Cracks in Our History
Word&Way Editor-in-Chief Brian Kaylor reflects on two memorials to an enslaved man on the campus of Samford University, and what this could teach us about telling the truth about the histories of our institutions and churches.
Church of England Sheds Light on ‘Shameful’ Slave Trade Ties
A new exhibition at a London library explores the Anglican Church’s role in the 18th-cenury slave trade. It coincides with a new report setting out that role in hard facts and figures.
Embracing a Spiritual Discipline of Reparations
Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer offers his thoughts on how American followers of Jesus should come to grips with the reality and implications of our country’s historical record of racist actions and structures. He determines that although offering reparations is certainly a societal collective responsibility
Lag in Slavery Reparations from U.S. Jesuits Irks Descendants
Last year, the U.S. branch of the Jesuits pledged to raise $100 million for a reconciliation initiative in partnership with descendants of people once enslaved by the Catholic order. On Tuesday, a leader of those descendants expressed deep dissatisfaction with the order’s lack of progress
Global Baptists Pass Resolution Affirming Slavery Reparations
During the annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance in Birmingham, Alabama, members of the body’s general council passed resolutions on the war in Ukraine, last year’s coup in Myanmar, racial justice, and slavery reparations.
Lisa Sharon Harper on Fortune
In episode 36 of Dangerous Dogma, Lisa Sharon Harper, author of Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World — and How to Repair It All, talks about her new book on history, racism, and her family. She also discusses the importance of truth-telling, reparations,
AME Church Bishops Address COVID-19, Critical Race Theory as Major Meeting Opens
The bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church opened their denomination’s major meeting — a year after it was delayed due to the coronavirus — with a call for greater worldwide access to COVID-19 vaccines and testing.
100 Years Later, Black Church Leaders Seek Reparations for Tulsa Massacre
As Tulsa pauses to mark the somber centenary of the Tulsa massacre in its Greenwood district, where Black Wall Street was located, Black people of faith are among those saying the time has come to repay as well as to remember.
A Religious Case for Reparations? Christian Authors Make the Case.
Several Christian leaders have been mired in heated debates in recent months over racial identity, but authors Duke Kwon and Greg Thompson want to reframe the discussion by putting reparations through restitution and restoration at the forefront. Read full piece
The Missing Word in Our Reckonings on Race
Two pastors advocate reparations for victims of White Supremacy. Read full piece