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
Filed under: Christianity, History, Controversy, Atheism
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Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 41)
61. oops sorry for the double post
goddess1prevail at 10:33AM on Jan 11th 2008
62. Sorry about multiple posts. Very frustrating.
Linda at 10:35AM on Jan 11th 2008
63. Sorry about multiple posts. Very frustrating.
Linda at 10:35AM on Jan 11th 2008
64. Sorry about multiple posts. Very frustrating.
Linda at 10:35AM on Jan 11th 2008
65. what would the world do without the atheist to give us moral guidance. though its kind of an oxymoron for those who believe in no god, a god who gave us the morals you reject, to spout moral platitudes. indeed it is plain stupid really and laughable at best that atheist want to take a higher moral ground than the reat of the world. who is stupid here? and then clearly those morals you do have are only situational. perverted is what it is.
______________________
Obviously, brian, you are the stupid one here (since you asked) and you either haven't read any of the replies to previous of your comments (very similar to this one) or you can't remember anything you're told. These blogs have provided you with overwhelming evidence to the fact that morality was not given to the world by your god. But atheists claim higher moral ground? Because we acknowledge that morality existed before your god? I suppose you don't think Gandhi was a very moral person either? Let's consider this little pearl of wisdom from one of the oldest surviving books in human history, written by Ptahhotep of Memphis between 3400 and 2150 BCE:
Don't be proud of your knowledge, consult the ignorant and the wise;
The limits of art are not reached, no artist's skills are perfect;
Good speech is more hidden than greenstone, yet may be found among the maids at the grindstones...
Follow your heart as long as you live...
Wealth does no good if one is glum!
Be generous as long as you live;
Kindness is a man's memorial.
There is no mention of your or any god and yet the man clearly shows an understanding of morality. Get off your high horse, brian. God has nothing to do with the dawn of morality. What's perverted is your sense of moral superiority.
emma at 10:40AM on Jan 11th 2008
66. WHAT OF SLAVERY - TODAY???
Who is fighting the worldwide HUMAN SEXUAL TRAFFICKING?
LISt of partners on this site
http://www.iast.net/partners.htm
WHAT are the MAJOR ways girls, women, children DIE or ARE ABUSED when forced to work as prostitutes?
http://www.iast.net/thefacts.htm
Quote on turning humans into "commodities":
from this site
"The disturbing tendency to treat prostitution as a business or industry not only contributes to the trade in human beings, but is itself evidence of a growing tendency to detach freedom from the moral law and to reduce the rich mystery of human sexuality to a mere commodity."
Letter of John Paul II to Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran
on the occasion of the International Conference
"Twenty-first Century Slavery - The Human Rights Dimension to Trafficking in Human Beings"
ALL persons (whatever their beliefs) should be fighting this and any other kinds of slavery...
DNA - a great design at 10:47AM on Jan 11th 2008
67. "God has nothing to do with the dawn of morality"-Emma
I agree with you 100% emma. It is the belief in god that established the slavery system to begin with as another early quote states;
"THE KING IS GODS REPRESENTATIVE ON EARTH, AND MAN IS A SLAVE TO HIS GOD"
goddess1prevail at 11:00AM on Jan 11th 2008
68. emma,
i would say the same thing,you have no moral either. god gave us morals from day one. you claim no god, yet you cannot say where the stinkin morals came from. you think your man from memphis made them up? god said he gave us all a concious that bears witness to what is right and what is wrong. the issue of right and wrong is written in our dna code if you will. we can't escape it because we were made in the image of a moral god. i do not claim a moral high ground, but crap on the fact you atheist do, its pure dung in my mind and its beyond absurd. you could not be more wrong. why not head to china where you get no argument about god, they banned him!!! or would you not have the freedom to be so vocal and find yourself under the tank
brian at 11:02AM on Jan 11th 2008
69. Pboy -
LOL...what a response. How long did it take you to come up with it? Did you need a nap later?
You might not LIKE my assessment, but that isn't what is important here. The question is, "Does it follow?" Is it true?
Your simply assertion of "dislike" for my answer does nothing to undermine my analysis. You have a brain - tax it a little.
JSL at 11:03AM on Jan 11th 2008
70. brian, are you stating that morality is an inherent condition for all people?
JefFlyingV at 11:06AM on Jan 11th 2008
71. One must not get caught up in racial difference that consisted of Slavery back in the day.
Instead we must realize that as the world evolves around us, we evolve and with us evolving, Slavery naturally evolves.
Slavery has no limitations. It doesn't start with color and it surely doesn't end with Color. The meaning of Slavery doesn't start with Serving someone and it doesn't end with Serving someone.
Slavery in itself is a form of being trapped.
Sometimes we don't know when we are trapped. Sometimes we don't know when we are being controlled. Sometimes we don't know when we are in fact Slaves in the modern day.
Dinesh you are simplistic. Slavery based on Color is over in US. But Slavery in itself is far from over.
With your education background, you are a disappointment. I must ask.
Who is your master? Whoever it is, you are providing service. Maybe to recruit more slaves.
Botts at 11:06AM on Jan 11th 2008
72. Pboy -
LOL...what a response. How long did it take you to come up with it? Did you need a nap later?
You might not LIKE my assessment, but that isn't what is important here. The question is, "Does it follow?" Is it true?
Your simply assertion of "dislike" for my answer does nothing to undermine my analysis. You have a brain - tax it a little.
JSL at 11:06AM on Jan 11th 2008
73. godess you would,
agree with emma. but do you really think that makes you right. further do you think the rest of the world thinks your right- NO!! and NO again. the rest of the world thinks,and rightly so, that atheist are freekin fringe lunatics who have a nice little situational ethics going that fits their lifestyle whatever that may be just dandy. perverted is what atheism truly is. a perverted world view
brian at 11:07AM on Jan 11th 2008
74. Dinesh:
You are inconsistent to blame ancient Greece for its slavery yet (in earlier blogs) not credit them for their science. And what does this show for non-belief in the supernatural anyway? The Greeks believed in many gods. They were hardly atheist with regard to deities.
Your inconsistencies are easily cited by your critics, including college professors, to abate or dissuade your few sympathizers. This, in part, is why your book has fallen to #422 on Amazon compared to Hitchens who is still at #117, and at #189 on his new book.
Please tell me where the Bible says we are created equal. I understand that to be John Locke’s contribution (natural rights), the Father of Empiricism and inspiration for libertarians. Can you show us where, say, Luther spent time on equality? America’s forefathers did not think they were quoting scripture when this idea found its way into our Declaration of Independence.
When might your blog address the glory of (eqalitarian?) Christian life after the fall of Rome and before Muslims brought Aristotle to Aquinas? The Roman Catholic Church did not promulgate equality as it expanded through Western Europe. Even after Locke, the Church did not treat indigenous peoples as equal in places like the Americas or Africa.
Again, sophistry.
jamesg4336 at 11:08AM on Jan 11th 2008
75. Dinesh:
You are inconsistent to blame ancient Greece for its slavery yet (in earlier blogs) not credit them for their science. And what does this show for non-belief anyway? The Greeks believed in many gods. They were hardly atheist with respect to the supernatural.
Your inconsistencies are easily cited by your critics, including college professors, to abate or dissuade your few sympathizers. This, in part, is why your book has fallen to #422 on Amazon compared to Hitchens who is still at #117, and at #189 on his new book.
Please tell me where the Bible says we are created equal. That was John Locke’s contribution (natural rights), the Father of Empiricism and inspiration for libertarians. Can you show us where, say, Luther spent time on equality? America’s forefathers did not think they were quoting scripture when this idea found its way into our Declaration of Independence.
When might your blog address the glory of (eqalitarian?) Christian life after the fall of Rome and before Muslims brought Aristotle to Aquinas? The Roman Catholic Church did not promulgate equality as it expanded through Western Europe. Even after Locke, the Church did not treat indigenous peoples as equal in the Americas or Africa.
Again, sophistry.
jamesg4336 at 11:11AM on Jan 11th 2008