Rioters are no worse than bankers, says Archbishop of Canterbury in his Christmas Day sermon



'Bonds have been broken, trust abused and lost', Dr Rowan Williams tells congregation

The thugs behind this summer’s riots were no worse than Britain’s bankers, the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested yesterday.

Delivering his Christmas sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, Rowan Williams claimed society had been torn apart by the violence that erupted in August.

‘The most pressing question we now face, we might well say, is who and where we are as a society,’ said Dr Williams. ‘Bonds have been broken, trust abused and lost.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams gives his Christmas address at Canterbury Cathedral

‘Whether it is an urban rioter mindlessly burning down a small shop that serves his community, or a speculator turning his back on the question of who bears the ultimate cost for his acquisitive adventures in the virtual reality of today’s financial world, the picture is of atoms spinning apart in the dark.

‘And into that dark the Word of God has entered, in love and judgment, and has not been overcome; in the darkness the question sounds as clear as ever, to each of us and to our church and our society: “Britain, where are you?” Where are the words we can use to answer?’



He asked the congregation to learn lessons about mutual obligation from the events of the past year. His comments, which formed part of his closing remarks, will undoubtedly spark debate among those who claim the rioters were crying out for help and those who believe their behaviour was wanton vandalism.

Making reference to the Book of Common Prayer, which reaches its 350th anniversary next year, the Archbishop said it was an example of how ideas of duty and common interest can be expressed.

Tottenham: Silhouetted against a blazing building, riot officers in formation prepare for the next wave of attack during the summer's riots

‘The world has changed, the very rhythms of our speech have changed, our society is irreversibly more plural, and we have – with varying degrees of reluctance – found other and usually less resonant ways of talking to God and identifying who we are in his presence,’ he said.

‘If we used only the Prayer Book these days we’d risk confusing the strangeness of the mysteries of faith with the strangeness of antique and lovely language.



'But we’re much the poorer for forgetting it and pushing it to the margins as much as we often do in the Church. And it is crucial to remember the point about the Prayer Book as something for a whole society, binding together our obligations to God and to one another, in a dense interweaving of love and duty joyfully performed.’





It is not the first time the Archbishop has highlighted August’s disturbances, which spread from Tottenham in North London to cities across the country, including Manchester and Birmingham.

Earlier this month he spoke about the ‘enormous sadness’ he felt during the riots, watching homes and shops being destroyed.

In his spiritual message, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, called for Britons to turn their backs on materialism and remember the meaning of Christmas.