The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has come under a barrage of unfair criticism for suggesting that the Church of England may need to banish some statues and memorials from its premises if they turn out to commemorate someone connected to the slave trade.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has come under a barrage of unfair criticism for suggesting that the Church of England may need to banish some statues and memorials from its premises if they turn out to commemorate someone connected to the slave trade. This is in keeping with the review many public institutions are conducting after the toppling of the statue of the seventeenth-century Bristol slave trader, Edward Colson. Asked whether there was room for forgiveness in the treatment of past wrongdoers, he replied that justice was equally necessary.

It is orthodox, indeed Catholic, theology to make absolution for sin dependent on repentance, a firm purpose of amendment, and a commitment to right the wrongs done wherever possible. Perhaps Archbishop Welby could have made his position clearer: he was not proposing an eager, politically correct inspection of every statue and effigy on display in Anglican churches, in order to weed out any that did not satisfy contemporary sensitivities.

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