Church of England leaders are scrambling to assure believers that a proposed £1 billion fund for slavery reparations will not be funded from parish donations.
Last year the Church of England announced it would set up a £100 million fund for slavery reparations, but has since confirmed plans are underway for a much larger £1 billion target.
Running the Church of England is a costly business, with annual running costs of cost It is estimated at around £1 billion, with the proposed £1 billion in slavery reparations coming from the Church Overall annual budget.
Three-quarters of the Church of England’s running costs are met directly by donations from members of the church’s 14,000 parishes, so believers are understandably concerned about this voluntary expenditure.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s General Assembly, Luke Appleton of the House of Congregations Asked Whether the Canon Church, which manages the finances of the Church, will provide compensation to parishes and parishes suffering from reduced donations according to the compensation fund.
Bishop Stephen Lake of Salisbury, vice-chair of the committee, responded that no diocesan funds had been allocated for compensation, but acknowledged there was no plan to compensate parishes for the drop in donations.
“Our funding comes entirely from a fund administered by the Parishioners,” he said in a statement. “No money donated to parish churches goes into this fund, and no money comes from parish income.”
“While there is no data to suggest that the work of the Church Commission on African Slavery has caused a significant drop in donations, we have heard anecdotes that some donors have withdrawn their support,” he added.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby Praised It casts the reparations as “the beginning of a multigenerational response to the horrific evil of transatlantic chattel slavery,” but not everyone is convinced of the wisdom of the plan.
For example, the Rt Rev Ian Paul of the Anglican Council of Archbishops said: Claimed The project is “anti-Christian” and reeks of “a death wish for the Church of England.”
The plan “appears to be based on an inherently racist interpretation of history, that all white people are evil and oppressors and black people are just victims,” Paul said. “It’s an insult to both black and white people.”
“This is anti-Christian,” he continued. “Unbelievable, but this calls for the church to repent for preaching the gospel.”
Mr Paul also said African Christians, including many Anglicans in the country, “will be very angry when they read this”.
“Local pastors and missions would be put at risk,” he said. “Why would ordinary church members continue to give to their local churches when we seem to have such huge amounts of money at our disposal?”
General Assembly member Prudence Daly echoed Paul’s opposition to reparations, arguing that “the Church of England is in effect apologising for converting people to Christianity”.
The Church of England’s plan for slavery reparations is particularly ironic in that Britain’s greatest and most influential abolitionist, William Wilberforce, was a devout and active member of the Church of England and spoke of his Christian faith as the driving force behind his anti-slavery campaign.
December 20, 1888: British statesman William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) was an important figure in the abolition of slavery, authored laws banning the slave trade, and founded the Abolition Society. Slavery was abolished in Britain one month after his death. (Rischgitz/Getty)
Anglican theologian James I. Packer writtenWilliam Wilberforce “made evangelicalism known in England as a force for social change, first by almost singlehandedly defeating the slave trade and then by founding a succession of associations for the purpose of doing good and reducing evil in public life.”
Through Wilberforce’s work, Britain abolished slavery on August 1, 1834, nearly 30 years before it was abolished in the United States.
