Sir, Dr John Sentamu’s views (report, Nov 22) on multiculturalism are both plausible and scientifically sound.

Britain is predominantly a Christian country. Its valuesystem and culture are derivatives of Christian traditions. It is only fair that Christianity should act as the instigator of change in this country.

Multiculturalism, in the absence of a strong centre, tends to generate centrifugal tendencies, which pull the centre towards peripheries. A weak centre with strong, over-assertive peripheries means disintegration, such as the one witnessed by Lebanon a few years ago.

Unless Britain reasserts its cultural identity and places it at the centre of its multiculturalism, it is difficult to see how it could possibly avoid its future dismemberment and fragmentation along the communal lines.

RANDHIR SINGH BAINS
Gants Hill, Essex

Sir, I am a black Briton myself and I agree wholeheartedly with the Archbishop. I am a student at Oxford University and in spite of being surrounded by the heart of English heritage I am dismayed at the lack of appreciation shown by the English for their own history. Being an Afro-Caribbean by ancestry, a great deal of my people’s history is unknown to me. If I had large chunks of history all around me that I could say my people had built I’d show a great deal more pride in it than the Anglo-Saxon populace of England.

MYLES BAILEY
Oxford

Sir, I wholly agree with the Archbishop. I came from a foreign family and grew up here, and it seems that England is always striving to be seen as multicultural and politically correct, and welcoming to other cultures of the world. Although this approach is, without a doubt, a positive one, perhaps in some areas of England the fact that local councils are willing to give money for celebrations of other cultures, while failing to appropriately fund English national holidays, may in fact be fuelling resentment among English nationals towards foreign cultures, and therefore be counterproductive in its aim of successfully intergrating all England’s cultures and allowing our country to live up to its culturally accepting reputation.

OLA MARKI
Paris

Sir, If you’re British and you know it, clap your hands! It takes a black man, a minister of God, a man who developed his identity and values in a foreign country where he recognised the strength and character of the English heritage, to remind us of who we are and who we should be. I might be embarrassed in this politically correct age to emphasise my Britishness, to shout for my national team in sport or choke back my pride when I hear Land of Hope and Glory; I might be afraid that displaying a Union Jack might characterise me as a member of an organisation such as the National Front (a group I detest). The Archbishop of York, with great insight and clarity, recognises that as Englishmen we have a culture to be proud of, a nation to stand up for, a way of life that is worth protecting. We have standards and values that are shaped primarily from a foundation in Christianity and which have been maintained and protected with the lives of many Englishmen over the years. We should celebrate the English way of life, safeguard it from any erosion, absorb those changes from outside that we find acceptable and reject those that we do not. We are not a multicultural society; we are an English society that welcomes and accepts other cultures who respect and integrate with our way of life.

KEITH DOWNER
Bromley, Kent

Sir, Congratulations to Dr John Sentamu. For the first time in over 50 years of adult life I can feel my dormant Christianity being stirred by a man who promises to be quite an extraordinary leader of both Christians and Englishmen.

MICHAEL PLACE
London SE1

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