Tackling the legacy and slavery and colonialism

During the ACC18 meeting in Accra Ghana in February 2023, delegates visited Cape Coast Castle, through which an estimated three million West African slaves passed between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. The visit rekindled their indignation towards the involvement of the Church in the slave trade and colonialism.

The ACC passed a resolution calling for deeper historical and theological reflection on the Church’s involvement and profiting from slavery and on how to address the past damage and combat modern manifestations of this evil. Full text of the resolution here (resolution 4f on page 10).

The Anglican Alliance has heeded this call. The work has been led by the Anglican Alliance’s senior adviser, Canon Grace Kaiso. Canon Grace has been developing a paper on the issues. Key points from his paper are outlined below. This work is closely allied with the theological work Paulo Ueti, the Anglican Alliance’s theological adviser, has been doing on reading the Bible with fresh eyes, exploring how colonial/imperial mindsets prejudice our reading of Scripture.

Slavery is a product of greed, colonial mindset, defective theology and opportunistic policies.

Colonialism is part of a global capitalist system, which has led to exploitation, social change and uneven development.

Canon Grace Kaiso, Senior Adviser, Anglican Alliance

Exploring the impact of slavery and colonialism

Slavery and colonialism have had intergenerational impacts in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe: politically, socially, economically and religiously.

Political impacts

Breakdown of traditional administrative structures and systems leading to perpetual political upheavals because governance structures/ political systems introduced are not in tune with the history and chemistry of the former colonies.
Creation of artificial states-ignoring natural ethnic boundaries leading to current cross-border tensions and conflicts.
Introduction of gunpower altering a balance of power between kingdoms– traditional systems of conflict resolutions are ignored, and the gun has become the main arbitrator in national and regional conflicts leading to a culture of violence and politics of coercion and patronage.
Neo colonialism, dependence complex-, former colonies are having a chain around their neck which gets tight as they try to assert their independence with a vicious circle of poverty and violence.

Social impacts

Interruption of traditional support systems for the vulnerable. This has worsened the state of vulnerable groups, children, women, widows, widowers and persons with disabilities. Their dignity is being undermined, in some cases this has led to crime and sometimes to suicide.
Entrenching inferiority complex among former colonies– paralyzing innovations in science and technology.
Inculcating a culture of structural inequalities, which are being perpetuated, hence political instability, gender based and intergenerational conflicts.
Transfer of anger, resentment, to colonizers – underlying tensions in the relationship between former colonies and colonizers. Impacting on global security and stability.

Economic impacts

Interruption of the traditional economy and introduction of an externally oriented export-import economy, where the structure of production bears no direct relation to the structure of consumption. The profit motive is contributing to the mismanagement of the environment. Technological innovations with loss of jobs and increasing marginalization.
The introduction of cash crops where farmers lost control at both the levels of production and exchange – this is why increasingly many countries are unable to feed themselves and nutrition levels are going down.
Created an economy that was dependent on the global economic forces… economies in the former colonies are victims of market forces and unfair trade rules, which is why they are choking on loans/debt – although the reality of debt has been there since the colonial times.

Religious impacts

Ministry in the Church expressed in terms of status, power and authority. Church is failing to model servant and transformational leadership.
Re-enforced clericalism – church structures not giving space to the laity and young people to participate in shaping mission.
The concept of the Church was deformed by the dichotomy between the secular and the holy. The Church not part of the daily struggles of the citizens, explains why in many countries the church is not having an effective prophetic presence in society.
The spirituality of disengagement with the world. The Church has been pushed to the periphery of society, unable to be truly the salt and light of the world.

Attempts to mitigate the impact of Slavery and Colonialism have included:

Economic

Developing Global anti-poverty campaigns like Debt cancellation campaigns, MDGs and SDGs aimed at addressing existing inequalities.
Affirmative programs for young people and women.
Special development funds for education and health by the former colonizers.
Looking for alternative sources for labour/power, rather than slaves.

Religious

Popularizing of the philosophy of the three selves by Henry Venn in missionary work, self–governing, self-supporting (i.e. financial independence from foreigners) and self –propagation (indigenous missionary work).
Resistance to Western theological perceptions/interpretation of the Bible.
Contextualizing the biblical narratives, leading to liberation, feminist, black, Asian African, theologies.
Using their faith to resist dehumanization, uprisings against racism and apartheid, Black Lives Matter campaigns.
Active participation of faith leaders in the slave abolition campaigns, modern-day slavery and Jubilee, SDGs campaigns.

The Anglican chapel at Cape Coast Castle was built directly over the dungeon where male slaves were held before transportation. Both are seen in this image, with ACC delegates learning this horrifying truth. Photo: Anglican Alliance/Elizabeth Perry.

Christianity is expressed through active discipleship. We can’t live for ourselves only. The continuing paralyzing impact of colonialism and slavery is therefore a call for practical and costly:

Solidarity
Repentance
Disengagement with exploitative alliances
Commitment to changing structures of injustice and oppression.

Christians are not immune to the influence of/ conditioning forces of commercialism, nationalism, economic and political ideologies as well as defective theologies. We therefore need to discern and keep on guard.

Questions for faith communities

How do we own injustices done in the past, like the slave trade? What does repentance mean in that context?
How do we work for healing of enmities and hatred between victims of slavery and those whose ancestors were responsible for it and current perpetuators? God is interested in their healing and becoming members of his new family!
Slavery is real and still exists today. To what extent, are alert to this issue, in terms of developing appropriate interventions?
How do we build faith communities that are fit for purpose in a multi-ethnic, multi-racial-, multi-theological and intergenerational context? How do faith communities confront and question existing idolatries, and resist the weaponization of the faith to serve vested interests, ideological, political and other secular agendas?
How do we activate faith communities as co-authors of social transformation in a digital era? How intentional are church leaders in this task, given that the Church acts in the world primarily though actions of their members in their daily work and relationships with people of other faiths walks of life?
How can we build an enabling framework to collaborate with other faiths?
Both the slave trade and colonialism were driven by desire for wealth and its accumulation. How do we overcome the monkey mentality? What is enough in the context of wild advertising and insatiable human appetite? The failure of all initiatives, such poverty alleviation programs, SDGs are due to greed and corruption.
How to build consensus on an enabling theological framework?

Actions for faith communities

Create spaces for nurturing biblically inspired spirituality to move people from conformity to the ways of the world towards radical, Gospel-inspired transformation.
Work towards a deepened and shared understanding of environmental stewardship to enable mindset change.
Build adaptive capacity/resilience of churches and local institutions to take advantage of opportunities and to respond to consequences.
Restore dignity and hope to vulnerable groups and communities facing marginalization, exploitation, hunger, low income and forced migration.
Reclaim comprehensive educational spaces and address the digital skills gap, critical thinking and popularize the Ubuntu spirit.

What the Anglican Alliance is seeking to do:

Develop a theological framework that will enable the Church to adopt a critical and prophetic presence.
Develop theological and practical resources to enable action on pressing issues including gender, climate, leadership, health, multicultural/faith-living and poverty.
Build the adaptive capacity/resilience of the Church and local institutions to take advantage of opportunities and to respond to consequences.
Build critical thinking capacity and popularize the Ubuntu spirit.

Lord when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and not help you?
Matthew 25: 44

Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind.
James Baldman