Religion
In reply to the discussion: Why Did So Many Christians Support Slavery? [View all]raging moderate
(4,305 posts)Last edited Fri May 4, 2018, 10:24 AM - Edit history (2)
A few years back, I was gratified to read that the KKK people are still boiling mad at my Methodist Episcopal preacher ancestors. I don't care that they didn't leave us any money or property. That heritage means more to me than any diamond or trust fund ever could have. Thank you, Lewis Cooley and Charles Wyatt! I am not trained in this, but I do remember some of their thoughts. Let's see. "Thou shalt remember that thy ancestors were strangers...were slaves in Egypt...thou shalt not oppress strangers (or slaves) among you. There is a stringent set of rules for the fair treatment of slaves in the Torah. A master was supposed to furnish food, clothing, a spouse, and an appropriate education. Remember that New England slave girl, Phyllis Wheatley, who wrote the poetry? Her owners had read that passage and felt obligated to obey. Since she was very smart, they just kept teaching her. Reading comprehension diligence probably contributed to the quick demise of slavery in northern New England (also the long winters, when they were kept inside by the cold). Oh, and there is that time Jesus talked about any Christian who beat his servants, saying, in so many words, "that man is disobeying me, his master, and he will be punished." These words were twisted by the slaveholders, who conveniently left out the first part of the passage and garbled the middle part to pretend it was a justification for beating slaves. Of course, there was the famous runaway slave whom Paul urged to return to his master. However, Paul wrote to the master that Onesimus, although legally his slave, was actually and more importantly his brother in Christ, and should be forgiven for whatever he had done wrong. Paul was such a rigid little crank by nature, sometimes he sounded meaner than he was, but he wrote this: "There is neither Jew nor Greek nor male nor female nor slave nor free, but all are one in Christ Jesus." And Jesus said: "They shall come from the north and the south and the east and the west, to sit down at the table together, in the Kingdom of God." My Methodist ancestors sometimes invited Black people to stay with them, since Black people were actually not allowed to go to hotels or restaurants. They waited on those Black houseguests themselves, and they were happy to do so.