XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics
| Priest Defrocked After Copying Elon Musk's
Salute at
| Pro-Life Summit
| God Is A Geek Staff Quits Following Ex-Priest
Owner's Nazi
| Salute
|
| "Slavery produced a genuine affection between the
races":
| Hegseth's church foretold "DEI" firings
|
| Defense secretary's contempt for Black military
leaders has
| roots in his religion's defense of white
supremacy
| ...
<https://www.salon.com/2025/02/25/slavery-produced-
a-genuine-affection-bet
ween-the-races-hegseths-church-foretold-dei-
firings/>
--bks
How Christian Slaveholders Used the Bible to Justify
Slavery
During the period of American slavery, how did
slaveholders manage to balance their religious
beliefs with the cruel facts of the �peculiar
institution�? As shown by the following passages �
adapted from Noel Rae�s new book The Great Stain,
which uses firsthand accounts to tell the story of
slavery in America � for some of them that
rationalization was right there in the Bible.
Out of the more than three quarters of a million
words in the Bible, Christian slaveholders�and, if
asked, most slaveholders would have defined
themselves as Christian�had two favorites texts, one
from the beginning of the Old Testament and the other
from the end of the New Testament. In the words of
the King James Bible, which was the version then
current, these were, first, Genesis IX, 18�27:
�And the sons of Noah that went forth from the
ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the
father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah:
and of them was the whole world overspread. And Noah
began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was
uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of
Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his
two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a
garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and
went backward, and covered the nakedness of their
father; and their faces were backward, and they saw
not their father�s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his
wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto
him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of
servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said,
Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be
his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall
dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his
servant. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred
and fifty years.�
Despite some problems with this story�What was so
terrible about seeing Noah drunk? Why curse Canaan
rather than Ham? How long was the servitude to last?
Surely Ham would have been the same color as his
brothers?�it eventually became the foundational text
for those who wanted to justify slavery on Biblical
grounds. In its boiled-down, popular version, known
as �The Curse of Ham,� Canaan was dropped from the
story, Ham was made black, and his descendants were
made Africans.
The other favorite came from the Apostle Paul�s
Epistle to the Ephesians, VI, 5-7: �Servants, be
obedient to them that are your masters according to
the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of
your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as
men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing
the will of God from the heart; with good will doing
service, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that
whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall
he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.�
(Paul repeated himself, almost word for word, in the
third chapter of his Epistle to the Colossians.)
The rest of the Old Testament was often mined by pro-
slavery polemicists for examples proving that slavery
was common among the Israelites. The New Testament
was largely ignored, except in the negative sense of
pointing out that nowhere did Jesus condemn slavery,
although the story of Philemon, the runaway who St.
Paul returned to his master, was often quoted. It was
also generally accepted that the Latin word servus,
usually translated as servant, really meant slave.
***
Even apparent abuses, when looked at in the right
light, worked out for the best, in the words of
Bishop William Meade of Virginia. Suppose, for
example, that you have been punished for something
you did not do, �is it not possible you may have done
some other bad thing which was never discovered and
that Almighty God, who saw you doing it, would not
let you escape without punishment one time or
another? And ought you not in such a case to give
glory to Him, and be thankful that He would rather
punish you in this life for your wickedness than
destroy your souls for it in the next life? But
suppose that even this was not the case�a case hardly
to be imagined�and that you have by no means, known
or unknown, deserved the correction you suffered;
there is this great comfort in it, that if you bear
it patiently, and leave your cause in the hands of
God, He will reward you for it in heaven, and the
punishment you suffer unjustly here shall turn to
your exceeding great glory hereafter.�
Bishop Stephen Elliott, of Georgia, also knew how to
look on the bright side. Critics of slavery should
�consider whether, by their interference with this
institution, they may not be checking and impeding a
work which is manifestly Providential. For nearly a
hundred years the English and American Churches have
been striving to civilize and Christianize Western
Africa, and with what result? Around Sierra Leone,
and in the neighborhood of Cape Palmas, a few natives
have been made Christians, and some nations have been
partially civilized; but what a small number in
comparison with the thousands, nay, I may say
millions, who have learned the way to Heaven and who
have been made to know their Savior through the means
of African slavery! At this very moment there are
from three to four millions of Africans, educating
for earth and for Heaven in the so vilified Southern
States�learning the very best lessons for a semi-
barbarous people�lessons of self-control, of
obedience, of perseverance, of adaptation of means to
ends; learning, above all, where their weakness lies,
and how they may acquire strength for the battle of
life. These considerations satisfy me with their
condition, and assure me that it is the best relation
they can, for the present, be made to occupy.�
Reviewing the work of the white churches, Frederick
Douglass had this to say: �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. To be the friend of the one is of necessity
to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure,
peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I
therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-
whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical
Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no
reason but the most deceitful one for calling the
religion of this land Christianity��
Overlook Press
Adapted from The Great Stain: Witnessing American
Slavery by Noel Rae. Copyright � 2018 by Noel Rae.
Reprinted by arrangement with The Overlook Press,
Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc.
http://www.overlookpress.com. All rights reserved.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)