Will Episcopal Church pay reparations to blacks?
Posted February 22, 2007
Three central Kentucky Episcopal parishes founded before the U.S. Civil War are calling for a report to be prepared on the church's complicity in slavery. A motion which will be considered at the Lexington diocese's annual convention this weekend envisions possible reparations for the descendants of slaves.
Lexington's Christ Church Cathedral, organized in 1796, is among those requesting a study. Parishes in Harrodsburg and Frankfort, which trace their roots to the Antebellum era have also endorsed the measure. (Two other Lexington parishes, created in the 1880s, are also on board.)
Slave owners belonged to the Episcopal Church and placed some of their ill-gotten gains in the collection plates. Exactly how much money the church received is unclear. Unlike most other Protesant denominations, the Episcopal Church never split over the issue of slavery.
The resolution calls for the diocese to research "the economic benefits derived from diocesan churches involvement; and how the diocesan churches can, as a matter of justice, share those benefits with African Americans."
To read the entire resolution, click below.
Resolved, that the 2007 Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Lexington affirm Resolution A124 of the 75th General Convention and that the Bishop of Lexington designate the Justice and Peace Commission of the diocese to facilitate the study of the Impact of Slavery within the diocese focusing on the following:
the complicity of the diocesan churches involvement in the institution of slavery and the subsequent history of segregation and discrimination;
the economic benefits derived from diocesan churches involvement; and
how the diocesan churches can, as a matter of justice, share those benefits with African Americans.
Resolved, that in-as-much as God sent Jesus to reconcile us with God and to give the ministry of reconciling people one with another (2 Corinthians 5:18), it is our moral responsibility as a matter of justice to do what we can to heal the physical, mental and economic pain caused by the institution of slavery and the resulting practices of segregation and discrimination, and be it further
Resolved, that in-as-much as we, with God’s help, intend to remember and to maintain the promises of our Baptismal Covenant (BCP 304-305), we will strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.
Respectfully submitted,
Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington, Est. 1796
St. Philip’s Church, Harrodsburg, Est. 1831
Ascension Church, Frankfort, Est. 1837
St. Andrew’s Church, Lexington, Est. 1880
Good Shepherd Church, Lexington, Est. 1888
Comments
Two wrongs don't make a right. Extorting an unprovable cash value in contemporary cash for slave labor, out of people who themselves are not guilty of man-stealing, is unjust.
I believe it is impossible to accurately verify, on the basis of reliable legal documentation, what sliver of whose donated income, spanning so much time(considering that slavery came into Jamestown) came from slave labor. This project would require an omniscient accountant.
And who exactly gets the money, now that nearly 150 years have passed since emancipation? Some civil rights organization? That would mean that the people agitating for reparations would be in effect getting money for themselves.
If the answer is "the descendants", which ones? Would that include descendants who are partly Caucasian? Jesse Jackson had a white grandfather, I'm told; and I don't think we've tracked this sort of thing with as much care as we have with Native Indian registry.
I have a friend in SC who is something like 1/7th provably Cherokee on his Dad's side, which would have made him the last one in the family eligible for Indian reparations -- and Rick is about as "Native American" as a member of the Brady Bunch.
Even rough guesstimates will be unreliable; and if the figures can't be backed up by written records, then it will be 100% guessing.
To my mind, this is yet another effort on the part of backward civil rights organizations to make themselves seem needed. It would be far more meaningful for the black community to focus on the future, and self-correct the destructive social pathologies that keep many black Americans from achieving physical and emotional health, family stability, and success in their education and careers.
This is a distraction from the spiritual disintegration that continues in the Diocese of Lexington. It does fit perfectly into the justice for all (except the orthodox) scheme of the current bishop.
Two points, Jack.
First, this is not extortion. These are churches who are looking to make voluntary donations, not to individuals, but to organizations they believe can make a difference in the black community.
Second, just because the accounting won't be exact doesn't mean that it's not important. I'm sure that the church records will show that many donations were made by slaveowners, and that economic analysis of the period will show slavery to have been profitable. The fact that we can't, as you say, prove where every piece of silver came from, is not important. What is important is to recognize that an economic injustice was done, that the Episcopal Church profited from it, and now wants to make amends.
Were this a lawsuit on behalf of descendants of slaves, your points would have some (in my view pedestrian) merit, but not where the contributions will be voluntary.
What about they give the money to Black Churches. It would then be used to spread the message of the Gospel.
I think it is great that these historically white congregations are stepping up to recognize the injustice of the past.
If our faith doesn't drive us to seek for justice, empathy and generosity, something is very wrong.
It is a little late to lock the barn door, after the horse runs loose.
somewhere in proverbs
Then every private person and public U.S. institution that ever accepted money from anyone who owned a slave, including all money and property passed down by inheritance, all must pay, from Jamestown through Lee surrendering to Grant. Local dry-goods stores, every one of the historic denominations, farmers, banks, whoever ran the shipyards -- everyone has to pay. And the amount paid must be provably accurate, since a guessed-at figure is always unjust. Guessed-at figures will be too small.
See this thing for what it is: wringing money out of innocent people in order to feather the manipulators' own nests, by manipulating the innocent people's guilt feelings.
Jack, your error is in using the words "must pay" and "have to pay." No one here is suggesting that anyone has to pay anything. This is one denomination proclaiming that it did indeed benefit from slavery, and voluntarily making some attempt at financial recompense.
They aren't telling anyone else what to do, just what they are going to do. If others follow, so much the better.
Wouldn't it be nice Scottie if there were no Black Churches, Mexican Churches, White Churches-wouldn't it be nice if only there was one church-! I think they would be better off taking the money starting their own food pantry, so that those who need it can come to church and get. we have a modest church-about 50 people-but have someone show up about twice a week and ask for food-the last person even asked for a pan to cook it in and a can opener to open it with, and a spoon to stir it with- there are many ways to help the community and a churches surrounding counties without helping a single organization--I have only mentioned one of them
Just to reiterate--and as Caleb Powers has already stated in response to your last comment on this same topic:
This was a VOLUNTARY action. No one was strong arming, manipulating or promoting guilt in anyone else.
Dear Peach, I don't know if it would be good at all not to have had these various branches of christianity.
Without the black churches, would we have had Martin Luther King and Mahalia Jackson and yes, even the Rev. Al Green?
Without the white southern churches, would we have had Billy Graham and Johnny Cash and Jimmy Carter?
Without the Anglican churches, would we have had Phillips Brooks, the King James Version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer?
Without the Catholic churches, would we have had Gregorian chants and the Latin liturgy and President Bartlet?
I love the diversity of christianity. I love the fact that we can each worship God in our own manner and yet know that we all worship the same God.
And I'd kind of hate to give up Mahalia Jackson and Flatt & Scruggs.
Editor's note: A great post, but you may have to explain who Phillips Brooks was. (Among other things, he wrote O Little Town of Bethlehem, didn't he?)
Sweet Caleb: I was thinking about the future-one church-only problem is --who would be the pastor?
Frank, you softballed me that question about Phillips Brooks; you probably lived at Phillips Brooks house at Harvard.
Phillips Brooks was kind of the Billy Graham of upper class Episcopalians in the late 1800s. He was a great Harvard scholar and became rector at the beautiful Trinity Church, Copley Square, in Boston. It was designed by H. H. Richardson himself, and is, for my money, the most beautiful church in the world.
And apparently his sermons electified Boston, and brought in people in droves.
He is often credited with helping the Episcopal Church re-invent itself as the church of the eastern establishment during that time period.
He is as associated with Harvard as with the Episcopal Church, and Phillips Brooks House, which he founded, is one of the residential houses in which undergraduates live.
I've always thought that a God who created us to like pancakes and tamales and curry and black bean sauce must enjoy the many ways we worship--one of the most interesting worship experiences was Al Green's Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis (you ougta go, Frank--if you do take note of the mural on the back wall).
One of the delights of our myriad faiths is how blessedly ineffecient they are--and how generosity and respect for the dignity of all spring from all true expressions of faith.
(and I'm not arguing that they are all the same, so please don't misread me and go there)
Editor's note: Have you been? Tell me what it was like to worship with the Rev. Al Green...
I think this is a good idea. Slavery provided an economic benefit to many institutions not directly associated with it, and I'm proud that my parish, Good Shepherd, is on the list of those requesting the study.