I made it 4/5s of the way thru this thread before i saw the same arguments being repated a few times.

GUEST,Steve Baughman - for an interesting take on newton's true influence on the Abolitionist movement in England - watch the admittedly "feel-good" movie called AMAZING GRACE (imagine that!) which is all about Wilberforce and his life's work. Newton may have taken some time to extricate himself from the business of transport of salves. However, his later life as a cleric and his profound influnce an a young William Wilberforce had a direct effect on the latter's tireless committment towards ending slavery in his lifetime.

The film simplifies things yes, but it shows you that it wasn't the writing of Amazing Grace or Newton's dramtaic conversion that led to sneaky round about manuvering that resulted in the defacto abolution of slave trading in the UK - it was his influence on a boy that did it. By the time Wilberforce grew up to get invloved in government, this influence led him to have his own moment ot or two of being so close to God he could feel it and what he grasped in those moments was that his life was to be given over to the work of abolishing the slave trade.

Whether slavery was right or wrong had not been widely and openly debated at that time. it was deemed an economic "necessity" and polite company didn't discuss it. Wilberforce and his colleagues (who were even more radical than he) spent over 20 years forcing the discussion to take place.   

I would suggest that to answer the question for yourself of whether or not Amazing Grace is a moral song necessitates you delving a little deeper into the events and personalities that led to the abolition of slavery within the UK and territories controlled by the UK . I say this because it is only through reading about Newton's relationship with Wilberforce and then about Wilberforces life and struggle to edn slavery that you can grasp the full impact that newton and his song had on the growing recognition that slavery was an evil that could no longer be tolerated.

Watch the movie first for a quick primer - you can get it from netlfix.

Then, choose a good book on Wilberforce and read it.

You won't be sorry - it's a wonderful story that will at times disgust you when you read who was for continuing the salve trade and why. However, it is thrilling because in the end it was the combination of sheer force of will (wilberforce) and political cunning (his allies) that got the deed done. it almost makes you believe that with the right people in office, our own generation can turn things around. (almost but not quite!)