Wilberforce and Politics

Last week the DVD of the great film Amazing Grace hit the stores. Go get it if you have not, for it comes at a time when we sorely need to be reminded how William Wilberforce changed history.

Throughout America's history, the role of both church and state has been regarded as essential in safeguarding the culture, with religion providing the moral foundation upon which democratic institutions could function, as well as providing the conscience of society. But in recent years Christians have been all too inclined to put too much emphasis on human kingdoms-especially during an election year.

This year is no exception. Already I have seen people despair over the quality of the candidates; some think the issues they care most about are being brushed aside. Others are in a lather because they think America will not survive if the wrong candidate wins.

Elections matter, of course, and there have been pivotal elections in history. And Christians have a duty to vote and pray for our leaders. But anyone who thinks elections change the course of American history is terribly naïve. Politics reflect deep cultural changes-in other words, politics is merely an expression of what is already percolating through the culture.

Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in Great Britain 200 years ago. The great abolitionist and parliamentarian William Wilberforce knew he would never get a law passed outlawing the slave trade unless the people were behind it. And so, as the film Amazing Grace shows, he and a dedicated group of people spent two decades working to change the hearts and minds of Englishmen by exposing the horrors of slavery.

We saw the same phenomenon in our country. Ronald Reagan could not have been elected against a sitting president had it not been for a surging moral awareness among voters. His election was significant because he did bring about a profound change in the world. But of even greater significance was the spread of the ideas that he championed that had been brewing in the culture for some time-ideas about democracy and freedom, free markets and free minds.

We need to take our cultural duties seriously, because culture is, after all, religion incarnate. If Christians are not being salt and light, our society will rot and produce terrible politics-like laws supporting abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, and same-sex "marriage."

So if we really want to change America for the better, we need to get rid of the idea of a "top-down" approach that says that if we just get the right people elected, the right judges appointed, the right laws passed, all will be well. What's going to change the course of history-as Wilberforce showed us-is moral reformation and recommitment to the common good.

So I strongly encourage you to purchase a copy of the DVD Amazing Grace. There is a wonderful scene in it where Wilberforce says, "God has laid before me two great objectives: the abolition of the slave trade and the reformation of manners." You see, he realized that in order to get rid of a systemic evil, you had to begin to change the way in which the people lived their lives, in which they thought about the real purposes and meaning in life.

If we Christians deal with these kinds of issues and stay at our posts and try to reform this culture, I will have a lot more confidence in America's future than I will even if my favorite candidate wins.