Journalist for Life
Last year, we commemorated the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by the British parliament. Anglican leaders in Britain have marched around the country offering their apologies and even Prime Minister Tony Blair has said sorry, as if he was somehow personally responsible. Hardly a day went by without another confused and confusing European or North American screaming contrition and indirectly blaming the churches and white civilization for the use of African slaves between the late 16th and mid-19th centuries. Problem is, it displayed an achingly flawed understanding of history and of human nature.
It’s surely a self-evident truth in the opening years of the 21st century that slavery is an intolerable evil. Also self-evident that earlier cultures did not share this opinion and that the most sophisticated of them, of all races and religions, thought it inevitable and even ethical that the powerful would enslave those whom they defeated or those who could not effectively resist capture. One culture and one religion, however, are distinguished for condemning and concluding slavery when it was easier and far more lucrative not to have done so. The culture is Anglo-Saxon and the religion is Christianity.
Europeans certainly enslaved Africans, often buying them from local African warlords or simply transforming local customs into something far more repugnant and far more widespread. The same Europeans, of course, were themselves used as slaves when captured by the Ottoman Turks and would continue to be such victims until the 17th century.
But there is no doubt that the white use of black men, women and children as slaves was organized, brutal and grotesque. And enormously profitable. Which makes the grand opposition to it by the 1780s so profoundly impressive. To put it simply, there was a great deal to lose, nothing to gain and no need to change anything. The only dynamic behind a series of boycotts of slave-produced products, campaigns to expose the cruelty of slavery and eventually successful legislation to abolish the trade was that in Christian eyes, it was wrong.
There were certainly church figures who supported slavery, but there were people from all areas of life who supported it. What is important is that the only opponents were monks, priests and Christian laity. Secular and non-Christian resistance was almost unheard of.
This was one of the reasons why Christian missionaries were so vehemently opposed by many African chieftains. The famous Dr. Livingstone spent much of his time in central Africa preaching against slavery, much to the chagrin of the local Arab slave-dealers, and their indigenous partners, who made a fortune out of selling Africans to other parts of the continent and to the Middle East. The Sultan of Zanzibar was forced to end slavery as late as 1873 when the British arrived. In an act that would today be called barbarically imperialistic, the British occupiers built an Anglican cathedral on the site of the destroyed slave market.
It is beyond dispute that in the eyes of African and Arab leaders in the 19th century, Christian expansion signified an end to slavery, which is one of the reasons why British ships so regularly battled Muslim pirates around North Africa and why Anglo-Celtic culture was seen as a liberating force by contemporary liberal movements. The real axis of evil that was slavery connected Africa, south Asia and Arabia and lasted far longer than that in the white, Christian world. Indeed it still exists in isolated areas and is still opposed, largely by Christians.
Now remove the word “slavery” and replace it with the word “abortion.” In a generation or longer, will politicians announce how sorry they are and will the world scream its shame? And will genuine Christians be congratulated for their noble efforts? That’s not why we do it and that’s not why our spiritual ancestors two centuries ago did what they did. The same battle, however, the same bullying and the same catastrophe.
Books will be written and movies will be made about the fight and the sacrifice. Which actors will play our leaders and which ones the abortionists? Tragically, myriad babies will die before that time. Just as slavery seemed invincible, abortion today appears triumphant and guarded by a wall of iron and hatred. That will not last.
Never forget that being despised and isolated today will be considered a badge of honour in time to come. History is written by the victors and be assured that no matter how unlikely it may seem and no matter how tough is the fight, we will win and we will tell humanity. By the way, if some obscure, bald, pro-life journalist is shown in a movie, Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp would be best for the role!
