How Did Christianity Play In The Transatlantic Slave Trade

According to religoustolerence.org, over 30% of the human population is Christian. Christianity and religion in general has shaped the development of many civilizations in history. Many rulers claimed to have been bestowed the authority to rule by their deities while others went as far as to call themselves deities. Christianity has also had a strong influence on Western culture and is now practiced by people from all around the wall. Christianity most likely had a strong influence on Early Colonial America’s development.

Through out the entire time period of slavery, religion remained a high priority and a way in which to label different social groups. The lack or complete non-existence of religion among Africans led to them being viewed as somewhat inferior. Later in the second chapter Jordan talks about how during the slave era religion distinguished whites from blacks. Also how classification changed once Africans began to enter the Christian church. He himself viewed this type of labeling somewhat ridiculous, in that many of the Africans were baptized before the came to the New World. Thus they in many circles would be identified as Christians. This important information helps show the reader how the justifications for slavery evolved. Jordan captures the utter and blatant hypocrisy that the colonies exuded with regards to the slave situation. Jordan also sees religious injustice within the treatment of Indians and Africans. The English made attempts to convert the Indians and had little desire or intention to do the same for Africans. This again shows to what lengths early Americans went in creating a subculture for the purpose of slavery.

Europeans, after the rise of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, vindicated the enslaving of Africans by depending on religious authority because they supposedly followed God’s will (notes). According to Pope Nicholas V, the African enslavement has helped the Catholic Church (source A). In a 1455 letter, he wrote, “... A large number of these have been converted to the Catholic faith…” (source A). The quote suggests the pontiff held a positive outlook on slavery, but he only supported it for the conversion of the slaves (notes). Over 100 years later, a letter surfaced from Jesuit Brother Luis Bandaon to Father Sandoval that read he and other educated Fathers from Brazil support slavery for the purpose of more conversions and labor (source B and

Sewall had four objections or proofs as to why slavery is not acceptable. In his first objection he refers to Exedous 9:20-27 which tells of a curse by Moses that was placed upon Canaan and Ham’s sons. Noah exclaimed “a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren!” Sewell tries to disprove the belief that if African Americans were truly descendants of Canaan then their slavery was God ordained. He states that “it is possible that by crust reading, this Text may have been mistaken” (Sewall, The Selling of Joseph, 222). Sewell hints that African Americans may actually not be direct desendants of Canaan so therefore the curse of slavery was not a commandment from the Lord.

Any knowledgeable man of the bible realizes that it does indeed refer to slavery and the justification of it numerous times. Jacobs writes that the “[plantation owners] seem to satisfy their consciences with the doctrine that God created the Africans to be slaves” (44). She continues by quoting the Bible, stating “What a libel upon the heavenly Father, who ‘made of one blood all nations of men!’” (44). This statement says that all men are equal, although other verses directly contest it.

Louis de Jaucourt stated that "masters who acquired new slaves were obligated by law them instructed in the Catholic faith." In return, this had convinced Louis XIII to "authorize this horrid commerce in human flesh." This practice was only used to simply boost the number of Catholics in the world. DDenis Diderot, a philosophe, asks "Why did the Christian powers not consider that their religion was fundamentally opposed to black slavery?" He answers this in saying that the nations that condone slavery "needed slaves for their colonies, plantations, and mines." The unfortunate blending of slavery and a nation's economy creates an unstable situation of morals and

Today, many American’s are very prideful of being part of a Country that not only portrays, but also truly offer an abundance of opportunities for education, careers, housing, for many immigrants’ jobs, and most importantly Freedom. Currently the American motto is that there are no impossibilities, work hard to achieve highest potential and failure is not a negative innuendo, but a mark of the imprints of success. Nevertheless, as one researches and studies American history the stroll down memory lane is sad and disappointing. Use The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database website (http://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/search)1 take a stroll into the past during 1607-1808 the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade slaves took the place of what we call today America’s industry workforce. Unfortunately, during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade the slaves did not have a choice, mistreated and stripped of their rights and dignity, dehumanized, and all for the purpose of commercialism competitiveness and industrial prosperity. As shown on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, during 1607-1808, the total number of slaves embarked on voyages to the Mainland North America was 360,999; however, these slaves experienced the highest form of cruelty and uncaring treatment

“It should not be possible to treat a slave with Christian fairness and instruct him in the Christian faith as a just substitute for his pagan practices, without mollifying the relationship between master and slave. It has to be. Otherwise Christianity would not be able to spread. Otherwise the African would be deemed our equal simply because he shared out faith in one God and the Afterlife. We both know of the above to be false because of the evidence of how Africans live in their Primitive Land.” (p.111)

The first mention of slavery in the Bible is found in Noah's declaration, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers" (Gen. 9:25). He said this after waking up from a naked, drunken stupor and learning that his son Ham had mocked him. Although Ham was the guilty party, Noah's statement was directed at Ham's youngest son Canaan. If he was involved with his father in this act of disrespect, the statement can be taken as the pronouncement of a curse, "Cursed be Canaan." It is possible, however, that Canaan did not join his father in making fun of Noah. If so, the statement would be in the form of a prophecy: "Cursed will be Canaan." Exodus 20:5 and Ezekiel 18:4 clearly declare that God punishes

his side helps secure the notion that the possibility of a future could be sought and

During the early makings of the United States, colonialist heavily relied on slave labor, particularly African slave labor. The introduction of African slave labor in the economy was seen as more efficient than indentured servitude and due to their naturally darker skin tones African slaves were easily marked, which, lead to racial discrepancies about how slaves should be treated and handled. Colonialist often used the Bible to support their opinions of slavery since rules on governing slavery can be found in both the Old and New Testaments of the bible and white slave masters often cited biblical references to justify slavery as an institution. One argument that white colonialist often used to defend the enslavement of African people came from the 15th century, Ibn Khaldun’s curse theory, which states that “Negroes were the children of Ham, the son of Noah, and that they were signaled out to be black as the result of Noah’s curse, which produced Ham’s colour and the slavery, God inflicted on his descendants. The direct result Khaldun’s medieval theory laid the foundation for racist concepts in society for the following centuries, and helped white slave owners justify the use of African slaves. From 1619-1810, Slave traders continued to import African slaves to the United States, but the relationship between slaves and Christianity would remain estranged until the late 18th century. In this essay I will examine the common biblical justification and social control associated

The way that slavery is spoken about in the bible makes it seem that the bible approves of slavery, when read in the literal meaning. Slavery was practiced all throughout the world, Noah cursed Canaan the son of Ham “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth” (Genesis 9:25-27). The Africans were thought to be descendants of Canaan and were supposed to be “servants of servants” (Morrison, 1980). In Larry R. Morrison’s article it stated “Jews would be exterminated as a nation and dispersed over the earth, but would be restored. However, nowhere in the Bible was there a prophecy which removed the curse of slavery from the descendants of Ham and Canaan” (Morrison, 1980). Evangelical scholars from the slave holding southern United Stated who were against the release of slaves came up with a comprehensive and well-known “biblical theology”

Christianity provided African American slaves with hope, because although they were suffering as merely human instruments of work, God was watching them and all of theirs suffering would be rewarded by him. “Slavery, with all its

The book’s first chapter, “The Meaning of Slave Religion”, explores how the conversion of African slaves in the British colonies of North America to Christianity became an

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.