The new Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, described today how he has received racist letters, some smeared with excrement, since his election as the Church of England's new number two earlier this year.

Dr Sentamu, the Church's first black Archbishop who will be installed at York Minster next month, said that he did not believe Britain was a racist country and said he did not know whether the letter writers were fellow Anglicans or not because the abusive missives were anonymous.

He told BBC Radio 4 that his response was to pray for God's love and mercy for the letter writers.

The Archbishop, who in common with several other recently installed bishops is deliberately opting for a more informal "inauguration" rather than enthronement at the Minster, said: "It has been terrible. Some of it has been awful."

Asked if he felt angry about the hate letters, he said: "Yes, particularly when they had human excrement in them. I don’t want to have those sorts of things and I say ‘Why do people do this?’

"I don’t know who they are. They don’t tell you. They simply say ‘I am Mr White X’ and ‘Nigger go back - this is what you’re like and where you come from’."

He added: "In the end, when I get these letters, I actually pray for the people who have written them." The Uganda-born Archbishop said he had received many letters of support from people in York, urging him not to be disheartened by the abuse.

He added: "This country, of all the places I have been to, is the most tolerant and welcoming of all places. Therefore, this tiny minority is not going to stop me from telling people that if we become a society of friends and a society that will discover the wonderful love of God and Christ, we have a chance of leading the nation in prayer."

Dr Sentamu, a member of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry that uncovered institutional racism in the police, said that he did not want to be seen as "the black Archbishop" and did not think that his colour was the reason for his selection by the Crown Nominations Commission.

As Downing Street's favourite bishop in the Church of England, Dr Sentamu was chosen because of his unique abilities, his strong faith and missionary vocation and also for the qualities he would bring to the role as the northern provincial partner of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

Acknowledging the latter, Dr Sentamu said: "I am sure the Crown Nominations Commission looked at a number of bishops." He prophesied that his partnership with Dr Williams would be a "very creative one".

He also referred to the Oxford lectures delivered by a the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, 44 years ago, when Ramsey noted the rapid growth of the Anglican Church in Africa and said he was looking forward to the day when there would be a black Archbishop at York to work in partnership with Canterbury.

Dr Sentamu said he hoped, however, that he would not be known as the "black Archbishop" but as a leader who would show the world the way to God's love, grace and mercy.

He also acknowledged the Church's declining membership, its "ups and downs", and said it was too easy for a Christian tradition to become complacent. "The challenge for me in its [the Church's] ups and downs is to say, Christ still reigns!" he said. People had turned away because they thought the Church was "stale". Some people look at the Church and say, "I am appalled by what I am seeing," he added.

People looking at the Church were not seeing the love of God, and a mission to invite and include. "It is very easy for the Church to be so concerned about its internal life instead of being concerned about God," he said. "For me really the mission of the Church has first and foremost to lead towards God."

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