Church of England Establishes £100 Million Fund to ‘Address Past Wrongs of Slavery’

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Dec. 25, 2019. Steve Parsons/PA Media

The Church of England (CofE) and the Archbishop of Canterbury have announced plans to pay £100 million in a reparations-style fund to support “communities affected by historic slavery.”

On Tuesday, the Church Commissioners for England published a report into historic links to transatlantic chattel slavery, and announced a new funding commitment of £100 million.

It follows an interim announcement in June 2022, which reported for the first time that it had found with “great dismay” that the Church Commissioners’ endowment had historic links to transatlantic chattel slavery.

The endowment traces its origins partly to Queen Anne’s Bounty, a fund established in 1704.

“This report lays bare the links of the Church Commissioners’ predecessor fund with transatlantic chattel slavery. I am deeply sorry for these links,” wrote Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Twitter.

“Only by addressing our past transparently can we face our present with integrity,” he added.

The newly established “impact investment fund” will be used for communities affected by historic slavery. The church added that this will also “address and combat modern slavery and human rights violations, and to seek to address injustice and inequalities.”

“It is hoped this fund will grow over time, reinvesting returns to enable it to have a positive legacy that will exist in perpetuity, and with the potential for other institutions to participate, further enabling growth in the size and impact of the fund,” wrote the CofE.

Shackles which were used to tether slaves on display at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, England, on Feb. 9, 2012. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The CofE has not yet specified which communities are still affected by historic slavery or how they will be chosen to be recipients of the fund.

The Epoch Times understands that a new not-yet-created oversight group will establish the “communities affected by historic slavery” criteria later this year.

Last year, the CofE called for mandatory training in all dioceses to embed anti-racism practices, and for full-time racial justice officers to be employed in every diocese for a five-year term. It could also be exploring a process to find out if the church is “institutionally homophobic.”

In its full report (pdf), the CofE said that the decision to “embark upon this journey of understanding was timely.”

“Less than a year later, George Floyd was murdered and churches, institutions and corporations throughout the country and wider society developed a heightened interest in developing an understanding of our past in order to create a more just future for us all,” it added.

Calvin Robinson, a UK-based political commentator and newly ordained Anglican deacon, in an undated file photo. Courtesy of Calvin Robinson

Critical Race Theory

Calvin Robinson has been critical of the measures, which he says are based on critical race theory (CRT).

Last year Robinson joined the breakaway conservative Global Anglican Future Conference after he was cancelled by the CofE because white senior clergy were fearful that he refuted claims that Britain is “institutionally racist” even though he is black.

“It is a shame that after waiting years, survivors of abuse within the church are yet to receive any recompense. But seven months after the church declared itself racist it manages to find £100 million to splash out on virtue signalling,” said Robinson.

“Critical race theory is incompatible with the Christian faith. Why they keep chasing this Marxist ideology is beyond me,” he said.

Critics of CRT call it an outgrowth of Marxism, and say that it interprets society through a dichotomy between “oppressor” and “oppressed,” but it replaces the class categories with racial groups. The ideology has worked its way into society, affecting the education system, workplace, military, and more.

Proponents of CRT see deeply embedded racism in all aspects of society, including in neutral systems such as law and in the school curriculum, and deem it to be the root cause of “racial inequity,” or different outcomes for different races.

“It is a great sadness. So many parishes cannot afford to remain afloat, whilst the Church Commission hoarded nearly £10 billion in assets. All the while, they close churches, put vicars in charge of multiple parishes at once, and throw cash away on silly woke pet projects,” said Robinson.

“I would not be surprised if people in the pews stopped contributing their tithings and donations,” he added.

Significant Financial Challenges

The CofE said that it engaged forensic accountants who spent months reviewing hand-written entries, line by line, that recorded the investments that Queen Anne’s Bounty made, and the income generated from the South Sea Company, which was founded in 1711 to trade, mainly in slaves, with Spanish America.

“The Church’s involvement in the trade in enslaved people in this way shocked us. Having the information wasn’t enough, we wanted it to become public,” it said.

In a statement, the Bishop of Manchester David Walker, deputy chair of the Church Commissioners, said that it recognises that “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 will seek to address past wrongs by investing in a better future, which we plan to do with the response plan announced today, including the £100 million funding commitment we are making. We hope this will create a lasting positive legacy, serving and enabling communities impacted by slavery,” said Walker.