
The Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England has said the church should reconsider its portrayal of Jesus as a White man.
Justin Welby, in discussion at the BBC Today Programme, was asked if the way the western church "portrays Jesus" needed to be "thought about again" and "re-imagined" in light of recent Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd.
"Yes, of course it does," he said, adding that Jesus was portrayed differently in countries around the world.
He said he was regularly in touch with Anglican Church leaders from around the world.
"You go into their churches and you don't see a White Jesus -- you see a Black Jesus, or Chinese Jesus, or a Middle Eastern Jesus -- which is of course the most accurate. You see Jesus portrayed in as many ways as there are cultures, languages and understandings."
Welby added that the representations of Jesus served as a "reminder of the universality of the God who became fully human."
He further said statues in Canterbury Cathedral would be put under review in light of calls for monuments with links to the UK's imperialist history and slave trade to be removed.
The movement to take down and deface controversial statues has gained traction in the UK, as well as Europe and the US. While critics slam it as "mob rule", some applaud it as a way of addressing "systematic racism."