Slave Religion vs. Slave Holder Religion, Essay Example

Christianity as a religion for the African Americans, as a means of white people, brainwashing them for use to meet their interests. Christianity played a significant role in influencing African Americans to imitate white culture and habits. While trying to imitate the whites, blacks lost control of themselves, giving an advantage to whites to govern them efficiently. Slave masters also emulated the idea by teaching slaves that slavery saved them from Africa’s miserable life. Each culture around the world had their Gods to whom they worshipped, but Africans opted to copy the white image of God as presented through Christianity. Islamic defines the idea about heaven and earth to be biblical metaphors for life on earth. Christianity played a significant role in deceiving blacks that they have an existence afterlife which left them confined in poverty-stricken areas while the whites had the chance to enjoy their life on earth. From the Islamic definition poverty experienced by blacks equals hell whereas good life for the whites is heaven. Therefore there exists a similarity between slave religion and slave holder’s religion.

Some slaveholders even used the bible to justify slavery by highlighting about Noah’s curse to his son Ham that his descendants would serve other people. White Christians argued that African slaves were Ham’s descendants who travelled to Africa from Canaan; therefore, slavery and the trade were morally acceptable.  The statement helped to lure Africans to slavery by making them believe in having a connection to the bible.

Black American preachers and other advocates had a role in checking on the various hardships experienced by African Americans in slavery but did nothing to remedy the situation. Most of the preachers received donations from slave traders, therefore never saw the need to criticize the trade. The preachers also acted as the house Negroes of the Civil Rights Movement but did nothing to try and liberate fellow countrymen oppressed in slavery. The only thing the preachers and advocates requested from the slave traders were donations to help sustain their lives and churches. Clergymen who were protestants also advocated for slavery claiming that slaves were bound to follow their masters’ orders. The support promoted the starting of churches following the ideology and converted most of the slaves.

Slaves designated to lead the others during religious matters emphasized on the necessity to obey their masters’ orders only when they were present during sermons. In instances whereby the slaves were on their own, the leaders motivated the slaves to endure the suffering experienced from slavery. They advocated for the need to liberate themselves from the culture. This led the slaves to adapt to the habit of singing songs with the theme of suffering and characters such as Moses because he led Egyptian people to freedom. The songs also acted as coded messages for secret meeting places and escape plans. Slaves developed their religion to benefit themselves by coming up with habits only known to them.

Slaveholders used religion to deceive the slaves that it was their means of attaining freedom; however, most of them believed that slaves were not eligible for conversion as it gave them more rights and privileges. Slaveholders against the idea of slave conversion to Christianity attacked missionaries approaching slaves with the idea claiming that Christianity for slaves promoted rebellions. Christian slaves, at most occasions, found time to congregate together from where they shared various ideas on how they could liberate themselves from the oppression faced through slavery. Continuous discussions led to the planning and execution of rebellions, some of which were successful. Due to the various risks brought about by the freedom from religion on slaves, masters developed strategies to monitor their slaves during worship time to minimize interactions.

In conclusion, there exists a similarity between slave religion and slave holder’s religion. Most of the slaves converted to Christianity as a result of influence from slave masters. However, some of the masters were against the idea of slaves converting to Christianity as they viewed religion to be the leading cause of slave rebellions. At times slaves had the chance to congregate on their own from where they developed strategies to stage a successful rebellion. This caused the masters to come up with a means to monitor the slaves during worship time. Some of the blacks preachers acted as Negro representatives in the Civil Rights Movement but did not advocate for the liberation of African slaves from the oppression. They only considered getting donations and other privileges from slave traders. White slaveholders took advantage of Africans by luring them through Christianity but later used them as slaves. Slaveholders made references to the bible, such as in the case of Noah cursing his son to servitude, claiming that slaves were relatives to Ham. Slaveholders also deceived Africans that Christianity was a means of liberating themselves from the miserable life in Africa. Generally, slaveholder’s religion as a means of influencing and taking advantage of slaves, whereas the slave religion was a means of liberating themselves.