Inequality as a Religious Issue: A Conversation With the Archbishop of Canterbury

The Most Rev. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Trinity Church in Manhattan on Thursday. He is in New York for a conference on inequality. Credit Richard Perry/The New York Times

By MICHAEL PAULSON
JAN. 23, 2015

In the two years since the Most Rev. Justin Welby was installed as archbishop of Canterbury, he has traveled the world to talk with other church leaders, and his assessment of those visits has been, in many ways, grim.

He has declared the Church of England, which he leads, to be declining in numbers and influence, and has deemed the Anglican Communion, where he is viewed as first among equals of bishops around the world, to be so fractured over gender and sexuality that it is not worth trying to meet collectively any time soon.

But he has remained focused on evangelism, and he has emphasized areas where the Anglican Communion of 85 million people is strong, like using its bully pulpit to influence public policy, particularly about economic injustice and peacemaking.

This week, Archbishop Welby is in New York for a conference on inequality at Trinity Wall Street, which, as an Episcopal church, is part of the American province of the Anglican Communion. On Thursday, he spoke with Michael Paulson, a religion reporter for The New York Times. Below are edited excerpts from their conversation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/24/us/archbishop-of-canterbury-inequality.html?_r=0