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The News Building was delighted to have the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, through its doors on 7 July 2015 to speak to a packed lunchtime crowd about his faith and the Church.
Speaking on the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings, the Archbishop started with a moment of silence and prayer for the victims of the attack and all those around the world affected by terrorism.
He continued on to talk about his faith, opening up about doubts and challenges and how in the darkest of times even he had questioned how a God could allow awful things to happen. Using the tragic death of his baby daughter Johanna in a car accident in 1983 as an example, he explained how his faith had guided him through hard times:
“Christian faith does not hide us from the cruelty of life but there is light in the darkness. Jesus is not only with us in the good times, he is there at the bad times to, and that is part of my faith.”
The Archbishop also spoke candidly about the problems of churchinaity – the practise of Christianity that is viewed as placing a larger emphasis on the traditions of the church rather than the spiritual teachings.
“Churchianity is a problem; one of the great problems for people who look at the Christian faith… the church has done some terrible things through the centuries.”
Despite this, the Archbishop was keen to emphasise that the Church is not just for middle class British people but for all who those who are open and accepting.
“The Church is a collection of people who have found in their weakness and in their sin that the answer is Jesus Christ”.
The Archbishop ended by opening up the talk to the audience, inviting questions on everything from the christening of Princess Charlotte, through to his thoughts on the financial crisis and even accepted an eager request for a selfie from the crowd.
