The infinite worth of every person

During the meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion in Tanzania earlier this year, I attended a service in Zanzibar where the Cathedral Church now stands proudly on the site that was once the market place for the trading of slaves. The site retains parts of the market including the slave pit with figures of the slaves who would have stood there chained together.

I found the whole experience heart-rending. Seeing the small cells where the slaves were kept for up to three days without food or water with chains and shackles around their necks was traumatising. When I went outside and saw those figures in the pit – how slaves were tied together – and touched the actual chains that were used, I was rendered absolutely speechless. Not only did I experience fully the force of history which surrounded that place, I was also aware of those other places in our world where slavery of all kinds continues to thrive.

Whether we think of those traded in chains centuries ago, or those traded for sex in the present day, slavery rests on a desire to dominate and 'own' another; to dehumanise another person made in the image of God. At its heart slavery is a denial of the God given dignity and individuality, a negation of the infinite inherent worth of every person. It is based on those same assumptions that tyrants through the ages have made as they have tortured and murdered their brothers and sisters in God.

Today I will be joining a walk of witness through the streets of London, with men and women from all over the country and from those countries directly affected by the former trade in slaves. It is right and proper – not least given Christians' own involvement in the trade – that we repent of our past actions. However unlike those who have argued against apologising for this country's role in the Slave Trade, as followers of Jesus Christ we know that repentance is only part of a process and not its end. Repentance leads to restoration and it is in our actions for and in support of those in the new slave trade that we can best show this. I am because I belong; and am forever part of the "living" dead – both sinners and saints.

The Church is based on forgiveness and repentance. But for forgiveness to restore, there first needs to be a recognition of wrongdoing. In the Old Testament the story of Joseph – sold into slavery by his brothers – is instructive. It took Joseph's brothers seventeen years from the day Joseph forgave them to come to him and say "sorry". Joseph's forgiveness was not in doubt, but his brothers' decision to apologise was a long time coming. The reason ? The death of their father and their palpable fear that Joseph may take his revenge.

Some people have suggested that "sorry" is the hardest word. Certainly for Governments this has always proved to be true. Whilst our own Government has vacillated over the need for a public apology, the silence from Africa on the issue has also been noticeable. In Africa brothers sold one another into slavery and the people of Africa are implicated in the slave trade. Yes as a nation, Britain needs to apologise for its involvement in the slave trade; but just as those who grew fat off the profits of slavery owe an apology, so do those implicated in the capture and sale of slaves in their homelands, selling their kith and kin.

Repentance may be the beginning of the journey, but redemption is the path and restoration and the destination.

In the words of Alexander Ivanovich Herzen, that great Russian social philosopher and political journalist:

"Only the strong acknowledges his fault
Only the strong is humble
Only the strong forgives"

And indeed only the strong laughs, though often his laughter is equal to his tears.

As a Church we are already involved in thousands of community projects throughout the country, involved in the nitty-gritty of social change. For me, Faith is the spiritual engine of change. Desmond Tutu's oft quoted remark that "I don't know what Bible people are reading when they say faith and politics do not mix" has never been more readily apparent.

There is a need for the strengthening of both faith-based initiatives and the prophetic witness of the Church in the face of global economic inequalities, such as the trafficking of sex slaves. The "stop the traffic" campaign is part of this, as is the groundswell developing for signing up to the European declaration on forced labour and the "blow the Whistle" campaign aimed at holding the Government to account over its pledges for the Millennium Development Goals.

Yet for me as a person of faith there is also a struggle against the waves of cynicism and apathy that are directed at those who seek to work for change and justice. The seductive forces of apathy, that suggests that the many will never be convinced by the few, are belied by the work of the abolitionists. The retort to those who say there is no point in involving yourself in the struggle for change is that of Bob Marley's Redemption Song: "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds".

Of course there are those who would point to the Church and tell us to get our own house in order before we start urging others to get involved in matters of justice. The Church has never and should never claim to be anything other than a body of people waiting, straining with all creation to be fully redeemed in Christ. But we are not called to be passive in waiting for the Kingdom of God to come, but to be active agents of God's grace. As the book of Deuteronomy notes: "justice and only justice you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your god gives you".

R H Tawney, whose work was so influential in developing the philosophical framework of the welfare state, wrote that "unless a man believes in spiritual things - in God - altruism is absurd. What is the sense of it? Why should a man recognise any obligation to his neighbour, unless he believes that he has been put in the world for a special purpose and has a special work to perform in it? A man's relations to his neighbours becomes meaningless unless there is some higher power above them both."

If we believe this, our faith may mean taking risks - not just for ourselves, but on behalf of others. We are bound up together, and it's in our own interest that harmony exists. It is self-evident that there are people of good will, of all faiths and of none, who join together in common cause to seek justice for humanity as a whole. Yet whilst this may be a choice for those without a faith, it is an incumbent duty upon those who confess the name of Christ as Lord.

We need to rediscover a new faith-based movement for social and economic justice which has hope, rather than anger, at its core. I believe the Church can be that movement and it is my hope that as we commemorate the achievements of the abolitionists over the coming months we might also re-dedicate ourselves to being that change which we want to see in the world.

So join with me today as we walk the streets of London and sing of the Amazing Grace that brought an end to slave trade. As we sing once more of the graciousness of God, so Marley's words come back to us again: "Old pirates, yes, they rob I; Sold I to the merchant ships, Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit. But my hand was made strong By the 'and of the Almighty. We forward in this generation Triumphantly."