The Case Against Reparations

A new report from Policy Exchange warns that the Church of England’s reparations plan (known as ‘Project Spire’) is historically uninformed and may lack legal justification. The report finds that the Church of England’s programme of reparations is problematic for two reasons: 1) It represents a departure by the Church Commissioners from their core duties, of which international reparatory justice is not one, however worthy or not it might be in the abstract; and a diversion of funds intended for the good of parishes to a purpose for which they were not intended. 2) That this specific act of reparatory justice is poorly justified, historically uninformed and overall inadvisable. In a Foreword to the report, Lord (Tony) Sewell of Sanderstead, former Chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, said: “The Church of England that raised me gave me my moral compass, agency, and some great biblical adventure stories.  Rather than addressing the genuine challenges in our society today, the church allows itself to be dragged into the quagmire of a narrative about the legacy of slavery and systemic racism.”