Reflections 1- Introduction

Churches Together (in England) set up the Set All Free project (www.setallfree.net) to commemorate the Anniversary – with full backing from Anti-Slavery International. In its publications, the project rightly described the horrors inflicted on the slaves as the African Holocaust.  Given the direct involvement of the church in the trade, one would have expected the project to be chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury or other high white cleric as a sign of commitment to justice and reconciliation. The chair turns out to be a modest Asian churchman, Rev Inderjit Bhogal, a Methodist at the Trinity Church, Clapham, South London – a curious choice, even if Clapham was associated with the abolition movement.

In 1997, according to the Daily Mail (17 Mar 1997), a like group had called on Christians to mark the millennium by apologising for ‘past evils’ such as the Crusades, slavery and colonialism. It was a tepid affair. There was never any intention of challenging the establishment on structural injustices in the system and in any case the tabloids would not let the initiative get far. The Mail pooh-poohed the idea with some snide remarks about the prospect of the Catholic and Protestant leaders apologising to each other over past transgressions.
The same Mail is seeking to scupper the 200th Anniversary events as 'political correctness', a phrase routinely wheeled out whenever attempts are made to acknowledge past injustices to non-Europeans.

Churches Together invited people to get involved with the Anniversary in three ways:

REMEMBER
Suggested items- the horrors of the trade, the abolitionists, the role of the church.

REFLECT
- on the consequences (racism, underdevelopment, impact on commerce).

RESPOND
- act to end modern day slavery, work towards healing and reconciliation.

We have already covered Category 1 (Remember or Historical Review) in six parts:

1. Overview     2. How Britain benefited          3. Punishment

4. Resistance   5. Abolition                              6. Church involvement

We move on to the Reflections.

----------------------------

Reflections

The Set All Free project invited people to reflect upon the consequences of the Slave Trade and slavery, such as racism and underdevelopment. But the project forgot a more fundamental theme: the attitudes and thinking that inspired the active complicity of the Christian churches in the Slave Trade and more generally in colonial exploitation. We need to understand how the Christian Church allowed its high mission to be perverted by considerations of greed and profit, despite Christ’s injunctions to the contrary.

In our 6-part Historical Review, we gave examples how brutally African slaves were treated

- they could simply be thrown overboard if that could save money;

- fresh human excreta was forced into the mouths of offending slaves,

- they were immobilised by having their ears nailed down to a post,

- their limbs were subject to slow burning from the toes up.

How could such treatment emanate from Christians? How had they understood the Gospels? Did European churches teach that all humans including Africans are equal in the eyes of God and endowed with inalienable dignity like the other humans? Did the churches use their moral authority to censure slavers and governments over the abuses of the Slave Trade? Not likely.

4. As we have seen, the Church of England itself kept slaves for over a hundred years and branded them on the chest as ‘slaves of the Lord’ – what cruel irony. Clerics allowed church bells to ring out in joy over the defeat of the initial bill banning the slave trade. The church and at least one bishop did not hesitate to accept large sums in compensation when the trade was abolished. The slaves received none; so did the church spare a thought for them and share out some of the money?

These are disturbing issues which the Set All Free, a mainstream project, prefers not to pursue.

We need to ask: How did European Christians and their Church come to support slavery and the dehumanisation of Africans? How did the churches come to compromise their role as guardians of morality and justice?