A week that saw us transition from the Round of 32 to the Saintly Sixteen, winds up with a matchup between a man who dedicated his life to the abolition of the slave trade and a man who was born into slavery. William Wilberforce and Richard Allen square off for a spot in the Elate Eight. Fair? Just? Of course not! Ridiculous? Absurd? Of course! It's Lent Madness.
Yesterday Martha of Bethany became the first saint to make it the Elate Eight as she left Nicodemus in the dark 74% to 26%.
We were also delighted to note that the three creative geniuses of Lent Madness 2019 did not relegate their talents to the first round. Sr. Diana Doncaster, Michael Wachter, and John Cabot have continued their hymn writing, show tunes, and limericks into the Saintly Sixteen. For however long the penitential creative juices keep flowing, legions of fans remain grateful for your efforts. Bravo!
We do hope your Lent Madness Withdrawal (LMW) symptoms are not too severe this weekend. If you begin to feel out-of sorts or find yourself staring at your computer screen refreshing your browser over and over again pining for Monday morning, we suggest binge watching old episodes of Monday Madness. Or attending church on Sunday dressed up as your favorite Celebrity Blogger.
But fear not. We'll see you soon enough as things get cranked back up again first thing on Monday as Ignatius of Loyola faces Marina the Monk.
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) dedicated his entire life to ending the trade of enslaved people in the British Empire.
Wilberforce was an evangelical Anglican. He was born again not once, but twice: once when he was a young man living with his aunt and uncle, then again when he was an adult, touring Europe with his friends, upon reading “The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul” by Philip Dodderidge. This second conversion experience made him deeply self-critical. He saw Christianity as a call to morality placed equally on everyone. (The strong social justice bent of the Methodist movement at the time was a heavy influence on him.)
This led him to champion ethical reforms, including allowing the dissection after execution of criminals—both to prevent the thriving blackmarket trade in corpses stolen from graveyards, and to allow greater learning by doctors and scientists about the miracle of the human body. He was in favor of Hannah More’s Sunday schools (originally intended to educate the lower classes, who couldn’t otherwise afford an education), better working conditions for chimney sweeps and textile workers, and prison reform.
Notably, he helped found the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to the great joy of millions of cats and dogs everywhere. (He also founded what became the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, but that does not have quite the Cuteness Quotient.)
He wrote, in 1787, “God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade, and the Reformation of Manners [moral values].” And indeed, Wilberforce’s accomplishment in abolishing the trade of enslaved people cannot be overstated. When he wrote the above, profits made from the “Triangle Trade” made up 80% of all British income from trade. (If you cannot recall your history, the “Triangle Trade” is the deceptively innocuous phrase that refers to the pattern of shipping enslaved people from the African continent to the Caribbean in exchange for sugar and rum, then sugar and rum across to England, then the sugar and rum would be sold in England in exchange for British-manufactured goods, which would be sold down to African slave traders.)
This campaign was both lengthy, and all-consuming. Wilberforce actually was so overworked that he made himself ill, and couldn’t even be in Parliament to propose the first law himself. It was also the first grassroots, worldwide human rights campaign. The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, founded in 1787 by Thomas Clarkson and Wilberforce, among others, brought together not only Anglicans and Quakers for the first time, but also abolitionists in France, Spain, Portugal, and the US. Chapters sprang up across the world, and members wrote pamphlets and letters to each other. The Society urged everyone to write their MP and sign petitions. Josiah Wedgewood even made a special logo for his china so everyone could show their support. It set the model for the modern political organizing we know. “If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large,” he said.
Wilberforce died three days after being told that total abolition of slavery in the British Empire was accomplished. He literally gave his life to right a great injustice.
Richard Allen
It has been well publicized that Richard Allen is the founding bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, work he began after he and Absalom Jones walked out of Saint George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in protest of its racist policies. However, his work extends beyond the founding of the first independent Black denomination in America. In a 2016 Religion News Service article, Adelle M. Banks suggests that Allen was deeply involved in the conversion of his slave master to whom he gave a gift after his manumission for his “uncommon kind treatment.” Even so, Allen described American Chattel Slavery as “a bitter pill, notwithstanding we had a good master.”
Richard Allen’s pioneering tendencies have led many historians to write about him, touting his feminism (before it was even a word that was coined) demonstrated in licensing women to preach and his leadership in the advancement of black institutions. Dr. Robert Franklin, President-Emeritus of Morehouse College suggests that “The birth of strong black institutions is a part of his legacy.”
Prior to his founding of the AME Church or any other prominent ministry, Allen was a Methodist minister on the circuit, preaching to white and black congregations throughout much of the East Coast, including South Carolina and Maryland. He writes that he was so dedicated to the ministry of a circuit-riding Methodist that at times his "feet became so sore and painful that I could scarcely be able to put them to the floor."
Prior to the walkout, Jones and Allen had begun developing plans to build a church for black Philadelphians to worship in. The idea was brought up to a white elder who attempted to discourage the work. Allen writes that he “used very degrading and insulting language to us, to try and prevent us from going on. We all belonged to St. George's church.... We felt ourselves much cramped; but my dear Lord was with us, and we believed, if it was his will, the work would go on, and that we would be able to succeed in building the house of the Lord.”
Nevertheless, Jones and Allen persisted.
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147 comments on “William Wilberforce vs. Richard Allen”
Wish this hadn’t been before the final. I’m taking founding the SPCA as a tiebreaker for Wilberforce.
Such a tough choice! I decided to vote for Richard Allen, because while Wilberforce accomplished the greatest good for the most worldwide, it was his relative position of privilege that allowed him to do that. That's not to downplay his hard work and devotion - but as far as saintliness and their efforts to better the world go, I think these men are clear equals. Allen did some really difficult work despite strong attempts to discourage him, and his legacy needs to be better known. So I voted for Allen because I've long had a soft spot for him, and I figured more people would be voting for Wilberforce. I had a bit of a political motivation, too: Nowadays, we need to lift up the work that people of color do to liberate their own communities, rather than celebrate the "white saviors." Again, this is not at all to denigrate Wilberforce's work. He would probably argue that he was only doing the least his faith required of him, but he certainly did go above and beyond what anyone would have expected.
Elaine, I posted the same thoughts myself while you were posting as well!
Same reasons as mine, as well.
Well said Elaine - I totally agree.
Yes, indeed!
I'm not sure who I'm going to vote for. But this "white savior" allegation was brought up against Wilberforce when he was in the last round, and I'm not seeing him that way. Wilberforce worked within his own social, political, and economic system to make it less racist and exploitive. Surely that's what we all should be doing. He must have alienated many friends and other associates, yet he persisted. Do those of us who work to make our own country less racist see ourselves as "white saviors"? I would hope not.
I'm voting for Richard. I am thrilled with William's life story and know that he did good for untold numbers of souls. But Richard came up against the system--was a victim of it himself--and forged ahead out of slavery with his faith and his message of love intact. William was white; he was in Parliament and part of the system to an extent (although a force for good). Richard worked from outside the system, swimming against the tide and out of the depths.
I am voting, too, for my own sore feet.
That gives new meaning to “voting with one’s feet “!
Richard Allen also helped lead the free black community of Philadelphia to take care of white people during the yellow fever epidemic in 1793. They nursed the sick and buried the dead. It was Dr. Benjamin Rush who asked them to help, believing erroneously that blacks would not get the disease. In fact, Richard Alan himself contracted yellow fever, but fortunately survived. It was a great service to the white community. (And yet, rather than being thanked for their charity, they were accused of trying to profit from their endeavors.)
https://hsp.org/history-online/exhibits/richard-allen-apostle-of-freedom/the-yellow-fever-epidemic
I honestly don't know who to vote for! These were the two I most esteemed going into Kent Madness. Both are such impressive men in working for social justice!
This was hard. Both are very worthy. Wilberforce in his life and works changed so many things and influenced so many people that I had to vote for him. His work was at the core of civil rights movements in most places.
Today my mantra is "no crying in baseball, no losers in Lent Madness." What wonderful souls, these two. And this year, the field is packed with choice choices, the blogs are especially special, and the comments are uncommonly cogent. Lent Madness X is in all ways X-ceptional.
Brilliant, Michael! My bracket is broken for this round, so I voted for the underdog.
To celebrate, I nominate Malcolm X for Lent Madness XI.
I always look forward to your comments, Peg. Thank you for them.
I want to vote for Wilberforce. BUT given the current state of the "United" Methodist Church, Allen has to get my vote for his strength to walk out and start a new denomination!
Ah, this is an angle I had not considered. The sadness of Protestantism is that once the church splits, it keeps splitting. May this angle become an angel for enlightenment and unity in the Methodist Church.
I fear that unity is gone. In the spirit of Richard Allen, we are quite likely to walk out.
St Celia, you are so right. We Protestants always come up with some reason to split. We don't know how to live John Wesley's teaching, "Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences. These remaining as they are, they may forward one another in love and in good works."
I love that quote. We tried.
Thanks for sharing this Victoria - it is a wonderful quote.
Thanks for that quote from Wesley. I agree.
He sounds like the Anglican he was! I think that is much the same as Bishop Curry is saying to the Lambeth bishops.
That is my thought as well. A gentle suggestion for all to reflect on past history and the brave decisions that resulted in a stronger, more vibrant Methodist Church.
While the people of Philadelphia have good reason to revere Richard Allen, the whole world owes a debt to William Wilberforce. When one gets down to it, this was an easy choice. Wilberforce's initiatives saved - and continue to save - thousands of lives, both human and animal (Megan may not hold that the Royal National Lifeboat Institution has as much cachet as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - it's the RSPCA in the UK - but then Megan probably doesn't have any relatives whose lives were saved from a watery grave by the brave volunteers of the RNLI.) When one looks at the breadth and depth of the causes championed by William Wilberforce, there can be no doubt that God received him in heaven with the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Anyone who abhors slavery (human trafficking) and cruelty to animals, will rejoice in a vote for William Wilberforce. Bless the beasts and the children.
Wilberforce! One godly soul applied Mica 6:8 to the institutions of his own society ... which enabled him and his own to enjoy so much privilege, and he saw they were not just. The Triangle Trade was responsible for 80% of the wealth involved in British trade??? And he took that on as a loyal love-toting soldier of Christ.
I’ve got my pick for this year’s Golden Halo!
'To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.' Yes, that about sums it up. Thank you, Linda S.
The thing that surprises me is the spread of the votes. I would think this one would be much closer, as I agree with many of the previous comments that both men are so worthy of our votes. I voted for Richard Allen because I would like to see more people of color recognized for their contributions and because I thought Marcus' write-up was more in the spirit of the Saintly Sixteen round. Megan gave us one sentence of quote. Surely William Wilberforce had more to say for himself than that.
Hear! Hear! I was hoping for that golden halo for Richard, too.
Voted for Wilberforce. Those who lift up the oppressed are generally going to get my support. Their actions show their spiritual focus and how they live into their faith, acting out their baptismal vows to respect the dignity of every human being.
Such a tough choice. In the end I’ve decided on Wilberforce for many of the reasons given in previous comments. What swayed it for me? Part of my application for an Evangelical Education Society (does it still exist?) scholarship for my senior year in Seminary was an essay I wrote on Wiberforce.
O that we had political leadership today with the values and moral toughness of Wilberforce!
Amen to that!
Another tough choice. Almost a coin toss.
Though not perfect, my bracket is still holding up well. I worried today...a European (read "white guy") up against a man of African descent and a slave as well. In ProgressiveLent...I mean LentMadness the latter would clearly win, EXCEPT for the fact that William Wilberforce was also concerned with "ethical treatment of Animals!" Expecting the winner to be, as usual, not who is the better saint, but who is the better progressive, I believe WW will win, and my bracket continue to shine. Too easy this year.
Is it my imagination or has Sr. Diana not been posting hymn texts this year? I haven’t seen one yet. If anyone has, please let me know where. I don’t know very many of the show tunes, so I miss her creativity with hymns.
I have been thinking the same thing Nancy S. - I also miss the hymns.
I believe that they are being posted to LM's FaceBook page. I hope that Sr. Diana will consider posting them here for us to enjoy as well.
An achingly hard choice today. Despite Wilberberforce's world wide impact, I finally chose Allen because all his faithful work was done while he himself was under the continuous burden of injustice and oppression.
Hard choice today. My location in the suburban reaches of the Diocese of PA, and my admiration for the strong legacy of women's leadership in the AME Church, call me to vote for Richard Allen. But Wilberforce's persistence and dedication changed the whole world. Besides, now that we know he helped to found the SPCA, my cats are campaigning clamorously. (Well, actually, they're probably all sleeping on my bed right now ...but as rescue animals, where might they be instead if not for the Wilber Force?)
Wilberforce had a vision of justice that was all-consuming. His actions began a world-wide consideration of an evil that struck at the heart of the Anglo-Saxon world.
As all have said, a tough call, and either man is a great win! I’ve decided to vote for Wilberforce. When you’re an “insider” yet work completely against what the entrenched system wants, the personal cost is high. And I’m thrilled to learn about all the other good works he did.
For reasons that have all been covered by others, Wilberforce is my guy today. I'm still working on "Pisky" and looking forward to the laugh when I figure it out:)
Admit I had to google Pisky - let's just put it down to a night without much sleep.........
If you want a hint, think about what was the chief difference between Absalom Jones and Richard Allen. If you don’t want a hint, ignore me!
Having learned about the RNLI as I lived in St. Ives, Cornwall last September and seen these volunteers put out to sea and return to harbor in challenging conditions, my vote tipped to Wilberforce - although both men demonstrate living a life in God.
But did you see any piskies there??
There are piskies at the bottom of our garden.
Hahaha!
William Wilberforce used his privilege for great good, and he is well-known for this. What we haven’t heard are the voices of the oppressed who, though having no privilege, accomplished great things too. My vote is for Richard Allen so we can raise the voices of those we have not heard. Go Richard!
Hard choice to make, this one. Wish these two weren't competing to eliminate each other so I could vote for both of them!
Both great men, but Richard Allen is my forever fave!
Wilberforce was incredible. Ending slavery throughout the Empire as well as founding the SPCA. He had me with the pups and kitties. Go Willy!
Besides being a passionate admirer of Wilberforce's 45-year campaign against the slave trade (see http://www.lentmadness.org/2019/03/william-wilberforce-vs-agatha-lin-zhao/#comment-63985), I have been delighted to discover (via LM) his additional connections to the antecedents of the present-day RSPCA and RNLI.
Wilberforce was not the creator of the RNLI; that distinction belongs to Sir William Hillary. However, Wilberforce was among the influential and energetic group present at its inaugural public meeting on March 4, 1824. (see http://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/timeline/1824-our-foundation)
I have tremendous respect for the RNLI's efforts from my travels in Britain, and urge any visitors to contribute generously to their lifesaving charity.
As a tribute to Wilberforce's many good deeds, here is the RNLI's "Modern Slavery Statement":
http://rnli.org/about-us/sustainability/elimination-of-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking
And the RSPCA's:
http://www.rspca.org.uk/utilities/modernslavery
OHhh!!! EPISCopalian!! Oh, I get it now!
Michael, Mr. Sondheim would be so pleased! (And I’ll pay you a quarter if you do one from “The Band’s Visit”!)
So not fair! Both, please…
I'm from Philly, so had to go with the hometown hero. But this was a tough choice.
P.S. Dear SEC: please don't overlook our way-cool haiku poet.