Passion for Justice – Rev Dr Rutherford Waddell

Written By Guest User

A story from our NZ Presbyterian history focussing on the Rev Dr Rutherford Waddell whose passion for justice in his Dunedin community in the late 1800’s had a nationwide impact.

Thanks to the Presbyterian Church Schools’ Resource office, whose web-site holds this story as part of their Presbyterian Shapers series. Along with the stories, there are resources for students to explore the themes of Shapers in more depth. Also with acknowledgment to Rev Dr Allan Davidson for his 2012 sermon ‘Passion for Justice’.

 

A Minister with a Mission

The Rev Dr Rutherford Waddell, minister of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Dunedin for forty years (1879–1919), was an innovative and creative leader with a passion for social justice and strong Christian principles. His leadership was particularly outstanding in his fight against “the sweating system”. This practice involved the exploitation of piece workers for “starvation wages”.

“In Dunedin…wages were being earned that were totally inadequate to keep
body and soul together….In this city women were sewing moleskin trousers
…from 8am till 11pm and they were only able to make 2s a day.”

 

The Sin of Cheapness

In 1888, he preached on “The Sin of Cheapness” in which he accused the church throughout the world of being preoccupied with the “moral and spiritual welfare of people” but failing to show more interest in their social welfare. The working classes “did not go to church on Sunday because the capitalists prayed for them on Sundays and preyed upon them during the other six days of the week.” The ‘sin of cheapness’ resulted, Waddell claimed, because people desired bargains “that were produced at the cost of the life, prosperity, and happiness of hundreds and thousands of working men and women”.

Waddell’s proposed alternative involved “profit-sharing and co-operation” and the upholding of “the laws of Christ as the laws of commercial and social as well as of religious life.”

Many in the church found this too challenging and instead believed it was a matter of individual responsibility and the church should work to change individuals rather than structures and systems.

 

Turning Conviction into Change

The Liberal Government elected in 1890 heeded the call of Waddell and others. They set up the Labour Department to regulate the workplace and in 1894 passed the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act which recognised workers’ bargaining rights.

Waddell had an enviable ability to take Christian conviction from the pulpit where words can be cheap out into the public arena where action can be costly. He moved from idea to action, a skill and courage the church has never been overly blessed with. His work within the Tailoresses’ Trade Union and on the government appointed Sweating Commission was appropriate for a minister of the gospel. Without taking anything away from his achievement we might say he was simply acting out the implications of his ordination as a minister or servant of the Gospel.

 

A Servant of the Kingdom

Waddell understood himself to be a servant of the Kingdom of God embodied in the ministry of Jesus. It’s a Kingdom or rule that’s larger and more extensive than the boundaries of the church and the comfort of its members. The dream of a world shaped by God’s loving purposes was the background music to all Jesus did and said and Rutherford Waddell, within the limits of human frailty, sought to live within the same dream.

 
“The ‘sin of cheapness’ resulted because people desired bargains that were produced at the cost of the life, prosperity, and happiness of hundreds and thousands of working men and women.”
— Rutherford Waddell
 

Rev Dr Rutherford Waddell at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Dunedin where he was minister for more than 40 years.

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