Press & Media
World Magazine
Bicentennial project
There’s still time to create William
Wilberforce's 'better hour'
By Joel Belz
If you’re a bit bewildered, as the
year 2007 rolls into its final quarter,
by all the ballyhoo over William
Wilberforce, get set--because the tempo
is about not to die down but to pick up.
Just about everybody, it seems, wants to
hitch his wagon to the Wilberforce star.
 That's partly because Wilberforce was some star. His story,
popularized especially for Americans
earlier this year in the very well done
film Amazing Grace, was a picker-upper
during a period when Christians seemed
so regularly frustrated in their efforts
to do anything significant to influence
public policy in the United States. If
that little pipsqueak of a man could
make an impact, people seemed to
respond, why should we give up?
The Wilberforce story is getting
special attention this year, of course,
because 2007 is the 200th anniversary of
his success in bringing an end to Great
Britain’s approving involvement in the
transatlantic slave trade of that time.
But to narrow the Wilberforce story to a
single year would be to miss the heart
of the drama. It was, after all, the
man's relentless persistence--his
disciplined year-after-year-after-year
determination--that accounts for the
fact there's even a story to tell a
couple of centuries later. So it comes
as good news now that the Wilberforce
story will continue to be widely told
over the coming year--in a variety of
venues. A documentary film (funded by
the John Templeton Foundation) is set to
be nationally televised, probably in
February. A scholarly but clearly
written compendium featuring 20
Christian authors provides new insights
about what goes into transforming a
culture. Small groups are being formed
with a focus on changing specific
culture on the local level--all in the
spirit of Wilberforce's famous “Clapham
circle.” Even at the level of
high-school students, a $10,000 first
prize is being offered (with up to
$40,000 in total prizes) for
demonstrated leadership in specific
service projects that reflect
Wilberforce's values.
All that is happening because of the
efforts of a number of individuals and
organizations involved in The
Wilberforce Project. And while WORLD
doesn’t make a habit of endorsing even
worthwhile organizations and projects,
there are several reasons why I don’t
hesitate to mention this one in this
space.
First, the work of William
Wilberforce 200 years ago was so much a
model of what WORLD magazine stands for.
Here was a man whose Christian faith was
no mere appendage to his calling as a
statesman and a legislator. More and
more, his faith became the essence of
his calling. WORLD readers who know
Wilberforce only by vague reputation
should spend the next few months getting
to know him in detail—and then they
should emulate him.
Second, I would love it if the high-schooler
who wins that $10,000 first prize for a
meaningful service project came from a
family that subscribes to and reads
WORLD magazine. WORLD enjoys thousands
of teenage readers (you see their
letters from time to time in our Mailbag
section), and it would make sense if the
same worldview that feeds them in these
pages took solid form in some worthwhile
project.
More details about this opportunity
are available at thebetterhour.org/contest.
Pass that information on to a bright
teenager you know. Final projects aren't
due until next March 1--but online
registration is open right now and will
equip young people with an awareness of
the contest's guidelines.
Third, my understanding is that the
Wilberforce Project is just that: a
project with an important but limited
focus. No future organization or
enduring program is envisioned. Indeed,
most of their announced projects are
already funded. The whole project,
incidentally, operates under the title
“The Better Hour”—a reference to a
sonnet written to Wilberforce by William
Cowper.
“William Wilberforce,” according to
an introduction in the book referenced
earlier, “was for creating a better hour
for humankind—an hour in which goodness
is more fashionable than evil, in which
generosity is more fashionable than
greed, and in which freedom is more
fashionable than slavery.”
Because of those hard-earned
accomplishments, Abraham Lincoln knew
who Wilberforce was, and actually said
in 1858 that “every schoolboy” also
knew. But these days, according to the
Wilberforce Project’s chairman Chuck
Stetson, no more than 3 percent of
Americans and 10 percent of Brits can
identify him.
Doubling or tripling those
embarrassing numbers seems like a
worthwhile assignment.
Copyright © 2007 WORLD Magazine
October 13, 2007, Vol. 22, No. |
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