For those of you who do not know William Wilberforce, he was an 18th century Anglican who, along with the Clapham Sect (a group of Christians), almost single-handedly brought about the abolition of slavery in England, a remarkable accomplishment. I agree with the author’s thesis. As Christ’s body, we’ve got a lot of work to do on a lot of fronts, starting with our own house. See what you think.

When the behaviors and beliefs of Christians mirror those of their unbelieving neighbors, it is evidence that the Church is a product of the culture it is called to transform, and that instead of producing disciples, it has been turning out “belonging nonbelievers,” if not “functional atheists.”

So, if you want find fault for the recent Court ruling, look no further than the doorstep of the Church and a decades-long ethos of non-discipleship Christianity. The thing is, the solution to our national condition starts at the same threshold.

No one knew that better than the British abolitionist William Wilberforce.

In the eighteenth century, Great Britain was the great world power, as is the United States today. But it was also a country marred by rampant alcoholism, prostitution, political corruption, and the social injustices of hazardous factories, sixteen-hour workdays, and child labor. Crime, vice, and corruption were so bad in London that the city earned the epithet, “the devil’s drawing room.” On top of that, Britain was the world leader in the slave trade, a moral failing that Wilberforce sought to correct.

As a young parliamentarian, Wilberforce realized that while politicians and their policies bore responsibility for the execrable conditions of the day, they were not the cause of those conditions. The cause was the moral decline of society, which was owed, in large part, to the failure of the Church.

At the time, the Church of England was in full retreat from historical Christianity. Pew and pulpit were marked by nominal-to-heterodox beliefs. Lay non-attendance was widespread, as was clerical neglect of congregational care.

Read it all.