It’s easy to scoff at do-gooders—those people who work at a cause that no one seems to care about—those who keep working even after several defeats because they know what they are doing is right.

 William Wilberforce was such a person.  For more than a quarter century he fought for the abolition of slavery in Britain.  Slavery was an important part of the economy.  Many powerful people made their money in the slave trade.  Hardly anyone gave a second thought to the ethics of owning and abusing people.  Against all this stood a few people.  Wilberforce was their voice.  Amazing Grace tells the story of his struggle for the right.

Wilberforce was elected to Parliament as a young man.  After a conversion experience, he contemplated leaving that behind for a religious life.  His friend, William Pitt the younger (soon to become Prime Minister), asked him what he would use his voice for: to praise God or to change the world.  In reality, we learn that these are not exclusive options; rather, they fit together perfectly.



Wilberforce also sought the advice of his old pastor, John Newton, a former slave ship captain who is haunted by the many souls he carried.  Newton wrote many songs, among them the song "Amazing Grace."  Newton sent Wilberforce to do the work God had for him, which was to bring an end to the abomination of slavery.

Year after year, Wilberforce proposed bills to outlaw or curtail the slave trade.  Year after year, the bills were rejected.  A small group (including his wife, a few MPs, a few activists, and Ouladah Equiano, a former slave, whose autobiography was a best seller of the day) continued the fight, slowly gaining more support among the people, but the business interests continued to block the way.

Finally, in February 1807, Parliament passed a bill to abolish the slave trade.  (The film’s release is a way of marking the bicentennial of that event.)  Some years later, just three days before Wilberforce’s death, slavery itself was completely abolished in Britain.

Part of his epitaph in Westminster Abbey reads:
In the prosecution of these objects
he relied, not in vain, on God;

Wilberforce is a model for Christian activism in the face of the wrongs that continue to fill the world.  This is a film that can serve as inspiration for all Christians who are involved in the effort to change the world.  It could inspire those on the right or the left, because we all are striving to change the world as we understand God’s will.  It will encourage those who seek to end abortion and those who seek to end war.  It will encourage those concerned with global warming and our stewardship of the earth.  It will encourage those who struggle for marriage equality.  It will encourage those who seek to feed the hungry.  It will encourage those who work to bring an end to the plague of HIV/AIDS.



Wilberforce championed some of the most liberal causes of his day—progressive Christians will appreciate that.  He also fits the mold we would refer to now as evangelical.  Neither right nor left has an exclusive claim on Wilberforce and his work.  Rather, all Christians who seek to change the world through our work for better laws and more complete justice walk in his steps.  In this film, we see that those steps are often along very rugged and difficult paths.  But the destination can make the journey well worth while.