Book thoughts

I picked up this free e-book recently.  It's on politics and Christianity.  I'm not a big politics person and in some ways, find myself on both sides of the fence.  Anti-abortion, conservative - yet find social justice very important.  Lean towards liberal on immigration, lean towards conservative in other areas.  Doesn't make me real popular with either crowd.  I consider it balanced and biblical - but that's just my opinion.  Anyway - here's some thoughts from the book Healing for a Broken World:  Christian Perspective on Public Policy by Steve Monsma that I found interesting.

"Fourth, Wilberforce and his fellow Clapham reformers worked for the greater good of society as a whole.  They were not, as an evangelical special-interest group, out to protect the narrow self-interests of their fellow believers or their social class.  They sought the common good, not their own welfare.  Wilberforce and almost all the Clapham group were people of wealth and social standing.  Yet time and again they took on the causes of the poorest and least of their day.  The Africans, who were the victims of the unimaginably cruel practices of the slave traders, were not fellow Christian believers and were totally dispossessed with no legal rights at all.  Nevertheless, Wilberforce and his coworkers labored for over twenty years to stop this abominable business.  They challenged the exploitation of India even though, if anything, it would hurt their own social class's economic wealth."

"The real issue today is not whether one is a Democrat or Republican, but whether one is committed to justice for all.  This means we must defend the rights of those with whom we disagree.  Suppressing their freedoms in the name of religion is just as wrong as for them to suppress ours."  - Ed Dobson

"But in their political activities, the Clapham group worked for freedom and more equitable treatment of others.  Their primary goal was not to protect their own religious freedom or to promote Christianity by the use of public polities.  Their concern was not to make Britain a great nation.  In fact, their efforts to end the slave trade and the purely exploitative policies toward India were seen in their day as weakening Britain economically and damaging it's great nation status.  Their concern was to be faithful to a God of love, who cares for all of his children of whatever nationality or race."