ABSTRACT
From the Hebrew prophets, through Jesus to Mohammed, religious leaders have always linked spiritual progress with social change. The fight against poverty, disease, social injustice and economic inequalities as practised and preached by Jesus, for example, is an explicitly political agenda. It is right that churches should continue to take political stands. There is no such thing as ‘private’ morality or religion-these are inherently social phenomena. [2] Religion has had a progressive role in society through history and retains it today. The first attack on the divine right of kings can be found in the Book of Kings in the Bible. Slavery was first prohibited by Jewish religious leaders 2,500 years before Lord Wilberforce. From Martin Luther King to the Beveridge Report, it has been religion that has inspired society’s betterment.
