THE CHURCH of England has apologised for its historical links to the trans-Atatantic slave trade following a new report.
Commissioners of the church, which is headed by King Charles, carried out an investigation into the Church of England’s role in slavery.
In response to the findings, the Church Commissioners’ Board said the connection to chattel slavery was blighted with “great dismay” and “a shameful and horrific sin”.
They announced their commitment to addressing “past wrongs by investing in a better future”.
They have pledged £100 million of funding to be rolled out over the next nine years that will champion investment, research and engagement.
The new comes after an announcement in June 2022 unearthed its dark past after the Church of England has been dogged by claims of racism in its ranks.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, who is also Chair of the Church Commissioners, said he was “deeply sorry” for the Commissioner’s past dealings in the trading of black lives.
“I am deeply sorry for these links. It is now time to take action to address our shameful past,” he said. “Only by obeying the command in 1 John 1:6-7*** and addressing our past transparently can we take the path that Jesus Christ calls us to walk and face our present and future with integrity.
“It is hard to do this at a time when resources in many parishes are so stretched, but by acting rightly we open ourselves to the blessing of God.”
The Church Commissioner, who is responsible for administering the property assets of the Church of England, pledged to establish an impact investment fund to ensure a “a better and fairer future for all,” particularly for communities that have been hardest hit by the legacy of slavery.
The body hopes that the investment will regenerate more projects that can be backed by grant funding and begin further research into the Church Commissioners connections to slavery including dioceses, cathedrals and parishes.
They also have plans to further be an advocate against other human injustice and inequalities such as modern slavery and human rights violations.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Reverend Dr David Walker, Deputy Chair of the Church Commissioners, said: “It is important for the Church Commissioners to understand and be transparent about our past so we can best support the mission and ministry of the Church of England, today and in the future. Discovering that the Church Commissioners’ predecessor fund had links to transatlantic chattel slavery is shaming and we are deeply sorry.
He added: “We recognise this investment comes at a time when there are significant financial challenges for many people and churches, and when the Church has commitments to address other wrongs from our past. We remain fully committed to our work to support the mission and ministry of the Church of England and we believe that this research and our planned response will help us to do so today and into the future.”
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Does any African-Caribbean heritage Subject of His Majesty believe the Anglican Church has offered a worthy apology for making the enslavement of African men; women and children, socially respectable, and respectable in England for centuries?
The Scripture is clear, a worthy apology takes the form of Repentance; Atonement, and then Restitution.
None of this has been offered by the Archbishop, or the 26 Lord Spiritual of the House of Lords, or the Clergy generally.
Indeed, I stopped attending the Anglican Church for which I was committed, when the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013, in a Daily Telegraph interview, published on July 5th, publicly embraced Stonewall’s homosexual creed.
After this, Oxford’s LGBTQIAP+ Anglican Clergy; and academics publicly began disparaging African, Asian and Caribbean-heritage Traditional Christians, for embracing Traditional Christianity.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, and the Lords Spiritual need to repent by first explaining to the great English public; and especially to Caribbean-heritage Subjects, how the Bishops manage not to notice the Scriptural incompatibility of keeping African men; women and children as non-human cattle for two centuries; and treating their African slaves with such savagery that the average Anglican Slave lived a nasty: brutish and short life on the Anglican Churches Caribbean Sugar plantation.
The Anglican Bishops’ creed and treatment of their African slaves was completely incompatible with the Semitic Messiah’s Gospel message, and his crucifixion example?
If the Archbishop, and Bishops of the Anglican Church can drift so easily into sin, and abandoned for reason of profit and material wealth, the Messiah’s Gospel Message and Crucifixion example, the Archbishops, and Bishops of the Anglican Church today, could still be in a state of sin and decay?
I was horrified in 2013, when it was revealed, the Anglican Church were the largest funders of Wonga: the loan shark company, that preyed on people in receipt of government benefits.
For me history today is repeating itself.
Archbishop Welby said in his Daily Telegraph interview, the Anglican Church ought to embrace the “sexual revolution.”
The Archbishop clearly selected the popular sexual creed favoured by Stonewall, over the higher demands for holiness demanded by the Messiah’s example.
Should the Anglican Church embrace populist sexual trends, or embrace the holiness demanded by the scriptures?
Traditional Asian, African and Caribbean Anglicans believe the Anglican Church has abandoned the strict narrow path travelled by the few; but recommended by the Semitic Messiah, as the path to Holiness.
Instead, to please the campaigning homosexual Clergy, who are in ascendancy in the Anglican Church today, the board path has been selected by the Archbishop.
The Archbishop of Canterbury boast of the Anglican Church being a “board church,” whilst the Messiah spoke of the narrow path to Holiness.
Traditional Asian, African, and Caribbean Christians welcome the Messiah’s narrow Traditional path.
However, the followers of the board, and the narrow path, cannot have fellowship together, or share the same creed.
I believe it is time for the Anglican Church to cash in some of its Stock Market shares; sell a few of its palaces, and stately buildings, and pay restitution to the Anglican Churches’ slave descendants.
I hope the African Caribbean Christians will use the Restitution money to boldly embrace Traditional Anglicanism; without wishing to join or be under the tutelage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the laxed creed of the Western Caucasian Anglicans.