How many crises and tragedies can you keep before your mind simultaneously? Surely the number is limited. How many wrongs can you help make right? Not as many as you’d like—and certainly not many at all. That’s frustrating, isn’t it? So many wrongs to be righted and seemingly so little that can be done about them.
What if I told you that there is a good cause that you can get behind without hesitation—a cause so obviously just that anyone who refuses to support it will thereby reveal himself as morally suspect? What I have in mind is the matter of reparations—but in a context you’ve likely not heard of before.
Here’s a quick review of the basis of reparations in moral evaluation: a fundamental aspect of the natural law is the recognition of rights and dignity resident in human nature, as willed by God. Consequently, an injustice is not “merely” nor “simply” a violation of a rule. Rather, an injustice is a violation of a human person’s dignity. Reparation acknowledges this violated dignity and attempts to make whole the one who has suffered violation.
Reparation also serves an important function for the wrongdoer. The offender, by bearing the cost of reparation, acknowledges responsibility for the wrong as well as the gravity of the wrong. Reparation can become for the wrongdoer an incentive for avoiding future wrongdoing. At the same time, community bonds are strengthened when its members see justice restored rather than ignored, excused, or rewarded.
Consequently, an injustice is not “merely” nor “simply” a violation of a rule. Rather, an injustice is a violation of a human person’s dignity.Tweet ThisReparations have been on my mind recently. The first reason for this concern is that Dame Sarah Mullally (Knight Commander of the British Empire), upon having relocated recently from London to Canterbury, affirmed the expenditure of £100 million in reparation for the Church of England’s involvement in what she described as “African chattel enslavement.” She added, “Our calling to confront historic injustice and our commitment to sustaining parish life therefore both flow from the same Gospel imperative: to love our neighbor as ourselves and to enable all to flourish.”
The second reason that reparations are on my mind today is that I’ve just finished reading “The Rape Gang Inquiry Report” released not long ago by Rupert Lowe, MP, detailing the ongoing rape war against Christian girls in Britain. Reading the report after reading Dame Sarah’s recent statements, this thought occurred to me: “If she’s so concerned about historic injustices and parish life, surely she would be even more keen to raise funds for reparations for current and recent injustices, wouldn’t she? Especially when many of the living victims are parishioners in the Church of England. She doesn’t have to spend her own money (unless she wanted to) or spend any Church of England funds. She just needs to pass the hat around. That’s all!”
On second thought, that’s not quite right. There is something else she could do—a series of gestures the value of which would be incalculable. The living wrongdoers (often neighbors of their victims and sometimes fathers of their children) are ready to hand. She can ask the wrongdoers for reparations directly!
Think of the photo opportunities: Dame Sarah collecting cash from the wrongdoers; Dame Sarah meeting in person the victimized and giving them reparations that she herself collected as acknowledgment of their suffering and as a help “to enable all to flourish.” The possibilities are endless. The rallying cry of this movement can be “Reparations Now—Make Rapists Pay Their Fair Share!” Who could be against that?
Speaking as someone who has relocated innumerable times, I’m sure that Dame Sarah’s recent relocation from London to Canterbury has turned her life upside down. Consequently, I’m not surprised that such a campaign for reparations has not yet occurred to her. In Christian charity, let’s help her with that. Let’s all send her a polite note urging her to take up the cause for reparations on behalf of the more than 250,000 rape victims acknowledged in the recent parliamentary report.
Here’s the mailing address I found for her online:
The Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally
Archbishop’s Palace (Canterbury Palace)
St. Margaret’s Court
Canterbury, Kent CT1 1DU
United Kingdom
If you hear back from her, please let me know.
There are no comments yet.