Who will the Church atoning for slavery really help?

“The Church Commissioners are not experts on the history or impact of transatlantic chattel slavery worldwide” - not my opinion but a quote from the Church of Englands own website. None the less they are embarking on setting up a new fund to address this historical wrong to be run by the Church Commissioners.

The fund’s impact investment and grant programme will be aimed at addressing the economic, educational and health-based inequalities that affect people of African descent, particularly focusing on disparities affecting those descended from enslaved Africans. So far there are no specific plans about how they will actually do this. They intend committing £100 million to the fund and want to encourage other donors to contribute a further £1 billion.

The background to this has had much press coverage lately so I won’t repeat it all but briefly the Church commissioned a report 5 years ago which evidenced that some of its endowment was invested in the South Sea Company, a slave trading corporation and also the some of its benefactors had also made their money trading in human cargo. What a surprise.

Slavery was and perhaps more importantly still remains an abhorrent practice. We all need to own our history around it. Also much charitable work, by all churches as well as by many other non faith based organisations strive to promote social justice  and mitigate the effects of oppression, not just from slavery. So why my concern about this new fund?

I dont want to get involved in a theological debate with the Church of England. Fools step in where Angels fear to tread. Rather I want to look at this from a charity governance and efficiency angle.

The mission of the Church is clearly defined. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom - To teach, baptise and nurture new believers - To respond to human need by loving service - To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation and to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth. I leave it to others to interpret this in detail but to me setting up a new fund to atone for historical failures looks like mission creep.

It also sets a dangerous precedent. Are we Scots to be compensated for our oppression during the Bishops Wars going on at the same time as the slave trade? Of course not and neither should we be. But what about the destruction of native cultures by proselytizing missionaries? The list is endless.

The add to their own £100 million the church aim to expand the fund to £1 billion by getting Family Foundations, Corporate Donors and wealthy individuals to add to it. The individuals and organisations they appeal to are almost certainly already engaged in this type of work so they are asking for resources which are already engaged elsewhere to be diverted to a new fund adding another layer of administrative cost ( often in the region of 10% ) and reducing the total getting to the front line.

Will the Church apply the same level of foresight to these new wealthy donors as they are now applying hindsight to their past ones? Dangerous ground here.

There are already many fantastic charities doing the types of work envisaged by the Church globally. Im not convinced by anything I’ve read from the Church’s report that setting up a new one to address the impact of something they admit they dont understand really helps.

Rather the Church should encourage people to support charities which understand the current issues better (Charities with which their new fund will inevitably end up partnering with anyway).

Of Course the Church has a role to play challenging barriers to social justice. The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian Communion giving it a global platform and enormous influence but I really don’t think a new fund atoning for the sins of the past will really help those who most need it today.