For those who grumble that the Church of England is too mealy-mouthed to give a robust lead on the moral challenges of the day, it is time to think again.

The prophetic voice crying in the wilderness comes from Justin Welby, former Archbishop of Canterbury, who has unexpectedly issued a stinging jeremiad to condemn the idea that Britain should pay reparations for slavery.

“Group punishment is a moral evil,” he declared. “It mixes up the guilty and the innocent even when it is about contemporary times, let alone two centuries past.” Reparations “would be addressing one injustice by creating another”.

It is difficult to disagree with Welby’s forensic critique, grounded in Christian morality and a nuanced understanding of history’s complexity.

Yet, his intervention has left many churchgoers perplexed.

Read it all in the Telegraph