# How did Christians justify slavery back in the day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817 "2003-02-09T03:24:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/21 "2003-02-09T17:38:20Z")
don’t forget, the fight against slavery, certainly in britain, was lead by christains under a church banner in the 1800s ---
**Author:** ![something\_clever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@something\_clever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/something_clever)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/22 "2003-02-09T20:32:44Z")
couldnt you say slavery is still, in a way, alive today…? kind of like anyone in debt to a big corporation like a bank or a cc company is pretty much putty in that corporations hands… if they dont repay that debt in the allotted time, very bad things can and do happen… to repay that debt you have to work really hard and give them all of your money… hehe. of course thats different i guess because no one forces you to use a credit card. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/23 "2003-02-09T21:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by something clever \* > \*\*couldnt you say slavery is still, in a way, alive today…? kind of like anyone in debt to a big corporation like a bank or a cc company is pretty much putty in that corporations hands… if they dont repay that debt in the allotted time, very bad things can and do happen… to repay that debt you have to work really hard and give them all of your money… hehe. of course thats different i guess because no one forces you to use a credit card. \*\* Slavery IS alive and well today, but not in the way you mean. See [This site,](http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0801/ijge/gj05.htm) and this [one.](http://www.iabolish.com/today/report.htm#) This [site says:](http://www.iabolish.com/today/background/worldwide-evil.htm) > [@](#): > > Most people believe slavery no longer exists, but it is still very much alive. From Khartoum to Calcutta, from Brazil to Bangladesh, men, women, and children live and work as slaves or in slave-like conditions. According to the London-based Anti-Slavery International (ASI), the world’s oldest human-rights organization, there are at least 27 million people in bondage. Indeed, there may be more slaves in the world than ever before. > > This fact is generally not known. In part, this is because modern-day slavery does not fit our familiar images of shackles, whips, and auctions. Contemporary forms of human bondage include such practices as forced labor, servile marriage, debt bondage, child labor, and forced prostitution. Modern slaves can be concubines, camel jockeys, or cane cutters. They might weave carpets, build roads, or clear forests. Though the vast majority are no longer sold at public auction, today’s slaves are often no better off than their more familiar predecessors. Indeed, in many cases, their lives are more brutal and hazardous. ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/24 "2003-02-09T21:54:08Z")
FWIW, there’s a good book on this subject by Eugene Genovese entitled **A Consuming Fire: The Fall of the Confederacy in the Mind of the White Christian South**. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/25 "2003-02-09T23:22:46Z")
You also have to remember that some (or even many or most, is my impression) of those slaves being referred to in the NT had sold themselves and possibly their families into slavery to pay off debts. We might call it “indentured servitude”, I think somewhat like the people who worked off their passage to America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Remember that the OT concept of the year of Jubilee also required leased lands and slaves to be released every 50 years, at least if they were Hebrews: Leviticus 25:39 If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. 40 He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God. 44 Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. In my weekly Bible study group, we were just going over the passage in I Peter about slaves, and I think Peter’s point there was that if you find yourself in the position of a slave, and a being a Christian, no one will ever notice anything different about you if you only act in a Godly manner to those who are nice to you. Everyone does that. You’re in a tough spot, but maintaining your attitude even when mistreated is a sign that you’re different. Someone brought up what I thought was a good point: Where would the civil rights movement in America have gotten if it had consisted of busting up lunch counters that had segregation policies? Would the populace at large have responded positively to national riots and bigot lynchings? I seriously doubt it. By maintaining their lawful behavior (except for quietly violating the unjust laws), the protestors gave a far more effective message. I’ve heard also of ranchers in CA being charged with slavery when they went beyond threatening to turn in illegal aliens, and went to locking the gates and physically trapping workers on their land. ---
**Author:** ![MemoryGongs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@MemoryGongs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MemoryGongs)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/26 "2003-02-10T01:22:00Z")
Define “back in the day”? if it was renaissance or the enlightenment, xian scholars would have incorporated Aristotle who defended slavery as natural and just. ---
**Author:** ![1000monkeys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/7cd45c/32.png) [@1000monkeys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1000monkeys)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/27 "2003-02-10T01:34:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve heard also of ranchers in CA being charged with slavery when they went beyond threatening to turn in illegal aliens, and went to locking the gates and physically trapping workers on their land. like Wal-Mart [http://www.westword.com/issues/2002-12-12/feature.html/1/index.html](http://www.westword.com/issues/2002-12-12/feature.html/1/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/28 "2003-02-10T06:43:36Z")
My cousin gives way too much time and effort to Wal-Mart. He told me recently that he’s realized the store manager has no incentive to promote him, because then he won’t be available to run around and put out fires by taking over sub-par departments and turning them around. I told him he needs to find another job, and then inform them that it’s the promotion, in writing, or he’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Mothchunks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Mothchunks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mothchunks)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/29 "2003-02-10T07:45:21Z")
how do the descendants of those slaves come to terms with abandoning the religion of their ancestors and submitting to the religion of their former masters? Abandoning the Religion of your forefathers is bad enough, but to embrace the God of the slavers? Do you think those captives who made the trip in shackles would be proud of their descendants? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/30 "2003-02-10T08:06:11Z")
> [@](#): > > how do the descendants of those slaves come to terms with abandoning the religion of their ancestors and submitting to the religion of their former masters? The slaves were not permitted to continue the practice of their religions. Specific intervention to prevent such worship and the intermixing of people from disparate regions who worshipped differently both were used to eliminate the original beliefs, so it is not as though they had a choice. And, of course, the religion of their slave holders was also the religion of the abolitionists. How do your distant ancestors feel about your less distant ancestors capitulating to that same religion and casting off the old gods? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/31 "2003-02-10T08:10:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > **I’ve read that slave Bibles were carefully edited so that passages like “Let my people go” were deleted.** Do you have a citation for this? The idea that any but a tiny handful of American slaves were literate, and were given Bibles by their masters, sounds very unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Mothchunks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Mothchunks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mothchunks)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/32 "2003-02-10T13:30:45Z")
\>How do your distant ancestors feel about your less distant ancestors capitulating to that same religion and casting off the old gods?\< A moot question, since that didn’t happen; my family is Pagan. ---
**Author:** ![Searching\_For\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Searching\_For\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Searching_For_Truth)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/33 "2003-02-10T13:45:37Z")
I agree with **Walloon**. Sounds very unlikely. > [@](#): > > _“Against the law”_ > \*\*…This fear can be seen in laws that were passed in many southern states. According to research done by Cornelius, legislation passed in Georgia in 1829 mandated ‘fines, whipping, or imprisonment for anyone teaching slaves or free blacks to read or write.’ An 1830 law in Louisiana called for imprisonment of one to 12 months for anyone teaching a slave to read or write. North Carolina passed a law in 1830 to forbid teaching or giving books to slaves; Virginia, Alabama, and South Carolina passed similar restrictions. > > The punishments that some slaveowners meted out upon discovering that some of their slaves could read were indeed gruesome. According to Cornelius, there were cases where slaves who taught others to read were hanged or whipped to death. It was well known among slaves that punishment for being caught reading or writing often followed three steps: The first time a slave was beaten with a cowhide, the next time with a cat-o-nine tails, and the third time the first joint of the forefinger was cut off. There were also cases where toes were cut off instead of fingers. > \*\*[http://www.reading.org/publications/rty/archives/freedom.html](http://www.reading.org/publications/rty/archives/freedom.html) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/34 "2003-02-10T14:06:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by something clever \* > \*\*umm… i could be mistaken… but i swear i remember something in history class about black africans holding slaves, and selling slaves into the slave trade… > > like i said, i could be remembering wrong… but i was pretty sure that “white people” and muslims werent the only people involved in promoting slavery… \*\* You are not mistaken. Africans had slavery just like everyone else. Usually, tribes would raid each other to capture the slaves. When white slave traders arrived, it was easy enough for them to plug into this system. Whites didn’t usually go on raids themselves. I’m not trying to excuse or accuse anybody, BTW, just tell it like it was. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/35 "2003-02-10T16:28:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*Do you have a citation for this? The idea that any but a tiny handful of American slaves were literate, and were given Bibles by their masters, sounds very unlikely. \*\* I remembered it from an American history textbook in my elementary school. Sorry, but after 35 years I can’t remember the title, author, or publisher. The number of literate slaves must have been very small (nevertheless it was nonzero; there exist slave writings, some in Arabic) — but, I guess, the point is there were _preachers_ hired for ministry to the slaves who would make use of the scripture in such a way as to delete anything that could be understood as liberationist. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/36 "2003-02-10T16:31:18Z")
[hijack] > [@](#): > > A moot question, since that didn’t happen; my family is Pagan. Just out of curiousity, **Mothchunks** , where does your family hail from and have they been Pagans going all the way back to antiquity? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/37 "2003-02-10T16:45:54Z")
I’d just like to point out that slavery has been with any large and complex human society since the beginning until the past 200 years or so. A religion that condemned slavery wouldn’t get very far. Everyone condemns it now, but I submit that it’s not because of a greater concern for humanity – I think people would have liberated slaves earlier, but they needed someone to do the grunt work of everyday life. What liberated people was _steam_. It’s no coincidence, I believe, that people began emanicipating slaves shortly after the invention of an efficient steam engine. Slavery in the Southern American States was an anachronism even in its own day. Something to consider as we contemplate our present wars over resources and how to conserve. When someone once asked cartoonist/author/humorist Gahan Wilson what the future power source would be, he cynically answered “Slavery!” ---
**Author:** ![Mothchunks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Mothchunks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mothchunks)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/38 "2003-02-10T19:00:18Z")
History is full of instances wherein a captive people kept their faith alive through that captivity and into their liberation; in fact, their faith may be what gave them the strength to endure it. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817/39 "2003-02-10T20:12:41Z")
> [@](#): > > History is full of instances wherein a captive people kept their faith alive through that captivity and into their liberation; in fact, their faith may be what gave them the strength to endure it. True, _when the people was kept together as a people_. There was, however, no one, great, comprehensive “African” religion to which all the people imported as slaves adhered which they could use to reinforce their beliefs. Instead, they were broken up, mixed among others with different beliefs, and parceled out to individual farmers. The notion of massive plantations of hundreds of slaves living in a colony is propaganda created by post-Civil War Southerners to promote an ideal of the ante-bellum South that never quite existed. There were plantations with large groups of slaves, but the majority of slaves were bought in groups of one or two by small farmers–hardly conducive to keeping alive a religion when your fellow slave had rather different beliefs. Even Judaism is a poor example for what you are claiming. There are a very few instances of Jewish groups remaining “underground” for many generations, but the common practice in abusing Jews was to confine them to _shtetls_ and ghettoes (where their religion _was_ a source of strength) or to exile them from the country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-christians-justify-slavery-back-in-the-day/153817.md?page=1)