All this was informed by and informed the general debate about slavery and the trade, culminating in the Abolition Act of 1807 which came about through an alliance of people both black and white who not only responded to events with spiritual wisdom but also challenged the prevailing view with moral courage.
On a personal note I am honoured to give this brief contribution to the Wilberforce Lecture in this Bicentennial Year. Ever since I was a student I have been inspired by William Wilberforce and the example he gave of applying to public policy the values of the Kingdom of God. He took forward the conversation between the world and the Word, and in concert with others helped change the moral landscape of the empire through the abolition of the Slave Trade and eventually slavery itself. They brought closer a vision of the human family which Christ himself saw and acted upon.
I would like to end with an episode from the life of Christ which challenges the racism that is the legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade: The Cleansing of the Temple.
It is true that most commentators have interpreted this as a statement by Christ against commercialism. But such an interpretation falls short of its full meaning and obscures a crucial element in the story. The significance of what Jesus does is found in his quotations from the Old Testament and in realising where in the Temple the action took place. The stalls were set up in the Court of the Gentiles, the place where the other races could draw near to the God of Abraham and Moses. By filling the court with market stalls the authorities were denying the other races their sacred space. Jesus overturned the tables quoting from Isaiah and Jeremiah and insisted that the Temple should be "A House of Prayer for all races". Over the years we have neglected this emphasis, preferring instead to concentrate on the "Den of Thieves"! We have failed to see the true nature of the robbery. What was stolen was the vision of every single race being able to worship God together in His House of Prayer. The cleansing of the Temple was as much an action against racism as it was against unbridled commercialism. In Isaiah, from which Jesus quotes, the prophet holds before us a vision of God's Kingdom where people of every race within the human family come together joyfully to worship God in all his glory. It's a vision to die for. Many have. And Jesus did. It's a vision, a dream that has yet to come true.
If, as I believe, racism is the legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade then even 200 years on we are heirs of this evil. We need moral and political leadership that not only names the prejudice but also acts in a just and merciful way to embrace every ethnic group in contemporary Britain where the Christian faith has shaped the Law, Liberty, Language and the Landscape of our nation. In this respect we need a new generation of men and women like Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce.
