the amends corner

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 04, 2007

So what's it going to be: an act of penitent moral resolve, or a self-gratifying publicity stunt? You make the call:

Institutions such as the Church of England which profited from the slave trade should consider making amends in some form, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Dr Rowan Williams said there was "no quick" solution but suggested that organisations living off the "historic legacy" of compensation following the freeing of slaves in 1833 had a responsibility to take some form of action.

Since the wrong in question was the exploitation of a disfavored class of human beings (at a period when it that exploitation served the interests of the powerful), why not "make amends" by coming to the defense of an all-too-contemporary example of a disfavored class of human beings, subject to exploitation in the service of the powerful: namely, unborn children threatened with abortion? Doing so would give evidence that an important moral lesson had been learned.