Jesus’ Compassion Motivated Abolitionists
William Wilberforce’s fight against slavery centered on Jesus’ call to care for the oppressed (Luke 4:18). His religious conviction drove the British Clapham Sect to secure the 1807 Slave Trade Act. Southern churches often downplayed such verses to maintain slavery. Wilberforce’s twenty-year campaign demonstrated how Christian teachings could fuel political action against human trafficking when interpreted through a lens of compassion rather than control.
