Family and Church Essay

In the United States there was a heated debate about the morality of slavery. Supporters of slavery in the 18th century used legal, economic, and religious arguments to defend slavery. They were able to do so effectively because all three of these reasons provide ample support of the peculiar institution that was so vital to the South.

The Bible’s verses concerning slavery contradict other verses in several places when discussing slavery and the treatment of slaves. Ephesians 6:5-9 instructs masters to “give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Galatians 3:28 states that “[T]here is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Again, the Bible illustrates that slaves were equal to all others, stating “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, … whether we be bond of free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” Abolitionists undoubtedly used these quotes in order to put an end to slavery.

The slave owner’s exploitation of the black woman’s sexuality was one of the most significant factors differentiating the experience of slavery for males and females. The white man’s claim to the slave body, male as well as female, was inherent in the concept of the Slave Trade and was tangibly realized perhaps no where more than the auction block. Captive Africans were stripped of their clothing, oiled down, and poked and prodded by potential buyers. The erotic undertones of such scenes were particularly pronounced in the case of black women. Throughout the period of slavery in America, white society believed black women to be innately lustful beings. The perception of the African woman as hyper-sexual made her both the object of white man’s abhorrence and his fantasy. Within the bonds of slavery, masters often felt it was their right to engage in sexual activity with black women. Sometimes, female slaves made advances hoping that such relationships would increase the chances that they or their children would be liberated by the master. Most of the time, slave owners took slaves by force.

This leads to a major issue within the slave community. Slaves possess little knowledge of life outside the plantation or house in which they are working at. This means they have no idea how humans are supposed to be treated, and rather that a “god” would never allow for another to be beaten in such severity. This is an advantage that the slave owners held over the actual slaves. If the slaves were to gain an understanding of the world around them, the “religious” quotes recited by slave owners would quickly lose their worth and soon mean nothing as well as hold no influence over the slaves. Frederick Douglas was fortunate enough to understand this, and even addressed the issue in his life story, “What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference- so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked(71).” Douglas understands that the Christianity practiced by the slave owners was far different from the Christianity intended by Jesus Christ. As Douglas referred to it, the “Slaveholding religion” was prominent throughout the slavery era, not only was this damaging for the slaves,

Along with the division between rural and urban plantation missions, in the 1830s and 1840s, concern arose among Southern churchmen after acknowledging that multitudes of districts in the Southwest had churches that could not contain even “one-tenth of the Negro populations; besides others in which there are no churches at all”. The fact that nearly all Southwestern slave states lacked Christian institutions before plantation missions meant that religion played little to no role in the lives of the majority of slaves residing within these boundaries. Even after missionaries brought the gospel to both rural and urban slaves at home, the prevalence of plantations missions varied from state to state. This deviation shaped the role of religion in the lives of black slaves depending on which state they lived and worked in. Although missionaries urged all slaveholders to actively participate in catechizing their slaves, since the plantation mission movement geographically centered in lowland South Carolina and Georgia masters and

Religion played a rather small but significant role in the slave community. The film talked of how slaves would gather on Sunday's in the woods where they would have secret religious meetings. They would pray, sing songs and create an uplifting attitude that would give them hope and often encourage them to make it through another day. Slave owners were uneasy at the idea of these meetings. They saw these meetings as chances for slaves to congregate and plan to escape. They also didn't like the bible being taught to slaves because they were afraid that the bible might encourage slaves to realize they were being oppressed and inspire them to revolt. In David Walker's Appeal he talks of precisely what the slave owners where fearful of. He discusses how slaves are treated far worse than any other people in history, how no where in the bible before has anyone ever been treated and thought of as not apart of the human race and he even tells slaves

A majority of southern slaveholders took part in sexual relations with their slaves because it was their property and they felt should be able to do whatever they wanted to do with it. This idea of the slaveholder was an evil example of the condition of slavery and how it was such a necessity that it be abolished. The total disrespect by slaveholders towards the slave families is overwhelmingly sinful. How could one person be so oblivious to the wickedness of their actions to their families of slaves by impregnating their women and separating them from each other? The shear absence of any respect for Africans or mankind in general, makes those certain slaveholders the worst humans on this earth.

Religious justifications played a significant function in the intellectual maintenance and creation of racial hierarchies’ construction. According to Finkelman, the religious defenses of slavery fit together with the White’s assumption about race. Ministers from the South all agreed that only Slavery could impose Christian morality upon the Blacks. In addition, they urged Masters to respect marriages between slaves by avoiding sexual exploitation of their slaves. In this way, Southerners justified slavery as an institution, which proved beneficial to slaves due to the generous and humane side based on Christianity.

The movement to eliminate slavery in the United States during the antebellum years was difficult and did not go unchallenged as there were many people who were pro-slavery while others were anti-slavery. Before the Civil War there was debate over the issue of slavery. Slaves were considered property, and were property because they were black. Many people in the South were strong advocates of slavery, while people in the North were opposed to it. In the South, slavery was a social and powerful economic institution. During this period in the south Pro-Slavery activists did not empathize with the system and conditions the

Many slaveholders opposed the idea of slaves converting into Christianity. They feared that with conversion, slaves would acquire education and notions of equality and consequently demand the same human rights as the white free man. In order to keep the bondage, slaves had to be kept ignorant and many slave owners would do their best to keep the slaves the way they

Southern slaveowners claimed that they were upholding their Christian duty by engaging in slavery, rescuing slaves from a life of struggle and

It can be assumed that Christianity shaped slave culture in several ways such as developing a common bond among slaves. At the some time, it could also be argued that slavery altered Christianity in various ways including the formation of Methodist and Baptist denominations. However, these were not the only manners in which both cultures had an effect on each other. Black converts dramatically increased the number of Christians in the New World. The ideas instilled in slaves by Christianity gave some slaves thoughts of rebellion and influenced African-American music and dance. Not to mention the church was a major supporter of the proslavery argument which conveyed slavery as a positive thing during the

One of the main reasons masters did not want their slaves to become Christians involved the Bible. This was one reason why many plantation owners tried very hard to stop their slaves from becoming literate. If they learned to read it would become a threat to their religion. In the South, African American people were not normally allowed to go to church services. African American people in the North were actually allowed to attend church services. Drums, which were played in traditional religious ceremonies, where not allowed due to overseers scared that they would use them to encode messages.

Long before their contact with whites, Africans were a strongly religious, and deeply spiritual people. During the early history of slavery, the African American spirituality was often seen by whites as a pagan faith. These rituals and dogmas were seen by whites as Voodoo, Hoodoo, Witchcraft, and superstitions. They often commented on these "pagan practices," and fetishes, and were threatened by them. As a result, great effort was put on eradicating these practices, and many were lost within a generation.# Although tremendous efforts was placed on eradicating the “superstitious” religious beliefs of the African slaves, they were not immediately introduced to the religion of white slave masters, Christianity. Many planters resisted the idea of converting slaves to Christianity out of a fear that baptism would change a slave's legal status. The black population was generally untouched by Christianity until the religious revivals of the 1730s and 1740s. The Bible was manipulated to support the institution of slavery and its inhumane practices. Christianity was used to suppress and conform slaves. Slaveholders, priests, and those tied to the Church undermined the beliefs of the millions of African-Americans converts.# White Christianity was used to justify the enslavement of blacks. By the early nineteenth century, slaveholders had adopted the view that Christianity would make slaves more submissive and orderly.

Due to having to read the scripture, the slaves would begin mistering others. Morally speaking, slaves could marry each other because owners did not want their slaves to be fornicating with one another, so they allowed religious unions. Fornicating is having sex without being married. It was considered a sin. In terms of economically, masters wanted as many children as possible because they produced capital which is good business for the slave owners. Socially speaking, marriage was considered a social event that binds a mans and woman’s love together. Once a family is created you can’t leave it and be with impunity.