Isn't it remarkable that atheists, who did virtually nothing to oppose slavery, condemn Christians, who are the ones who abolished it?
Consider atheist Sam Harris, who blames Christianity for supporting slavery. Harris is right that slavery existed among the Old Testament Jews, and Paul even instructs slaves to obey their masters. During the civil war both sides quoted the Bible. We know all this. (Yawn, yawn.)
But slavery pre-dated Christianity by centuries and even millennia. As we read from sociologist Orlando Patterson's work, all known cultures had slavery. For centuries, slavery needed no defenders because it had no critics. Atheists who champion ancient Greece and pre-Christian Rome somehow seem to forget that those empires were based on large-scale enslavement.
Atheist Michael Shermer says Christians are "late comers" to the movement against slavery. But if this is true, who were the early comers? There weren't any. Shermer probably thinks the Christians only got around to opposing slavery in the modern era.
Wrong. Slavery was mostly eradicated from Western civilization--then called Christendom--between the fourth and the tenth century. The Greco-Roman institution of slavery gave way to serfdom. Now serfdom has its problems but at least the serf is not a "human tool" and cannot be bought and sold like property. So slavery was ended twice in Western civilization, first in the medieval era and then again in the modern era.
In the American South, Christianity proved to be the solace of the oppressed. As historian Eugene Genovese documents in Roll, Jordan, Roll, when black slaves sought to find dignity during the dark night of slavery, they didn't turn to Marcus Aurelius or David Hume; they turned to the Bible. When they sought hope and inspiration for liberation, they found it not in Voltaire or D'Holbach but in the Book of Exodus.
The anti-slavery movements led by Wilberforce in England and abolitionists in America were dominated by Christians. These believers reasoned that since we are all created equal in the eyes of God, no one has the right to rule another without consent. This is the moral basis not only of anti-slavery but also of democracy.
Jefferson was in some ways the least orthodox and the most skeptical of the founders. Yet when he condemned slavery he found himself using biblical language. In Notes on the State of Virginia Jefferson warned that those who would enslave people should reflect that "the Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest." Jefferson famously added, "And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep for ever."
But wasn't Jefferson also a man of science? Yes he was, and it was on the basis of the latest science of his day that Jefferson expressed his convictions about black inferiority. Citing the discoveries of modern science, Jefferson noted that "there are varieties in the race of man, distinguished by their powers both of body and of mind...as I see to be the case with races of other animals." Blacks, Jefferson continued, lack the powers of reason that are evident in whites and even in native Indians. While atheists today like to portray themselves as paragons of equal dignity, Jefferson's scientific and skeptical outlook contributed not to his anti-slavery sentiments but to his racism. Somehow Harris and Shermer neglect to point this out.
In the end the fact remains that the only movements that opposed slavery in principle were mobilized in the West, and they were overwhelmingly led and populated by Christians. Sadly the West had to use force to stop slavery in other cultures, such as the Muslim slave trade off the coast of Africa. In some quarters the campaign to eradicate slavery still goes on.
So who killed slavery? The Christians did, while everyone else generally stood by and watched.
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Who Killed Slavery?
Posted Jan 10th 2008 9:00PM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Christianity, History, Controversy, Atheism
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 41)
1. The point is that Christianity was the motivation for ending slavery. Were there people of other beliefs involved? Yes. Were there Christians who didn't want slavery to end? Yes. I can't understand why someone that has effectively 50 productive years of life and then they die and turn to dust would want to waste ten minutes of it reading this article either. Mark's a sucker.
STaylor at 5:36PM on Jan 23rd 2008
2. DEAR DD:
YOU SHOULD READ "FREETHINKERS: A History of American Secularism" by Susan Jacoby to understand that everyone did not simply "stand by" while Christians "did" this and Christians "did that.
DD wrote in his piece, "Who Killed Slavery": "The Christians did, while everyone else generally stood by and watched."
But DD should study not "WHO" by WHAT killed slavery, socio-economically speaking.
Concerning the rise of serfdom, was the move from slavery-to-serfdom an anti-slavery movement, or a recognition that serfs required less care and were not even as socially mobile nor as dangerous as maintaining slaves? And did the papacy still own slaves at that time?
As for the colonial and victorian era anti-slavery movements, the established religions of the time never conceded that slavery as a sin. And in fact the only denomination of Christians that was definitely anti-slavery was the Quaker denomination while the other established Christian denominations hated the Quakers. In the colonies where established denominations were prominent Quaker evangelists were hung if they dared preach Quakerism.
The Quakers began the first anti-slavery societies in colonial America and even joined with famous deists (another group hated by the established churches--deists did not even believe in Christian doctrines but simply in a general theism) in opposing slavery, and so the Quakers elected diests like Tom Paine and Ben Franklin as presidents of their society.
As for the abolition of slavery in Britain, socio-economic factors came into play, not just William Wilberforce. There were Quakers of course who opposed slavery. There as a slave in Britain whose autobiography of his sufferings became a bestseller before Wilberforce began his rants. There were newspaper pieces and exposes of the horrors of slavery. The continued dawning of literacy and printing of less expensive books and newspapers and the advent of an ever widening "public sphere" (instead of previous centuries of aristocracy and serfs), and the freeing of people to have their own liberal thoughts in matters both political and religious helped lead to the abolition of slavery.
There were nominal Christian statesman who opposed slavery in Britain, and even atheists who opposed slavery on the basis of free men working harder in industrial factories and requiring less care than slaves who had nothing much to gain. Meanwhile the church of England remained pro-slavery and never admitted it was a sin, as did the churches in the Southern U.S. (And in fact the northern churches in the U.S. also agreed that slavery was not a sin, but merely disagreed with the southern churches over whether or not a minister ought to be above all possible approach and hence choose to not own any slaves.)
And as for the independent rabble rousing evangelists of the day: For every John Wesley who opposed slavery there were ten George Whitefields who argued slavery was a blessing. As I said, only the Quakers remained definitely anti-slavery, and the rest of the denominations in the U.S. viewed Quakers and their theological interpretations with the utmost suspicion. While the abolitionists were regarded by all as being crazy and unbiblical (at least until the war got started which catalyzed people's social reactions to slavery).
It was also the ministers in the south who shouted extremely loudly for political secession of the southern states after they had already seceded spiritually with whole nationwide denominations splitting up 10-15 years previous to the Civil War (the southern Baptists, southern Methodists and southern Presbyterians having been founded on the basis of the right of ministers to own slaves).
So DD, ever read the deist Tom Paine and his Rights of Man in which he rails against slavery? Did you know that the infidel/deistic nation of France outlawed slavery before the Christian nation of Britain did, and that Wilberforce used that fact as a rhetorical argument in Parliament for Britain also outlawing slavery? (However the French experiment, which was the earliest among European nations, to free her slaves ended in disaster on a few of her colonies where the freed slaves revolted and massacred their former masters, so a few years later France established slavery once again, but then soon afterward outlawed it too, for good. Still the infidel/deistic French nation preceded the Christian British nation in outlawing slavery.)
Edward T. Babinski at 4:32PM on Jan 24th 2008
3. I don't know if christians killed slavery, but you killed 10 minutes of my time reading this useless article.
mark at 1:53AM on Jan 11th 2008
4. The first article published in America advocating the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery was written by Paine. Titled "African Slavery in America," it appeared on March 8, 1775 in the Postscript to the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, more popularly known as The Pennsylvania Magazine, or American Museum.
Tom Paine was most certainly no Christian. D'Souza continues to prove his ignorance.
mikespenard at 11:22AM on Jan 11th 2008
5. D'souza never ceases to amaze me with his blatant dishonesty. It makes me feel like I'm back in the middle of a petty schoolyard squabble, exchanging petty insults that, while known by both parties to be untrue, are nonetheless hurled relentlessly for no other purpose than to score points and hurt feelings. I always feel dirty after reading these childish rants.
He says that atheists did nothing to stop slavery. Do you think he doesn't know there were next to no atheists in those times? Do you think he doesn't know that the slave owners were just as Christian as the abolitionists, that almost everyone was some kind of Christian.
He has the nerve to attack Jefferson as a racist and then to imply that his racism somehow came from his love of science. Do you think he doesn't know that everyone, especially Christians were hopelessly racist in those times? You would be hard pressed to find even one prominent person of Jefferson's time who wasn't a racist by today's standards. The KKK was a protestant, anti-Catholic organisation for crying out loud!
Most abolitionists were Christian for the same reason most scientists of the same era were Christian; the vast majority of the population, educated or not, wealthy or not, was Christian.
For this reason, you could attribute almost any social movement, good or bad, to Christianity. Dinesh D'Souza knows this. He's just a child hurling petty insults in the schoolyard. He only wants to score cheap points, hurt feelings and infuriate people. He's succeeding.
Wiggy at 2:29AM on Jan 11th 2008
6. My jaw nearly hit the floor with this article. It was absolutely laughable. DD, you can't give Christians credit for ending modern slavery when they were the ones who perpetuated it in the first place. As you yourself stated, "Slavery was mostly eradicated from Western civilization between the fourth and the tenth century". Well then, shouldn't we blame the Christian settlers of the Americas for introducing the modern era of slavery, since it was they who brought Africans in chains?
John at 3:14AM on Jan 11th 2008
7. Founding Father Thomas Paine, who was a deist and also called an atheist by many of his time, abhored slavery and spoke out for abolition long before any Christian in America did. I'm sure you know the price Thomas Paine paid for speaking his mind about religion, Christianity, the bible, and slavery. One of his main reasons for despising the bible was because of the numerous passages sanctioning slavery. He was hated by most of the elitist American Christians and almost completely shunned by them because of his views.
Christians killed slavery in America? I guess so - and it only took them nearly 300 years to finally realize that it was WRONG. Why did it take them so long? Because they used biblical scripture that endorses slavery as moral sanctioning of an institution that allowed many of them to make themselves wealthy off the backs of slave labor. You are quite aware that there were no atheist organizations and very few individuals who would dare let it be known that they did not believe in the Christian god. Doing so at the time put one at risk of being arrested, charged, tried, and punished for heresy. So, how ridiculous of you to suggest that any atheist(s) wielded any kind of power or influence to abolish slavery or could even attempt to do so! Gee, why don't you show your outrage that colonial-time American Wiccans or Zoroastrians didn't put-forth efforts to end slavery? What a joke!
How convenient, pathetic, and invalid that you try to pass off bible-sanctioned slavery on to the Jews. "Old Testament slavery" is no more slavery than that of "New Testament slavery". "God" of the bible certainly does not see men as created equal. Why? BECAUSE THE GOD OF THE BIBLE CREATED THE RULES THAT ALLOW SOME MEN TO PURCHASE HUMANS AND LEGALLY KEEP THEM AGAINST THEIR WILL AS SLAVES AND TO PUNISH THEM AS SLAVES. How Christian of you to attempt to characterize the biblical endorsement of slavery as "blase'" (yawn, yawn). No sir, the astonishing outrage and shame will never cease to exist nor diminish because those "words of God" in the bible that allow slavery will always be there. They can NEVER be taken out.
Your arguments fail pathetically for this one Mr. D'Souza. You lost this debate even before you wrote it.
Frank at 3:26AM on Jan 11th 2008
8. D'Souza's riding the short bus.
Captain Negative at 4:11AM on Jan 11th 2008
9. 1. I don't know if christians killed slavery, but you killed 10 minutes of my time reading this useless article.
mark at 1:53AM on Jan 11th 2008
**********
10 minutes?! Here's a little something for ya:
http://www.speedreading.com/
It may help when you look up some of those big ol' words you see around here.
It will definitely help when wading through the dozens of verbose postings that are sure to follow.
torquemada at 4:24AM on Jan 11th 2008
10. Read the book of Philemon in the New Testament for a WEDGE the apostle PAUL was putting into slavery about 2000 years ago.
It's very SHORT...a page or two.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=64&chapter=1&version=46
In that Roman dominated time, the Roman slaveowner "Philemon" ,the letter's recipient, could have beaten or even killed Onesimus for running away. (And it's likely Onesimus stole something too.)
Scholars think that Onesimus visited Paul who was in prison in Rome. (Possibly Paul knew Onesimus from earlier visits to Philemon's home.) Paul told Onesimus about God and Onesimus believed.
Then, Onesimus was persuaded to return to Philemon to "set it all right" with this INCREDIBLE letter to give to Philemon - to smooth the way.
PHILEMON should be studied by all diplomats or labor negotiators. GREAT negotiating and peace making tactics...
Paul treats Philemon with respect, but graciously paves the way for Philemon to release Onesimus to come back to Paul to assist Paul as a "son".
See how Paul talks about Philemon's former "human machine - He is now beloved and a "son".
Scholars see record of an Onesimus in church history at this time (a slave name meaning "profitable" ).
There was a Christian leader Onesimus who later became a bishop and died for his faith. It is POSSIBLe that this is the same Onesimus.
A gentle but effective instance of undermining the concept of slavery...QUOTE from source above:
"15Perhaps Onesimus was taken from you for a little while so that you could have him back for good,
16but not as a slave. Onesimus is much more than a slave. To me he is a dear friend, but to you he is even more, both as a person and as a follower of the Lord.
17If you consider me a friend because of Christ, then welcome Onesimus as you would welcome me."
And such wedges helped destroy the concept of human being as cattle...
DNA - a great design at 6:12AM on Jan 11th 2008
11. 2 things:
1) Who cares who killed slavery? The better question is who is killing Iraqi citizens?
Answer: Christians (actually, self-professed good christian men)
2) We know the basis for Jefferson's racism. dd, what is the basis for your racism?
America's Most Gangsta at 7:00AM on Jan 11th 2008
12. I'm done! I enjoy everyone's comments but Dinesh's articles have crossed the line from amusing to juvenile.
Ryan Anderson at 7:16AM on Jan 11th 2008
13. as usual,
DD is going to incite the faithful atheist right to the blog gulog where they will swish around the latest DD diatribe and declare him an idiot. yet funny thing, its the atheist who are faithful to come back day after day,likes drones who have no choice.
did christians end slavery? as much as any other factor perhaps. lots of things ended slavery. but lets not forget slavery exist today in various forms. i spoke with a lady last night who's son tried to kill himself on drugs. he was found unconcious in a business parking lot. she had just lost her husband 5 days before. slavery is alive and well in the spiritual realm. this is what atheist would surely deny. but its true, one just have to look at our human self-destructive behavior to see it.
atheist do yourself a favor and change the subject on this one, there in nothing to win in this argument. boycott DD go elsewhere-have no post eat kelloggs!!
brian at 7:31AM on Jan 11th 2008
14. So who killed slavery? The Christians did, while everyone else generally stood by and watched.
______________________________
Can you please cite your reference for this? No? Who is everyone else? The vast majority of the population was Christian, so it only makes sense that mostly Christians were involved. Do you staistics to verify, though, what percentage of Christians were against slavery, to compare against what percentage of jews were against it as well? atheists? hindus? buddhists? No? It could be true that, while only a majority of Christians were against slavery, 100% of all atheists in the country at that time were against it. So which group was more invested in the outcome? Can't prove it either way? THEN DON'T VENTURE TO MAKE THAT KIND OF STATEMENT without being able to BACK IT UP.
What makes me even more frustrated is that there are a lot of people who will read things and just accept them as fact. Control the media, control the mind. How very sad. I wish our population would question what they're being fed more often.
Strados at 7:40AM on Jan 11th 2008
15. While I'm sure much can be said against DD's point, we should remember one of the most greatest abolitionists of all time was John Brown, and he was fanatically christian.
Tim at 8:29AM on Jan 11th 2008