“After 25 years in the battle, I am also appalled at the complacency in the evangelical church and the “colonizationist” mindset that is dominant in dealing with this all-important issue.”

One of the most significant internal struggles of a movement occurred over a century and a half ago as the anti-slavery movement evolved from a sleepy crawl to a full sprint.

Much like the debate raging over the illegal-immigration crisis of today, tensions developed between the “gradualists” and the “immediatists.”

All were anti-slavery, but there were distinctives both in principle and in strategy. The American Colonization Society “… since 1817 been promoting a polite form of antislavery … gradual emancipation – solely at the discretion of the slaveholder. …” (“Arguing About Slavery,” Miller)
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On the other side of the ring, launched in 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society came out swinging against such gradualism. Their fervor was birthed in the Second Great Awakening, and their zeal was grounded in a moral outrage that not only the institution but its premise of “black inferiority” violated basic principles of both Christianity and its protégé, the Declaration of Independence.
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This tension has existed in essentially every major social movement throughout our young history, including Prohibition and the civil-rights and pro-life movements. Some say to take it slow, cautiously and diplomatically; others assert that an evil cannot be given quarter and must be eradicated NOW.

As a form of confession, I am an “immediatist” by nature, particularly in regards to the sanctity of life from conception until natural death. Abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, eugenics, etc. are vile, evil and have no place in a civilized nation, let alone one that claims to be founded in Judeo-Christian principles.

Dave Welch is the founder and executive director of the U.S. Pastor Council and Houston Area Pastor Council, interdenominational and interracial ministries of and for pastors based in Houston, Texas.
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