{"id":968083,"date":"2026-05-18T05:44:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T05:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/968083\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T05:44:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T05:44:21","slug":"church-of-scotland-apologises-for-historical-slavery-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/968083\/","title":{"rendered":"Church of Scotland apologises for historical slavery links"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Church of Scotland has issued a formal apology for its historical role in slavery.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The apology was adopted at the church\u2019s General Assembly in Edinburgh on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The Kirk has also recognised that historically some of its members would have benefited from direct and indirect participation in the slave trade.<\/p>\n<p>The Very Rev Sally Foster-Fulton presented the apology to the General Assembly.<\/p>\n<p>She said: \u201cThe history we consider today continues to shape our world in ways we cannot ignore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIts consequences touch communities near and far, influencing the structures, attitudes and inequalities that persist around us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe legacy of slavery stretches like a shadow over our local, national and global landscape.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNaming that is not about blame, but about faithfulness \u2013 about recognising that healing begins where truth is spoken.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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<p>It adds: \u201cWe repent, committing ourselves to changing course and bearing fruit worthy of repentance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rose Wedderburn, general secretary of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, praised the apology.<\/p>\n<p>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<p>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<p>STV News is now on WhatsApp<\/p>\n<p>Get all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaCESJzKgsNvKKNOYO2r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">      Follow STV News <\/a>Follow STV News on WhatsApp<\/p>\n<p>Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758059248_2_whatsapp-qr.png\" alt=\"WhatsApp channel QR Code\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Church of Scotland has issued a formal apology for its historical role in slavery. The apology was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":968084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-968083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116593995413566675","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/968084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}