Church of England Apologises for Second Time for Slavery Ties

LONDON, ENGLAND - 12 JUNE: A Black Lives Matter supporters march into Trafalgar Square on
Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

The Church of England has again apologised for its links to slavery, after a report revealed nearly 100 clergymen were paid compensation after its abolition.

The state church said on Thursday that its ties to slavery were a “source of shame” after a University College London report revealed that 99 of its clergy had received compensation for lost property and earnings in slave colonies. The money was paid out in accordance with the Abolition of Slavery Act of 1833 when the UK government bought the freedom of every slave in the British Empire, and banned the practice.

However, the compensation was not made to the Church of England, The Telegraph clarified, but to the individual clergymen themselves, in today’s money what would total £96 million. Many claimants founded some 32 churches around the country, for the benefit of local communities.

The Church had campaigned for the abolition of slavery since the early nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the seat of the worldwide Anglican communion has already apologised for its historical ties to slavery 14 years ago.

Apologising once appears not to be enough, however. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said England’s Church must use the Black Lives Matter protests — initially sparked by the death of a black man in police custody in the U.S. — “to confront past links to slavery and make amends”.

A spokeswoman from the Church of England told ITV: “While we recognise the leading role clergy and active members of the Church of England played in securing the abolition of slavery, it is a source of shame that others within the Church actively perpetrated slavery and profited from it.

“In 2006 the General Synod of the Church of England issued an apology, acknowledging the part the Church itself played in historic [sic] cases of slavery.

“We reiterate our commitments to support every effort by the Church and other agencies to oppose human trafficking and all other manifestations of slavery across the world.”

The establishment media and organised leftist groups have sought to focus intense attention in the United Kingdom on the American protests, despite being largely unrelated to the British experience. The protests, however, resulted in British institutions being pressured into apologising for any instances in its past that it had been associated with slavery.

Insurer Lloyds of London and pub chain Greene King said on Thursday that it would pay reparations to minority organisations due to its historical links to slavery.

The first major act of iconoclasm far-left activists committed was tearing down a statue in Bristol of Edward Colston on June 7th. While the former parliamentarian’s made a great deal of money from his involvement in slave-trading companies, he was also a renowned philanthropist, who used his wealth to found hospitals, schools, and almshouses for the poor in his native Bristol.

After the statue was torn down, thrown in Bristol harbour, and retrieved by the local government which plans to put it in a museum, his name was stripped from other parts of Bristol, as well. The Church of England then sought to unperson Colston from one of its cathedrals, having no room, it appears, for sinners or forgiveness under its roof.

On June 15th, Bristol Cathedral removed stained glass windows dedicated to Colston. Right Reverend Vivienne Faull, the bishop of Bristol, said that the dedications were taken down because they had “prevented many people from finding peace in these beautiful buildings”.

The iconic Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral have also said that they will review their monuments in light of the BLM protests.

The moves beg the question whether the 32 churches funded by those clergy who were paid abolition compensation will receive a Scarlet Letter, marking them as the product of slave profiting, or be subject to some other form of atonement ordered by the New Puritans.

When Black Lives Matter protests began erupting across the UK, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was quick to admit his guilt for coming “from privilege and a place of power as a white person in this country”, before vowing to “take action”, pre-empting calls for another apology.

The archbishop is known for his leftist sympathies and the non-traditional direction he has been taking the Church. Shamefully admitting to his “white privilege” in February, he claimed that the Church was “deeply institutionally racist”. He has also attacked Brexit and told Britons to “welcome” mass migration. Further, he has declared God gender-neutral and instructed Church of England schools to allow children to experiment with their gender identity.

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