Christian Church Research Paper

Ever since it’s creation the christian church had an impact on most all communities that it has been apart of, either good or bad. The church has been a launching pad for world changers, revolutionaries, equal rights activist, politicians, and even slave owners. During the time of legalized slavery throughout the United States, slaveowners were frequently christian and used the bible to justify their actions. Although almost every modern branch of christianity believes that slavery is immoral, many church goers of the the pre-civil war America did not. The church’s power and influence was a powerful force that was misused to bring tyranny to many African American slaves. The basis of the pro-slavery argument came from a saying that became known as “the curse of Ham”. Ham was one of Noah’s sons in the book of Genesis, and according to the story God saved 8 people and lots of animals from a flood that wiped out the rest of life forms on earth. Later in the story Ham accidentally spots Noah, his father, naked and drunk which is incredibly disrespectful in the Jewish faith. Ham’s brothers proceed to bring Noah some clothes and eventually Noah falls asleep. He wakes up shortly afterward, and realizes exactly what has occurred. Ham then gets cursed to be a slave for the remainder of his life. …show more content…
In fact this was not even nearly the first example of someone using poor justification for slavery, it was a regular occurrence. Americans have tried to justify slavery by saying several things: it is the white man's burden to take care of Africans, slaves are biologically different, and even going to the extent of using pseudo phrenology and claiming that the bumps of the skulls of slaves were different. People were simply looking for any and all possible ways that they could make slavery look completely justifiable, and to them the bible was not out of the