THE Church Commissioners risk attracting “widespread public contempt” if they proceed with Project Spire, a group of historians and General Synod members has warned (News,13 January 2023). The project is a £100-million fund set up to benefit communities affected by the historic transatlantic slave trade. The paper contains a detailed response to the points made in a document published by the Commissioners in May, Independent Responses to Claims Criticising the Historical Basis of the Church Commissioners’ Research (News, 6 June). The proposal addresses present and future: the Church Commissioners are creating the Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice, committing under one per cent of its assets to the work of repairing that racialised injustice in the world today which derived from Transatlantic Chattel Enslavement. It is understood that five written questions about the project have been submitted by General Synod members.
