Frederick Douglass Religion

In a Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, religion was a common theme discussed. Christianity shaped Douglass personal views about being a Christian and living in a predominately Christian place. Though Douglass disagreed with the way Christianity was used to validate slavery and the torturous treatment of slaves, he found himself religious himself. Throughout this biography slavery is justified with numerous Bible verses and church going people. Christianity was used as a vindication of how to treat slaves in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass describes his master, Captain Auld, goes to a Methodist camp meeting. Even though Auld found religion he continued
Douglass focuses on American because this is the only place he lived and the place where he understands uses religion to justify slavery and cruelty to the slaves. Douglass is mainly talking about religion in the Southern part of the United States of America. This is where slavery was most prominent and depending on the part the most brutal. This is also where Christianity was used as a religion. Douglass also use a Bible verse to enforce his way of saying the Christians of the land were not true followers of Christ. He uses Matthew 23 to describe the way Christians of the land are (Douglass 571). This text summarizes who they are and act during this time of Douglass’ slavery. He has a great hate for the hypocritical ways of the slave owners for using Christianity to promote their views of how to treat a person. He compares them with the people in the Bible who want to have a position in the church. He compares them to the people in the Bible who did everything for show and nothing truly for God. Douglass feels they want to have this position for the power and the show of having it, not for the glorification and gratification of God. The verse speaks about the long prayers, to hear themselves speaking for themselves not for God. But by doing this they are only putting themselves further and further in hell. Matthew 23 speaks about how they have taken the Christ like aspects out of their Christianity views and puts in the ones they want to uphold slavery. Matthew 23 says “omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith”. Douglass wants to explain that the Christians of the land have used their own understanding and not what the Bible asks of