Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England, has said the church should reconsider its portrayal of Jesus as a White man
Bengaluru: The death of George Floyd in the United States of America has reminded the world how human beings can be subjugated and humiliated for their skin colour.
For days together, people spilled onto the streets and took part in protests against his inhuman killing.
Now, it has had an effect on Jesus Christ as well.
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England, has said the church should reconsider its portrayal of Jesus as a White man, CNN reports.
When he was asked whether portrayal of Jesus Christ must be thought about and reimagined in a BBC programme, he replied “Yes, of course.”
He added that Jesus was portrayed differently in countries around the world. He was regularly in touch with Anglican Church leaders from around the world who did not portray Jesus as White.
He also added, "You go into their churches and you don't see a White Jesus -- you see a Black Jesus, or Chinese Jesus, or a Middle Eastern Jesus -- which is of course the most accurate. You see a Fijian Jesus -- you see Jesus portrayed in as many ways as there are cultures, languages and understandings."
The most striking part of his observation was when he added that the representations of Jesus were not, however, "who we worship" but rather served as a "reminder of the universality of the God who became fully human."
Addressing calls for monuments with links to the UK's imperialist history and slave trade to be removed, he said statues in Canterbury Cathedral would be put under review.
"We're going to be looking very carefully, and putting them in context and seeing if they all should be there," he said.
"The question [about whether they should all be there] arises, of course it does, and we've seen that all over the world."
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