SLAVEHOLDER CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA

 WE MUST SPEAK OF SYSTEMIC RACISM

Maybe because I have been working on writing  a series of three short plays about John Brown and his raid on Harper's Ferry and the aftermath of that raid, I have been reading more of the eloquent  speeches of Frederick Douglas. I have come to be amazed at the eloquence of a man who was a slave and never went to school. What a genius he was.  

That fact made me think and wonder  of how many extraordinary minds and souls were enslaved and never could fulfill the promise of the genius that God had placed in them.

What a tremendous loss and what a crime against the progress of the human race.

Recently in my daily readings of  Father Richard Rohr, I was surprised by this analysis of this saintly Franciscan priest,

Slaveholder Christianity

 

 

 

Fr. Richard offers a critique of how Christianity aligned with empire and colonialism manifested specifically in the United States:

The form of Christianity that has grown in the United States and spread throughout much of the world is what we have to fairly call “slaveholder Christianity.” The founders of our nation drew on a Christian tradition that had been aligned with empire for more than a millennium. It must be said that this form of Christianity is far, far removed from the Gospel and the example of Jesus as it has failed to respect the divine image in all beings. [1]

Culture, tradition, and power can keep us from recognizing the true message of the Gospel, which is why listening to other perspectives and voices is so necessary. Historian Jemar Tisby shares the writing of Olaudah Equiano (1745–1797), a formerly enslaved man, who published his autobiography in 1789:

By the time he wrote his autobiography, Equiano had converted to Christianity. As he reflected on his life, he viewed his experiences through the lens of his faith and commented on the hypocrisy of slave traders who claimed to be Christian. . . .

On the kidnapping of unsuspecting Africans and their separation from family, Equiano asked, “O, ye nominal Christians! might not an African ask you, learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?” [2] 

Black people immediately detected the hypocrisy of American-style slavery. They knew the inconsistencies of the faith from the rank odors, the chains, the blood, and the misery that accompanied their life of bondage. Instead of abandoning Christianity, though, black people went directly to teachings of Jesus and challenged white people to demonstrate integrity. [3

ANSWERING THAT CHALLENGE

 SHOULD BE OUR NATIONAL

                     AGENDA.