Church Head Urges Clear Apology for European Slave Trade

By Ethan Cole, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, March 22, 2007

Correction appended

Ahead of the United Kingdom's bicentennial anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, a global church head is pressing European nations to show greater acknowledgment of their involvement in the slave trade and for an "unambiguous apology" to people of African descent.

"People of African descent in the diaspora and in Africa await an unambiguous apology and clear sign from European nations that acknowledges their participation in this terrible part of colonial history," wrote the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), recently in a letter to U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to the Council.

The letter, dated Mar. 16, expressed appreciation for Blair's "courage to remind people of this tragic part of the colonial history," but hoped that the prime minister could lead European nations to a process of "truth-telling, repentance and reconciliation" to promote sincere dialogue in addressing the "scars" remaining from colonial slave trade.

Following a similar earlier exhortation to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Kobia also reminded the U.K. prime minister about the unfulfilled wish of the late renowned British missiologist and ecumenist Bishop Lesslie Newbigin.

Newbigin, who had visited Ghana's Elmina Castle where slaves were held in dungeons before their shipment to America, wrote that he wished some representative Englishman, such as an archbishop or prime minister, would go to the dungeon in Ghana and kneel down to offer a prayer of contrition.

"Perhaps this bicentennial year of the abolition of the slave trade is the right moment to heed Bishop Newbigin's admonition," Kobia suggested.

The movie Amazing Grace: The William Wilberforce Story, which broke $10 million at the U.S. box office last week, has also helped remind people about colonial slave trade as well as modern day slavery - commonly known as human trafficking.

The film about an evangelical British parliament member who helped end the slave trade in the Empire has been popular among Christians and will open in the United Kingdom on Friday, ahead of the 200th anniversary of Britain's "Abolition of the Slave Trade Act" on Sunday, Mar. 25.

Correction: Friday, March 23, 2007:

An article on Thursday, Mar. 22, 2007, about a global church head's call to European nations ahead of the bicentennial anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade incorrectly attributed a statement by the late renowned British missiologist and ecumenist Bishop Lesslie Newbigin. It was Newbigin – not the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia – who wrote his wish for some representative Englishman, such as an archbishop or prime minister, to go to a dungeon in Ghana's Elmina Castle (where slaves were held before their shipment to America) and kneel down to offer a prayer of contrition.