Politics matter

Cover story | Wilberforce may have kept White House aide Jay Hein off the putting green | Russ Pulliam

Without the example of abolitionist William Wilberforce, White House policy aide Jay Hein likely would have been a pro golfer. Or perhaps a pastor.

Instead, the life story of Wilberforce prompted a shift in calling to his real passion of public policy. Now head of the White House Office for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Hein discovered Wilberforce as a college student in Illinois.

Hein's own dilemma was similar to that of Wilberforce, the British leader for abolition of slavery in the 18th century whose conversion to Christ made him think he should leave Parliament for the pastorate. But ex--slave trader John Newton, an influential evangelical London pastor, advised Wilberforce to remain in Parliament.