Fresh evidence of C of E’s role in enslavement uncovered as church wrestles with reparations debate

A newly published register reveals that British clergymen helped finance the Royal African Company, which organized hundreds of voyages transporting enslaved Africans. The archbishop of Canterbury visited Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, a former slave-trading site linked to the company, where she reflected on the historical ties between the Church of England and the transatlantic slave trade. Following the visit, the church reaffirmed its ongoing efforts to address its past involvement in slavery. The disclosure underscores the deep historical connections between religion and the institution of slavery.

Register of British Slave Traders shows clergymen financed company that trafficked enslaved Africans on hundreds of voyagesNearly 250 years after the abolitionist Ottobah Cugoano made the Christian case for reparative justice, the archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, visited the Ghanaian shore where he was enslaved as a boy.After witnessing the dungeons beneath the chapel at Cape Coast Castle, once run by the Royal African Company (RAC), Mullally recommitted the Church of England to its “journey of repentance” for its role in slavery. Continue reading...