Biblical Defense of Slavery. Today.

In the 19th century and earlier, many Christians used the Bible to defend the practice of slavery - that may not be something that is widely known, but it really shouldn't be surprising. What is surprising, however, is that there are people who are trying to do the same thing today, defending slavery as it existed in the American South.

The Idaho Statesman reports:

“Slavery as it existed in the South was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity,” [Doug Wilson's and Steve Wilkins'] booklet reads. “Because of its dominantly patriarchal character, it was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence. There has never been a multi-racial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world.” ... [Wilkins] said the [League of the South] frowns upon “race-mixing,” and believes that slavery was not the social injustice some people have made it out to be.

“This group is totally opposed to democracy,” [Mark Potok, editor of the Southern Poverty Law Center´s Intelligence Report magazine] said. “Wilkins and others believe the Civil War was an attack on the last true Christians. They say the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery and the North tried to destroy God´s land.”

Yes, there continue to exist Christians who defend racism and slavery from a biblical perspective - and we're not talking about Ku Klux Klan extremists, either. These people are active in speaking at churches and other civic organizations, spreading a message of religious hatred and bigotry. In February of 2004, Black History Month no less, Wilson will speak at a history conference at the University of Idaho. It's like inviting a Holocaust denier to a symposium on Jewish history.

Read More:

• Fundamentalism
• Religious Right
• Christian Extremism
• Christian Nationalism