Press & Media
Virtue OnLine
Creating The
Better Hour
by Mike McManus
April 9, 2008
The film "Amazing Grace," released a
year ago on the 200th anniversary of the
abolition of the British slave trade,
tells the story of William Wilberforce,
a frail Member of Parliament who led the
battle for 20 years to stop ships from
transporting slaves from Africa to
America.
Wilberforce fought the rest of his life
for the total emancipation of slaves in
British colonies, a victory achieved
July 26, 1833, days before Wilberforce
died. It was a victory won at a huge
financial cost to England, 20 million
pounds paid to the slave owners,
crippling the economy "for over a
generation," writes Chuck Stetson in a
new book, "Creating the Better Hour."
He achieved that victory 30 years before
America fought a Civil War with a half
million deaths to achieve the same
result because America did not have a
William Wilberforce.
However, that was only a fraction of
Wilberforce's impact. Born into wealth
and a Member of Parliament at age 21,
Wilberforce was a bon vivant for some
years until he underwent a conversion to
Jesus Christ, "a great change," as he
put it. He started his day with prayer
and reading the Bible for 90 minutes.
This study led him to set two great life
goals:
On October 28, 1787, he wrote in his
diary, "God Almighty has set before me
two great objects, the suppression of
the Slave Trade and the reformation of
manners" (or morals, as we'd put it
today).
While the rich gambled and womanized,
most British children died before
adulthood. Why? They worked 18 hour days
as chimney sweeps or in unsafe textile
mills. The decadence and corruption of a
similar elite in France sparked the
French Revolution. The wealthy of France
"chose not to do anything about the poor
and the oppressed," writes Stetson. "The
people became violent," during the Reign
of Terror in which "thousands were sent
to the guillotine."
"England, facing the same conditions,
was able to avoid revolution because of
the efforts of Wilberforce and the
Clapham Circle, wealthy men who saw that
what was going on the world around them
was wrong and decided to engage what was
wrong and change it for the better. As a
consequence, England got reformation."
For example, too many British men and
women were hanged. Wilberforce led a
successful battle sparking prison
reform. He also persuaded Parliament to
pass the first child labor laws.
In fact, Wilberforce created or helped
spark 69 different societies (or
non-profit groups) to improve the plight
of he poor. He did not take on all these
causes alone, but with a small circle of
wealthy, influential people living in
Clapham, near London, which became known
as the Clapham Circle.
Stetson's book includes chapters written
by people who were inspired by
Wilberforce to launch their own
crusades. Three examples:
1. Chuck Colson read a biography of
Wilberforce a year after he launched
Prison Fellowship and was inspired by
his fight to end slavery and "clean up
child labor laws, poorhouses, prisons,
and to institute education and health
care for the poor." Colson writes, "Like
Wilberforce, I had a background in
politics. And like him, I had my own
'great change' in 1973." As I reported
last week, he created "Angel Tree as a
means of helping prisoners keep in touch
with their children," inspired 30,000
volunteers to work with prisoners, and
created Justice Fellowship to reform
prison.
2. Michael Horowitz, a Jewish human
rights attorney who served in high level
jobs in the Reagan Administration, keeps
a biography of Wilberforce on his desk.
He praises Christians, such as the
National Association of Evangelicals,
for being an "extraordinary force for
human rights," fighting for passage of
the International Religious Freedom Act
to fight "intolerable religious
persecution," and for NAE's "essential
role in advancing the great slavery and
women's issue of our time," sex
trafficking which abducts a million
females into sexual bondage yearly, by
passing the Trafficking Victims
Persecution Act.
3. Baroness Caroline Cox, Deputy Speaker
of the British House of Lords, argues
that Wilberforce's mission "to abolish
slavery is still unfinished - nowhere
more so than in Africa." Disregarding
high personal risk, she traveled many
times to Sudan "where slavery is
entrenched, systematic and widespread,"
and a "weapon of war by the regime"
running the country. She has helped free
thousands of the enslaved by raising
funds to buy their freedom.
Chuck Stetson wrote his book to inspire
you to fight injustices you see. (Buy it
on Amazon.com for only $16.47.)
Michael J.
McManus is a syndicated columnist whow
writes on "Ethics & Religion". He is
President & Co-Chair of
Marriage Savers. He lives
with his wife in Potomac, Md.
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