friend to a number of other presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush. Should we not also learn from our mistakes, especially when we have acted foolishly in his name?
Similarly, the one redeeming feature of acknowledging the unwisdom of Canadian Christians who as a minority group took an all-or-nothing position on the abortion issue in a majoritarian political arena is that a wiser course of action may be taken by the faith community in the future. The opportunity for a second chance will likely come when advances in genetics, medical practice, and science-based jurisprudence force a reframing of “beginning of life” issues beyond the old pro-life, pro-choice paradigm and oblige future legislators to establish new policies and regulatory regimes based on that reframed understanding. Let Christians be prepared to conduct themselves wisely and graciously in that future debate.
4. Avoiding and mitigating viciousness in the name of God
Do not we as believers in our time and circumstances need to be strongly cautioned against acting viciously in the name of God and urged to take corrective action when such viciousness rears its ugly head?
It is sad but true (and I speak from experience) that some of the most vicious letters received by elected officials, especially over moral issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia, come from people professing to represent a Christian perspective. Similarly, what are we to think of those overly zealous pro-life advocates who threaten the lives of abortionists and would readily burn down abortion clinics just as the early followers of Jesus were prepared to burn down the Samaritan village that refused to receive him?
What should those of us of the Christian community say and do when we see and hear such threats and acts of viciousness made or committed in the name of Christ? Should we remain silent and therefore appear to condone them? Or should we not be in the forefront of correcting and mitigating them after the example of Jesus himself?
What would Jesus say to those believers today who are prepared to act viciously in his name? Would he encourage them in those attitudes and actions, or would he respond in the same vein as he did to his earliest followers long ago: “You know not what spirit you are of—certainly it is not my spirit … I sent you forth not to be vicious as snakes but gracious as doves, gracious as the spirit of God himself. Now conduct yourselves accordingly if you profess to be speaking and acting in my name.”
5. Drawing closer to him who exemplified wisdom and graciousness in his public work
Jesus’ initial followers undoubtedly learned as much about what it meant to be wise and gracious in the public arena by simply drawing closer and closer to their master as they ever did from studying his explicit instruction on this subject. This should remind us, yet again, of the need to draw ever closer to Jesus in every aspect of our lives so that how we conduct ourselves in the public arena is not some contrived strategy but a natural outworking of our relationship to him.116
Let us also cultivate, in our time and circumstances, Christian leaders and spokespersons who not only teach and advocate the wisdom and graciousness of Jesus in the public arena but actually model that wisdom and graciousness in their own public work and conduct.
97 Matthew 10:16 (KJV).
98 Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 244–245.
99 1 Samuel 13:13.
100 2 Samuel 24:10.
101 Billy Graham, Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997, 2007), xxi–xxiii.
102 Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69 (S.C. 1968–69, c. 38).
103 R. v. Morgentaler, 1 S.C.R. [1988] 30.
104 Stephen Bindman, “Abortion Motions Rejected. Govt. Given Little Help on New Law,” The Ottawa Citizen, July 29, 1988, A1.
105 Bill C-43: An Act Respecting Abortion, 2d sess., 34th parl., 1989.
106 Matthew 22:17; see Matthew 22:15–22.
107 Luke 9:51–55.
108 Matthew 10:5, emphasis added.
109 Acts 1:8, emphasis added.
110 Luke 9:55–56 (KJV).
111 John 8:1–11.
112 It is to address this need that the Manning Centre for Building Democracy (manningcentre.ca) has developed a lecture and seminar program entitled “Navigating the Faith-Political Interface.”
113 2 Chronicles 1:10–12. Sadly, it should be noted that while Solomon prayed for wisdom and received it, he did not always act upon it. Eventually, he was led away from wholehearted worship of God by the influence of his many foreign wives. In addition, his heavy taxation of his people in order to finance the building of his magnificent palaces eventually led to rebellion by the northern tribes, civil war, and the breakup of the kingdom under his son Rehoboam.
114 James 1:5.
115 James 1:22, emphasis added.
116 What does it mean to “draw ever closer to Jesus”? If one is not a believer, a good starting point is to read the record of his life and teachings in the Gospels and then decide whether to follow him or not. If one is already a believer, it means cultivating a closer and deeper relationship through prayer, study, and fellowship with other believers.
1.9 WISDOM AND GRACE IN ACTION:
THE WILBERFORCE ANTI-SLAVERY CAMPAIGN
We have examined the key instruction given by
Jesus of Nazareth to his earliest followers before he sent them out to do public work in his name: “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” But can this guideline actually be followed faithfully and effectively by Christian believers in the rough and adversarial public arena of politics? In this chapter we examine a most encouraging and instructive example.
In the long and colourful history of politics within the tradition of British democracy, there is probably not a better example of a campaign conducted with the wisdom of the serpent and the graciousness of the dove than that conducted by William Wilberforce
