Our discussion Friday regarding African-Americans and
Christianity brought to mind this little tidbit about slavery and Christianity.
The Declaration of Independence reflects Enlightenment ideas of a universal
human nature and social equality. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness.” How could slavery be justified if all men are created equal, and
endowed with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness? Also present at this time were the ideas of capitalism and property
rights, and slave ownership was a property right. The justification for denying these universal
human rights to slaves became the idea, supported by race theories, that some
were naturally inferior to others. This provided a basis for class
distinctions, and a way to reconcile unequal treatment of some with the idea of
universal rights. But that was not the first justification for unequal treatment; it was
Christianity.
Africans were first brought to America in the early
1600’s, but as indentured servants, not slaves.
They were freed when their debts were paid. The use of slavery grew as the need for
agricultural labor grew. Initially the
justification for slavery in spite of Christian theology and the principle of
universal rights was that the Africans were not Christian, and therefore it was
permissible to deny them a natural right to social equality. Slavery was a means for conversion. But as Africans began to become Christians,
this undermined the justification for slavery, and the institution of slavery
itself, because the Christian slaves would be freed. We couldn’t have that,
could we? So the justification shifted to the (asserted) natural inferiority of Africans,
and studies by biologists and anthropologists were developed to show this. Even though science has debunked this idea, it still haunts us today in some quarters of society.
This made me go down a thought rabbit hole and ask the question....if the Bible endorses slavery, is the Bible immoral? So, I began researching that and I found this video, just thought it was interesting so here is the link.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uBqkZ-m3XI
I interested in hearing Jamil on this.
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DeleteYeah, an interesting video. I do appreciate his effort to distinguish Greco Roman slavery from modern slavery, although I'd say that describing the former rather euphemistically as an "economic arrangement" is a deliberate attempt to ease the fact that the Bible doesn't flat out prohibit it. And I can understand the desire to do so. If I claimed a text as the primary resource for my moral reasoning, then I'd likewise want to defend and demonstrate its credibility.
DeleteFrom where I stand, however, the Bible is morally ambiguous if not irredeemable on a number of topics: slavery, women, indigenous rights, rules of military conflict, etc.
If the Bible was treated more like a fundamentally human and amenable document, then perhaps that it is so behind the times on things we now take for granted wouldn't be a big deal. But, you know, divine inspiration and all that.
There's a book I read recently about an older tradition of biblical criticism that did acknowledged the Bible's immorality. I'll find the book and post an excerpt later.
DeleteAn excerpt from Moore and Sherwood's The Invention of the Biblical Scholar (2011):
Delete"Early modern Europeans [as biblical critics] . . . were concerned, above all, with the questions of what [Immanuel] Kant termed moral faith and, conversely, moral unbelief. Moral unbelief became possible when morality was deemed to have sources other than, or in addition to, the Bible, and the Bible viewed in light of the sources appeared, in part at least, to be morally dangerous or regressive. At such points, many eighteenth-century intellectuals reasoned, readers were under an obligation to criticize the Bible" (49-50).
(https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800697747/The-Invention-of-the-Biblical-Scholar-A-Critical-Manifesto)
Thank you for sharing! That is a great excerpt and points out that we should criticize everything, well maybe not criticize...but question everything, so we are not blindly following an immoral practice
Delete"Out of the more than three quarters of a million words in the Bible, Christian slaveholders—and, if asked, most slaveholders would have defined themselves as Christian—had two favorites texts, one from the beginning of the Old Testament and the other from the end of the New Testament..." (I leave you to read and interpret the scripture, I tend not be patient enough for biblical exegesis myself!) - How Christian Slaveholders Used the Bible to Justify Slavery, https://time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/
ReplyDeleteIt is hard for me to entertain the notion that Christianity could be associated with the diminishment of slavery given that the abrahamic god outright endorses slavery and even sets out guidelines for how to beat a slave in the bible.
ReplyDeleteHere is a BBC article that might be some good food for thought on the issue.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/history/slavery_1.shtml
I believe slavery during that time was different than American slavery which is the worst ever seen form of slavery, because even in the bible back in the days before christ servants ate at the tables with their master and even got inheritance when they passed. But in American form of slavery that never happened... quite the opposite actually.
DeleteHow far the whites back in this time will go to prove that slavery was okay was astounding to me and they cant even call themselves Christians or followers of christ because the first command is to love.
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