There is a long history in America of religious voices speaking out for societal improvement and reform within the context of the Judeo-Christian faith tradition.
In the years before the Civil War, Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister in Boston, often preached to congregations of more than 2,000 people. They came to hear him oppose the Fugitive Slave Act and advocate for abolition. Parker also wrote, and preached, in favor of temperance, women’s rights, penal reform and society’s responsibility to improve the condition of the poor.
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