I'm not religious and never have been so help me understand, why did Christians support slavery and jim crow? (death, racism)
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I am no theologian. But aren't many, perhaps most, religions around the world guilty of massive hypocrisy? Haven't civilizations that were guided by religions all been guilty of massive atrocities at one time or another?
Whether a crusade, jihad, slavery, or a world war, they have all been guilty of crimes against humanity at the same time they advocated love of all mankind.
Not important to the OP. All he/she is focusing on is bashing Christianity and southerners.
There were actually two competing camps within American Christianity regarding how to justify slavery. It was in fact one of the great religious debates of the 18th century. The two groups were called the "Polygenists" and the "Monogenists"
The Monogenists ("one origin") claimed that blacks were being enslaved as a punishment by God resulting from the "Curse of Ham" (more correctly, the "Curse of Canaan") in Genesis 9. Monogenist Christians considered blacks to be of the race of "Ham" or "Hamites," and blamed the curse for the color of their skin and their subservient position to whites.
The Polygenists ("many origin") took a harder line and insisted that blacks were not even human beings, but instead a different species of animal... specifically beasts of the fields as created on the 6th day of Creation Week.
Neither group doubted black inferiority or the morality of slavery. They just had different Biblical rationale for the belief.
Hey, I learned something here today on P&OC. A rare thing indeed.
Slavery had nothing to do with Christian beliefs. It was about money. They felt blacks were like livestock and many times were treated as such. Such slavery existed in this land before USA existed. Remember, African slaves were here when this was a British colony, but it's USA that is regarded as the racist slavery nation despite the fact that slavery is still going on in the Arab Muslim world.
Religion period is used for keeping people, especially certain people, in bondage so that others can have power over them and others can have it easier in life. Worldwide, religion has been used to take away the rights of others, so certain people can have power and has always been that way.
So is government! It isn't religion, or government, or the ideology that's at fault. It's the people, the human nature to be cruel and inhumane. 99.9% of people are good, and religion makes them better. It's the .1% of the population that are truly evil people, and you ignorantly blanket everyone for their sins. Shameful.
So is government! It isn't religion, or government, or the ideology that's at fault. It's the people, the human nature to be cruel and inhumane. 99.9% of people are good, and religion makes them better. It's the .1% of the population that are truly evil people, and you ignorantly blanket everyone for their sins. Shameful.
I don't think religion makes anyone better, to be honest with you. Religion uses morality to impress way too many people around the world, as if their con-game is bigger than that of other tools as well.
You need to study the abolitionists. Many started in churches and were religious people who wanted slavery to end. They were the ones on the front lines fighting against slavery, just like Martin Luther King.
I don't think religion makes anyone better, to be honest with you. Religion uses morality to impress way too many people around the world, as if their con-game is bigger than that of other tools as well.
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Originally Posted by ambient
Because organized religion is and always has been a highly fallible social construct susceptible to use as a means of control over others.
Both of you have a skewed view of religion. ANY organization has a unified goal, therefore, making it fallible. The difference is that most people who are religious actually live what they believe. Do unto others, turn the other cheek, you are your brother's keeper...etc. The problem is that throughout history, zealots have hijacked the meaning of the idea, bending it to achieve their self-serving goals. If their goals are evil, their religion is evil. Jim Jones, Scientology, Heavens Gate, Davidian's...the list goes on and on.
Religion can address life's challenges, or challenge life itself. It all depends which force is actually guiding the participants. Good or evil, Jesus or Satin, right and wrong... simple.
The most religious area of the country is the south and that is the same area where slavery was most abundant. I'm not religious, but from what I understand, being a christian is support to drive your morals, behavior, your entire cultural outlook.
How do you reconcile that with the rampant slavery and jim crow era all the way up until it was legally struck down? The whole thing doesn't make sense and makes me understand religion, or the role religion plays in peoples lives even less.
What makes you think they did?
Don't bother trying to make sense of it. It's clear you don't want to understand and will be critical of other people and their need for or role in religion.
The big thing that most folks (especially those that call themselves Christians) seem to understand is that Christianity is a way of life, not a religion. Religion is a man made creation and like all things created by man is flawed and can be used for good or for evil.
As to way so many people claiming to be Christians had no problem with slavery and/or Jim Crow laws was that they were told by folks in their churches that it was okay. Just like today, most folks seem to have no trouble turning off their conscience by simply saying "Well, since they said it was okay...."
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