"Institutional Racism" Watch

In its latest bout of self-flagellation, the Church of England has proclaimed itself to be "institutionally racist". In so doing, it joins with, among others, the Metropolitan Police, the NHS, mental health services, universities, schools, the football league, the BBC(!), the Live 8 concert, the armed forces, and British society as a whole, in the proud roll call of institutions which have been accused of institutional racism. I haven't attempted a full list of all those institutions, because to do so would take too long. Indeed, it would probably be quicker to list those institutions which have not been accused of institutional racism, than to list all those that have.

Nonetheless, the CofE's attack on itself has to rank among the most ridiculous of such accusations. The sole evidence that seems to have been adduced to support it is the fact that only 2.2% of CofE clergy are non-white, as against 3.2% of CofE members. That may be a slight under-representation, but it doesn't seem sufficient to indicate institutional racism to me. One might argue that the fact that only 3.2% of CofE members are not white as against 9% of the total population is indicative of racism, but then how many white Muslims, or white members of black evangelical churches, do you see? But, of course, we must remember that only those wicked white people can ever be racist, and, indeed, as any good liberal will tell you, the white race is, like every institution it creates, inherently racist.

Hat-tip: David Vance at ATW