A feeling of 'post-colonial guilt' and the idea that following Jesus is 'an expression of white western privilege' has hampered the UK in helping persecuted Christians, a bishop says.
The Right Rev Philip Mounstephen, the Bishop of Truro, said Britain had 'something of a blind spot to the persecution of Christians', adding there was a 'real reluctance to see a religious component' in some parts of the world suffering with violence.
In an interview with The Times, before the Easter Sunday Sri Lanka bombings, the bishop, 59, said: 'There is a lot of post-colonial guilt around a residual sense that the Christian faith is an expression of white western privilege.
'Whereas actually the Christian faith is overwhelmingly a phenomenon of the . . . global poor and people who, by their very socio-economic status, are vulnerable.'
The Right Rev Philip Mounstephen, the Bishop of Truro, said the UK had 'something of a blind spot to the persecution of Christians'
Mounstephen has been tasked with researching the extent of oppression faced by the Christian faithful around the world and critiquing the Foreign Office's response.
The bishop, who taught for four years in a rural comprehensive school in Oxfordshire before his ordination, will publish the first part of his findings next week before a full version is due in June.
The Open Doors UK charity reported earlier this year that 245million Christians face severe persecution worldwide.
Yesterday Theresa May vowed to launch a global review into the persecution of Christians, following the bombings in Sri Lanka, which saw 207 people - including five Britons - dead and more than 450 wounded.
Last week Anglican and Catholic leaders jointly called for the UK
