The head of Australia's Anglican Church symbolically washed the feet of two indigenous bishops Friday and formally apologized to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for the church's participation in the so-called "Stolen Generation."
The Anglicans joined other religious groups and state governments in apologizing for the past practice of removing Aboriginal children from their families to assimilate them forcibly into white society.The church's general synod earlier warned against a national election based on race.
"I suggest that to Aboriginal people an apology carries a weight that many white Australians have scarcely begun to understand," Archbishop Keith Rayner, the Anglican Primate of Australia, told the synod.
Rayner earlier washed the feet of Aboriginal bishop Arthur Malcolm and Torres Strait Islander bishop Ted Mosby in a liturgical act meant to symbolize the church's desire for reconciliation between whites and blacks in Australia.
Prime Minister John Howard has resisted calls for an official apology on behalf of the Australian government, but Rayner said he hoped the government might yet change its mind.
Bishop Bruce Wilson, of Bathurst, a rural community in New South Wales, told the synod there would be "blood on the streets" if a national election due next year was based on government moves to limit Aboriginal land rights.
"If there is a federal election based on a racial issue, there is no doubt there will be blood on the streets of New South Wales," Wilson said.