The Quaker slavery report shows what moral honesty about the past looks like: a humanist column

The Quaker slavery report is a sober example of an institution looking hard at its own past. This column is opinion.

The Religion Media Centre reports that Woodbrooke prepared the document for the Quaker reparation working group. Its title is “Examining our past to take action for the future: Quakers, enslavement and reparation.” It was launched at a London conference last Friday. Quakers committed to this work in 2022. The Quakers in Britain publish their reparations work online.

What the Quaker slavery report examines

According to the bulletin, the report asks how early Quaker leaders, including George Fox, used Christian teaching to justify enslavement. It also reviews links with Bristol, Lancaster, Sheffield and central England. That detail matters. It places the history in real towns and real families, not in a vague past.

We have only a summary of the report’s contents. Readers should consult the document itself for its findings and recommendations.

A humanist reading

Humanists do not share Quaker theology. We still recognise good method. The report starts with evidence. It names leaders. It asks how ideas were used to defend a crime. And it links the past to action today.

That order is right. Honest history comes first. Responsibility follows. Repair comes last, and it must be real. A statement of regret without action costs nothing.

Religious groups often struggle with this. Their founders are honoured. Their texts carry authority. Admitting that sacred language was used to excuse cruelty is hard. The Quaker project suggests that it can be done without abandoning faith.

Secular institutions face the same test. Companies, universities and councils also grew rich from slavery or its trade. They too can open the archives. The standard is the same. Publish the evidence. Name what was done. Then decide what is owed.

Moral progress needs people willing to say, “we were wrong, and here is what we found.” That is a humanist value, whatever its source. We argued for similar honesty in our column on Greece’s social media ban.

Opinion column. Fact basis: Religion Media Centre bulletin (27 October 2026) and Quakers in Britain’s reparations pages. We have not yet read the full report. Conclusions are the author’s own.