How Religion Can Be Used To Write An Essay On Catechism

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.

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,

For almost eight decades, enslaved African-Americans living in the Antebellum South, achieved their freedom in various ways—one being religion—before the demise of the institution of slavery. It was “freedom, rather than slavery, [that] proved the greatest force for conversion among African Americans in the South” (94). Starting with the Great Awakening and continuing long after the abolition of slavery, after decades of debate, scholars conceptualized the importance of religion for enslaved African-Americans as a means of escaping the brutalities of daily life. Overall, Christianity helped enslaved African American resist the degradation

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

Nat Turner was an African American slave who was born in Southampton County, Virginia on October 2, 1800. He started working on southern plantations 1831. When he was younger, everyone thought of him as being very smart. They saw that he was smart when he was about 3 or 4 years old. While young Nat Turner was playing with some of his friends, his mother heard him tell the children about something that had happened to him when he was born. She later had asked him about what he told the children. She asked him details about the incident, and it confirmed that he knew about this past event. From that time on, other slaves believed that in addition to his unique view, his physical markings were a sign that he would be a prophet.

Slave owners used Christianity as an excuse for the awful ways they treated their slaves. Christianity played a major role on the increase of brutality and violence that spirited the slave owners. The scriptures in the Bible were twisted in the eyes of slave owners to how they wanted to interpret them. Douglass had a powerful experience with one of his masters, Thomas Auld. Mr. Auld was not a religious person and treated the slaves very poorly. In August 1832, Auld attended a Methodist camp meeting and that marked the day when he became religious, and suddenly even more cruel. “Prior to his conversion, he relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage barbarity; but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty.” After becoming religious, Auld uses scripture to justify his cruelty. Douglass thought that with discovering religion and using it, Auld would become more polite as how Douglass viewed Christianity. Unfortunately that was not the case. Auld justifies that being affiliated with religion would not change a person for the better. Being a slave, Douglass found that slave owners found religious sanction for their cruelty. “He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.", was what a slave owner had said to justify why he beat

But he was raised as someone owned and not free. He saw killings and hangings of his people, friends, and family. Turner had thought that it was the whites fault. Which in actuality it was. He did know some whites were nice and did not do anything. But he knew most were cruel and deserved what was coming to them. So, to look at his future you get an idea why he did what he did. In two days he murdered many people and the rebellion was done for that part but would continue. From all information and assumptions made from and for Nat Turner I would say that he is most definitely the leader and general of the Rebellion known as Nats Rebellion.

Christianity was new to most slaves who had been abducted from their native country and taken to the Americas. Some were hesitant to abandon their old traditions for the Christ their white captors taught of, but after several generations of slavery, most black slaves had succumbed to relentless preaching. However, the Christianity that took hold within the slave community was often interpreted differently, conveying different messages to pockets of slave population. The use of Christianity in slavery was a double edged sword, creating not only a tool for control, but a weapon of discontent in slave communities. Examining the works of Richard Allen and the stories of Nat Turner, create a narrative of how Christianity was applied differently to slaves.

Nat Turner was born into slavery in Virginia in october of 1800. He believed that he was chosen by God to help lead slaves to freedom. In late august in 1831 he led one of the bloodiest slave rebellions in history. This caused the end of the emancipation movement and harsher laws on the slaves. When he was a young boy, people thought he had a rare gift, as he could describe things in detail that happened before his birth, some remarked he would be a prophet according to his confession. His confession also states that his mother and grandmother told him that he was “intended for some great purpose” they raised him very religious and he spent a lot of his time reading the bible and praying. When he believes he got his “sign” from God, while working

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

A spiritual journey dominates these songs, but the concern for physical freedom is there as well. The most pervasive image in the spirituals is that of the chosen people for the slaves believed that they had been chosen by God just as the Israelites had. They also believed that they understood better than anyone what freedom truly meant in both a spiritual and physical sense. The Old Testament characters that the slaves referred to in their songs experienced deliverance by God. The slaves believed that the same God that had granted them spiritual freedom would someday loose the chains of slavery. The wonderful flexibility of the spirituals allowed for that double meaning of freedom. For example, Frederick Douglass claimed that the line” I am bound for Canaan” in one of the songs he frequently sang meant that he was going North, not just that he would experience the freedom of the promised land in a spiritual sense. The flexibility and multiplicity of meanings also allowed for slaves to use these sacred songs as secret communication. Some songs, such as “Steal Away to Jesus,” were used to call a secret meeting where the people could worship without the supervision of the whites. Other songs, such as “Wade in the Water” served as coded directions for runaway slaves. With the eventual emancipation of the slaves, religious music of African Americans became prominently

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.

Augustine also says “There are many wicked masters who have religious men as their slaves, and who are yet themselves in bondage” (Ebenstein 114). This can be applied to when slave masters enslaved the blacks because in those times African American people were very dependent upon religion because of their standings in life, so

Since the beginning of time to today authors have used religion as a common theme in their writings. It is considered an elusive force, which means something different to everybody. In literature, the central theme religion usually creates the main character in the novel. Religion does not change characters but help them find a higher power spiritually or perhaps to cope with deeper issues. It reveals the true identity of characters personalities and if there the hypocrite of society. In the various novels “The Portrait as a Young Man”, “ Candide”, “ Crime and Punishment” and “ Native Son” the authors use the common theme religion to change and form the main characters of their novel by changing society, themselves and their religious