This link has been bookmarked by 6 people . It was first bookmarked on 18 Mar 2006, by Kaala souza.
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21 Apr 12
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13 Feb 12
AWOLGina GMJ2012Great article along the lines of using the Bible to justify Slavery. Hypocrisy I hate, don't you? http://t.co/0HAY6PeT
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02 Dec 11
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The Christian church's main justification of the concept of slavery is based on Genesis 9:25-27. According to the Bible, the worldwide flood had concluded and there were only 8 humans alive on earth: Noah, his wife, their six sons and daughters in law. Noah's son Ham had seen "the nakedness of his father." So, Noah laid a curse -- not on Ham, who was guilty of some type of indiscretion. The sin was transferred to Noah's grandson Canaan. Such transference of sin from a guilty to an innocent person or persons is unusual in the world's religious and secular moral codes. It is normally considered highly unethical. However, it appears in many biblical passages. The curse extended to all of Canaan's descendants:
Genesis 9:25-27: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japeth live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave'. " Christians traditionally believed that Canaan had settled in Africa. The dark skin of Africans became associated with this "curse of Ham." Thus slavery of Africans became religiously justifiable. Author Anthony Pagden wrote:
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18 Mar 06
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<td valign="top" width="24"></td><!--msnavigation--><td valign="top"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><!--3--><br/><!--mstheme--></font><table border="0" width="69%"><br/> <tbody><tr><br/> <td width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><br/><br/></font><h2 align="center"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><font face="Trebuchet MS,Arial,Helvetica"><img border="0" src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/bnrtlogo.gif" height="115" width="728"><br><br/><br>THE BIBLE, CHRISTIANITY, AND SLAVERY:<!--mstheme--></font></font></h2><br/><h3 align="center"><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica">ACCEPTANCE, OPPOSITION, & RE-ACCEPTANCE OF SLAVERY</font></h3><br/><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"> <!--msthemeseparator--></font><p align="center"><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topruled.gif" height="10" width="600" alt="horizontal rule"></font></p><br/><br/><p align="center"><br/><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><b><font size="2">Click Here to Visit our Sponsors.</font> </b><br/><br/></font></p><center><br/><p><br/><!--5--><br/><!-- begin ad tag (tile=1) --><br/><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"><br/>document.write('<script src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/bn.retol/;pos=top;tile=1;sz=728x90;ord=' + ord + '?" language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"></scr>');<br/></script><script src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/bn.retol/;pos=top;tile=1;sz=728x90;ord=6035822790543560?" language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"></script><a rel="nofollow" href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v8/3566/0/0/%2a/p;66021237;1-0;1;15057649;3454-728/90;19601483/19619377/1;;%7Eaopt=2/0/ff/0;%7Esscs=%3fhttp://www.coolsavings.com/index.asp?Ref=beliefnet&BN=728090-0512-PrplFall" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/1362413/1-728090-0512-prplfall.jpg" alt="Click here to find out more!"></a><noscript><a rel="nofollow" href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/bn.retol/;pos=top;tile=1;sz=728x90;ord=123456789?" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/bn.retol/;pos=top;tile=1;sz=728x90;ord=123456789?" height="90" width="728" alt=""></a></noscript><br/><!-- End ad tag --><br/><br/><br/><br/> <br/></font></p><p><br/><!--6--><br/><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"> <br/> <br/></font></p><br/></center><br/><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"> <!--msthemeseparator--></font><p align="center"><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topruled.gif" height="10" width="600" alt="horizontal rule"></font></p><br/><br/><h3><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica">Topics covered in this essay:</font></h3><br/><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"> <!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0"><br/> <!--msthemelist--><tbody><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topbul1d.gif" height="15" width="15" hspace="13" alt="bullet"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/#bib">Biblical justification for slavery</a><!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr><br/> <!--msthemelist--><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topbul1d.gif" height="15" width="15" hspace="13" alt="bullet"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/#early">Attitudes towards slavery in the Bible and early Christian movement</a><!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr><br/> <!--msthemelist--><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topbul1d.gif" height="15" width="15" hspace="13" alt="bullet"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/#supp">Christian support for slavery</a> 4<sup>th</sup> to the late 17<sup>th</sup> century CE:<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr><br/> <!--msthemelist--></tbody></table><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><br/> <!--msthemeseparator--><p align="center"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topruled.gif" height="10" width="600" alt="horizontal rule"></p><br/><br/><h3><a rel="nofollow" name="bib">Biblical</a> justification for slavery:</h3><br/><p>The Christian church's main justification of the concept of slavery is based on Genesis 9:25-27. According to the Bible, the worldwide <br/>flood had concluded and there were only 8 humans alive on earth: Noah, his wife, their six sons and daughters in law. Noah's son Ham had <br/>seen "<i>the nakedness of his father</i>." So, Noah laid a curse -- not on Ham, who was guilty of some type of indiscretion. <br/>The sin was transferred to Noah's grandson Canaan. Such <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/sin_trans.htm"><br/>transference of sin from a guilty to an innocent person or persons</a> is <br/>unusual in the world's religious and secular moral codes. It is normally <br/>considered highly unethical. However, it appears in many biblical passages. The curse extended to all of Canaan's descendants:</p><br/> <!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0"><br/> <!--msthemelist--><tbody><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topbul1d.gif" height="15" width="15" hspace="13" alt="bullet"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><b>Genesis 9:25-27:</b> "<em>Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord,<br/> the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japeth <br/> live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave</em>'. "<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr><br/> <!--msthemelist--></tbody></table><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><br/><br/><p>Christians traditionally believed that Canaan had settled in Africa. The<br/> dark skin of Africans became associated with this "<i>curse of Ham.</i>" Thus <br/>slavery of Africans became religiously justifiable.</p><br/> <p>"<i>This reading of the Book of Genesis merged easily into a<br/> medieval iconographic tradition in which devils were always depicted as<br/> black. Later pseudo-scientific theories would be built around African<br/> skull shapes, dental structure, and body postures, in an attempt to find<br/> an unassailable argument--rooted in whatever the most persuasive<br/> contemporary idiom happened to be: law, theology, genealogy, or natural<br/> science -- why one part of the human race should live in perpetual<br/> indebtedness to another.</i>" <b> <sub>1</sub></b></p><br/> <p>By today's secular and religious standards:</p><br/> <!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0"><br/> <!--msthemelist--><tbody><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topbul1d.gif" height="15" width="15" hspace="13" alt="bullet"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica">slavery is immoral.<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr><br/> <!--msthemelist--><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topbul1d.gif" height="15" width="15" hspace="13" alt="bullet"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica">cursing all of an individual's descendents into perpetual slavery because of an inappropriate act<br/> by an ancestor is immoral.<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr><br/> <!--msthemelist--><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topbul1d.gif" height="15" width="15" hspace="13" alt="bullet"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica">laying a curse on the son of the person who committed the act is immoral.<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr><br/> <!--msthemelist--></tbody></table><!--mstheme--><font face="trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica"><br/><p>But in ancient times, cursing a whole race into slavery was<br/> considered acceptable because it was in the Bible. The American slave<br/> owner felt that he was carrying out God's plan by buying and using<br/> slaves. </p><br/> <p>Slavery was also condoned and regulated in many passages of the in the<br/> Bible. There is no record of Jesus having commented on it. Paul had every<br/> opportunity to condemn slavery, particularly in his Epistle to <i>Philemon</i>.<br/> But he remained silent, except to urge slaves to be content with their lot <br/> and to obey their owners. <b><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/sla_bibl.htm">More on slavery in the Bible</a>.</b></p><br/> <!--msthemeseparator--><p align="center"><img src="http://www.religioustolerance.org/_themes/topo/topruled.gif" height="10" width="600" alt="horizontal rule"></p><br/><br/><h3><a rel="nofollow" name="early">Attitudes towards slavery</a> in the Bible and the early <br/>Christian movement:</h3><br/><br/><p>Slavery was sanctioned and carefully regulated by <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/sla_bibl.htm#heb">many<br/>passages in the Hebrew Scriptures</a> (Old Testament) largely in the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb1.htm">Pentateuch</a> - its first 5 books. Although slavery was widespread in<br/>Palestine during Jesus' ministry, he is not recorded as having expressed any opinion on<br/>it. Slavery was casually mentioned without criticism in the various books of the<br/><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/sla_bibl.htm#chr">Christian Scriptures</a> (New Testament). The authors <br/>appeared to accept slavery as a natural condition -- as a universal institution <br/>that was not particularly immoral.</p><br/><br/><p>Many of the early Christians were slaves. They were treated as equals <br/>within the church. Perhaps because of their close contacts with slaves, the early Christian movement appears to have <br/>opposed <br/>slavery as an immoral institution:</p></font></td></tr></tbody></table></td>
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