Social Activist

William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce

August 24, 1759 - July 29, 1833
Politician who single-handedly abolished Great Britain's Slave Trade
From Kingston upon Hull, Great Britain
Served in London, England
Affiliation: Anglican
"Christianity has been successfully attacked and marginalized… because those who professed belief were unable to defend the faith from attack, even though its attackers’ arguments were deeply flawed."

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Rush

January 4, 1746 – April 19, 1813
Physician, Politician, Social Reformer, Humanitarian, and Educator
From Byberry, Philadelphia
Served in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Affiliation: Episcopal

“The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty; and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments....We waste so much time and money in punishing crimes, and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity, by means of the Bible; for this divine book, above all others favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws.”

George Whitefield

George Whitefield

December 27, 1714 - September 30, 1770
Evangelist during the First Great Awakening, Founder of an Orphanage in Savannah, GA, Co-Founder with Benjamin Franklin of the University of Pennsylvania and Founding Member of Methodism
From Gloucester, England
Served in England and Colonial America
Affiliation: Methodist
"You may have orthodox heads, and yet you may have the devil in your hearts."

Isaac Backus

Isaac Backus

January 9, 1724 - November 20, 1806
Baptist Preacher who campaigned against state-established churches in New England and helped to found Brown University
From Norwich, Connecticut
Served in Middleborough, Massachusetts
Affiliation: Baptist
"The scheme we oppose evidently tends to destroy the purity and life of religion; for the inspired apostle assures us, that the church is espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ, and is obliged to be subject to him in every thing, as a true wife is to her husband."

Francis of Assisi

Francis of Assisi

October 4, 1181 - October 3, 1226
Founder of the Franciscan Order
From Assisi
Served in Assisi
Affiliation: Catholic
"Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation. Where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice. Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt."