Yoruba Religion

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

The rituals that these religions perform are different but are all done to reach closeness or get direction from their god or gods. One of the Yoruba’s religions rituals is divination. A diviner does this ritual and is a priest that must be trained for years. Divination is a process where the future of and individual is revealed. Throughout the other rituals that are preformed in this religion a priest must be there to oversee the ritual. During rituals in the religion of Christianity priest are also

African slaves were brought to America from many tribes and they brought with them a variety of beliefs and practices. In some ways, the religion that many West Africans practiced bears a striking resemble to the practices of Christianity and Judaism. There are however several differences that make it clear that it is its own separate faith. On the plantations in America slaves were taught a “modify” version of Christianity so that they would obey their masters, and often times slaves would hold their own services. Other slaves believed in and practice what was called “conjuration” along with Christianity.

African firmly believes that there is a living communion or bond of life which makes for solidarity among members of the same family. Before Christianity, Africans did have their own system of salvation. In traditional religions, salvation can and does take the form of courage to face the reality of morality. The church was looked art as a place for political activity, a source of economic cooperation, an agency of social control, and a refuge in a hostile white world. Slaves worshiped with great enthusiasm. Religion, after all, provided a ready refuge from their daily miseries and kindled the hope that one day their sorrows might end. Planter's actually encouraged religious observances among their slaves hoping that exposure to Christian precepts might make their laborers more docile, less prone to run away, and more cooperative and efficient workers. But slaves turned biblical scriptures to their own purposes forging a theology that often emphasized the theme of liberation. It was easy for them to see, for example, in the figure of Moses a useful model for their own dreams; like the Israelites, they too were ready to cross a River Jordan into a promised land of freedom. The religious services held in the quarters provided slaves with so many positive experiences that, even as they were being exploited, they managed bravely, but perhaps not too surprisingly, to feel that they were free within themselves. In this way slaves began to achieve a degree of liberation well

Religion if first in Yoruba culture, however, it is the thought of man that actually leads spiritual consciousness of religion. Anyone can make up a religion. It is believed that most religions were created by mankind.

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

To start with, white southern slave owners used religion to justify slavery (Arguments and Justifications). Slave owners believed that God wanted slavery to happen and in turn, they would convert to Christianity. Many a times, this would make the owners more tyrannical. For example, look at Mr. and Mrs. Auld. Initially, they were kind people who had never owned any slaves; however, once they converted to Christianity, the two of them became vicious in their new treatment towards Frederick Douglass (Narrative of the). Whites in the south, who sought out Christianity, were more than likely to become true southern slave

They thought God not only was speaking to the white people, but He was also speaking to the ex-slaves. “…the Spirit had spoken to her and that she was not Isabella any longer, but Sojourner. And so the world would come to know her as the ex-slave Sojourner Truth” (Johnson 179). There were multiple people who, through this time, decided that they were going to change who they were because God spoke to them and told them to change. These new ideas about religion changed the way a lot of people lived their

Slaves lived in constant danger and fear. Their lives were very difficult, and American laws didn't protect enslaved families. The textbook states on page 433, "If a father or mother were sold away, an aunt, uncle, or close friend could raise the children left behind". In slaves' marriage ceremonies they included the phrase "until death or separation do us apart" knowing that there was a chance that one spouse could be sold away. They made a network of family and friends as their extended family in case a spouse was sold away. Slaves saw Christianity as a religion of hope and resistance. The textbook states on page 433, "They prayed fervently for the day when they would be free from bondage". Full of hope, African Americans prayed that they would be freed from slavery.

One of the first things that attracted the African American slaves to Christianity was a way of obtaining the salvation of theirs souls based on the Christian’s idea of a future reward in heaven or punishment in hell, which did not exist in their primary religion. The religious principles inherited from Africa sought purely physical salvation and excluded the salvation of the soul. However, they did believe in one supreme God, which made it easier for them to assimilate Christianity.

In the First Great Awakening, they had brought Christianity to the African slaves. An example of this is Nat Turner’s Rebellion. Nat Turner’s Rebellion resulted in the growth

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.

The African slaves finally found some type of way to understanding in the foreign language and the religion services conducted by Methodist and Baptist ministers.  Although these ministers educating slaves on their Christianity believes, many of the slaves wanted to go to the services to save their souls. This  religions brought forth great believes in Christianity on the African slaves. The number of African slaves that practice Christianity had double do to the numbers of slaves wanted to be saved. Tho  the rise in Africans slaves practicing religion, the owners still did not like it because it was not under their