticised the decision of the organisation’s Synod to support a motion which included the highly controversial ‘Kairos II’ document, saying that “I fear what this vote has done is add to a growing tide of antisemitism in our country.”
The Rt Rev Philip North, the Bishop of Blackburn, told The Telegraph that “the big mistake was to reference particularly the Kairos II document, which is, a number of speakers said, antisemitic according to a definition of antisemitism [we have] adopted”, he said.
“It’s certainly perceived to be antisemitic by the Jewish community. It’s an inflammatory document.”
The Kairos II document is highly controversial for the majority of British Jews. As described by the Board of Deputies “a central libel of this text – that Zionism is a settler-colonial movement built on ‘Jewish supremacy’ and with genocidal intent – is so false and destructive that the only responsible action is to reject it.” It also noted that Kairos II calls “to boycott dialogue with Zionist voices,” which the Board said “jeopardises decades of Christian-Jewish relationship building.”
Despite this urging from the Board – and from Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who said that Kairos II “present[ing] a one-sided account of a complex conflict, downplays the historical experiences and legitimate concerns of Jewish people, and offers little more than political activism dressed up as theology”, the three houses of the Church of England synod passed the motion overwhelmingly. 25 bishops voted for, none voted against and five abstained. 115 clergy voted for, 20 voted against and 30 abstained. 113 members of the laity voted for, 27 voted against and 35 abstained.
The national church gathering voted to “hear” the motion with the document rather than to “receive” it, but as Bishop North told the Telegraph, “that nice distinction around words in a synod chamber means absolutely nothing in the Middle East or on the streets of urban towns where this is particularly an issue.”
In the wake of the vote, Chief Rabbi Mirvis described it as “shameful”, calling it “a sad day for Jewish-Christian relations”. Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg described it as “highly problematic”, noting that “there is…a clear tension between the incendiary wording of the document and the Church’s expressed aim of tackling antisemitism.”
While Bishop North described what he called “unacceptable levels of bloodshed and violence shown by the state of Israel in Gaza”, he condemned how, in his opinion “We’ve been forced to take a binary position, and whatever binary position we take, one side celebrates and the other feels bitterly betrayed.”
He went on to tell The Telegraph, “Is someone going to read a Synod motion and attack a synagogue? No, I don’t think that. But I do think the tide of antisemitism is rising and we should be condemning that, yet we’ve done something that will add to it.
“That is deeply unwise, particularly with the long Christian history of antisemitism.”
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