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<\/p>\nThe apology was adopted at the church’s General Assembly in Edinburgh on Saturday.<\/p>\n
12:13, 17 May 2026Updated 12:22, 17 May 2026<\/p>\n
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The Church of Scotland’s General Assembly on the Mound in Edinburgh(Image: Press Association)<\/p>\n
The Church of Scotland has issued a formal apology for its historical role in slavery.<\/p>\n
The apology was adopted at the church\u2019s General Assembly in Edinburgh on Saturday. Before the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in the 1830s, some members of the Church of Scotland offered a theological justification for chattel slavery, reports the Daily Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Kirk has also recognised that historically some of its members would have benefited from direct and indirect participation in the slave trade. The Very Rev Sally Foster-Fulton presented the apology to the General Assembly.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cThe history we consider today continues to shape our world in ways we cannot ignore. Its consequences touch communities near and far, influencing the structures, attitudes and inequalities that persist around us.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legacy of slavery stretches like a shadow over our local, national and global landscape. Naming that is not about blame, but about faithfulness \u2013 about recognising that healing begins where truth is spoken.\u201d<\/p>\n The apology says that the Kirk is \u201cgrieved beyond telling by the extraordinary suffering we have inflicted \u2013 through our actions and our inaction \u2013 on our brothers and sisters\u201d.<\/p>\n It adds: \u201cWe repent, committing ourselves to changing course and bearing fruit worthy of repentance.\u201d<\/p>\n Rose Wedderburn, general secretary of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, praised the apology.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cWhile the process has understandably evoked deep emotions \u2013 the effort invested in truth-telling and honest engagement is worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n A number of institutions in Scotland have issued apologies for historical links with slavery, including Edinburgh and Glasgow councils, which did so in 2022.<\/p>\n