Slavery and Christianity Much of our American history has been based off of religion, and slavery is no different in that aspect. The abolitionists in the North argued that slavery was sinful and un-Christian. They argued that slavery contradicted the nation’s republican principles as embodied in the Declaration of Independence, of which “all men are created equal.” However, those in the South that endorsed and supported slavery proclaimed that slavery benefitted the slaves by “rescuing the Africans from the so-called barbarism of Africa and exposing them to “civilization” and Christianity” (Keene, Cornell, O’Donnell 364). In “Competing Visions: Slavery and Christianity” we are able to understand how Christianity played into slavery from two
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Douglass escaped slavery at the age of twenty. When he wrote his autobiography at the age of twenty-six, the frequent whippings, harsh labor and cruelty of his masters were fresh in his mind. Douglass was a God fearing man, but in his autobiography, he attacks the hypocrisy of the white Americans. He states that he loves the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ, but therefore, he hates the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of the land. Douglass states that there are men-stealers as ministers of the church, women-whippers as missionaries, and cradle-plunderers in the congression. Some of his examples include details of the men that wield the blood-clotted whip during the week, that fill the pulpit on Sundays, claiming to be followers of Jesus; or the man that robs him of his earnings each week, but meets him as the class-leader on Sunday morning, determined to show Douglass the way of life, or the path to salvation. Douglass continues to show the hypocrisy by explaining that these men proclaim that it is his religious duty to read the Bible, but yet they continue to deny him his right to learn to read; these same men defend the sacredness of family, but yet they are the ones that sell and scatter families, separating husband and wife, brothers and sisters, and parents and children. In this eye-opening statement, Douglass draws attention to the slave traders and owners that, as long as they are contributing to the church on Sunday, it seems as if their un-Christian ways are overlooked and
Douglass escaped slavery at the age of twenty. When he wrote his autobiography at the age of twenty-six, the frequent whippings, harsh labor and cruelty of his masters were fresh in his mind. Douglass was a God fearing man, but in his autobiography, he attacks the hypocrisy of the white Americans. He states that he loves the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ, but therefore, he hates the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of the land. Douglass states that there are men-stealers as ministers of the church, women-whippers as missionaries, and cradle-plunderers in the congression. Some of his examples include details of the men that wield the blood-clotted whip during the week, that fill the pulpit on Sundays, claiming to be followers of Jesus; or the man that robs him of his earnings each week, but meets him as the class-leader on Sunday morning, determined to show Douglass the way of life, or the path to salvation. Douglass continues to show the hypocrisy by explaining that these men proclaim that it is his religious duty to read the Bible, but yet they continue to deny him his right to learn to read; these same men defend the sacredness of family, but yet they are the ones that sell and scatter families, separating husband and wife, brothers and sisters, and parents and children. In this eye-opening statement, Douglass draws attention to the slave traders and owners that, as long as they are contributing to the church on Sunday, it seems as if their un-Christian ways are overlooked and