The revealing reaction to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s bold speech about social justice

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby


Support us and go ad-free

Speaking at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) 2018 Conference, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has addressed a range of social justice issues. In an impassioned speech, he remarked on food banks, worker exploitation and tax evasion by corporations like Amazon:

High praise

The Archbishop has been widely praised for his bold stance, particularly against exploitative multi-billion dollar companies. And his views have been appreciated in the UK as well as across the pond:

Read on...

Support us and go ad-free

Hypocrisy?

However, it later emerged the Church of England has large investments in Amazon. Moreover, it employs people on zero-hour contracts, a practice criticised in the Archbishop’s speech. Charges of hypocrisy have therefore been levelled against the Archbishop:

The Archbishop and the Rabbi

But regardless of the Archbishop’s integrity, people have called out another double standard. Many compared the response to his comments versus those of also controversial Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. It appears both the Conservatives and the media reacted differently to the two religious leaders:

Tories under fire

As The Canary previously reported, Conservative MP Ben Bradley criticised the Archbishop’s speech:

Since then, Conservatives have come under fire for suggesting religion is removed from the concerns of society at large:

Religion and politics

The Archbishop’s speech has certainly made an impact. If nothing else, it has started a dialogue about the relevance of politics in religion, and vice versa. And of course, about the role religious leaders can play in the fight for social justice.

While the Church of England may need to get its house in order, that doesn’t mean we can’t ask for more of the same from prominent religious leaders in the UK.

Get Involved!

– Support The Canary if you appreciate the work we do

Featured image via Flickr/ Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Support us and go ad-free

We need your help to keep speaking the truth

Every story that you have come to us with; each injustice you have asked us to investigate; every campaign we have fought; each of your unheard voices we amplified; we do this for you. We are making a difference on your behalf.

Our fight is your fight. You’ve supported our collective struggle every time you gave us a like; and every time you shared our work across social media. Now we need you to support us with a monthly donation.

We have published nearly 2,000 articles and over 50 films in 2021. And we want to do this and more in 2022 but we don’t have enough money to go on at this pace. So, if you value our work and want us to continue then please join us and be part of The Canary family.

In return, you get:

* Advert free reading experience
* Quarterly group video call with the Editor-in-Chief
* Behind the scenes monthly e-newsletter
* 20% discount in our shop

Almost all of our spending goes to the people who make The Canary’s content. So your contribution directly supports our writers and enables us to continue to do what we do: speaking truth, powered by you. We have weathered many attempts to shut us down and silence our vital opposition to an increasingly fascist government and right-wing mainstream media.

With your help we can continue:

* Holding political and state power to account
* Advocating for the people the system marginalises
* Being a media outlet that upholds the highest standards
* Campaigning on the issues others won’t
* Putting your lives central to everything we do

We are a drop of truth in an ocean of deceit. But we can’t do this without your support. So please, can you help us continue the fight?

The Canary Support us

Comments are closed