Religion Of Slavery Research Paper

The Religion of Slavery

Karl Marx poignantly described religion as the opiate of the people, and the sigh of the oppressed. Contemporary intellectuals have extended this premise to say that religion also functions as the golden scepter of oppressors that is used to buttress and perpetuate the plethora of tyrannical regimes that has afflicted societies throughout human history. One such regime is slavery, which was severely exacerbated by the onslaught of the racialised version that emerged from the discourse between Europe, Africa and the Americas. This essay seeks to explore the intricate relationship that existed between racialised western slavery and the Christian religious paradigm, with respect to the work of the abolitionist Thomas
The most popular of such affirmations is the ‘Decline Thesis’, proposed by the daring, rambunctious historian Eric Williams in his groundbreaking and controversial book ‘Capitalism and Slavery’. This theory suggested that the abolition the slave trade by the British is 1807 and the eventual emancipation of slaves was motivated mainly by economic factors. This perception was wrought with severe opposition from mainstream historians as this not only challenges the historically imperial hegemony of Europeans over non-Europeans and White over black, but it also challenges the very superior intellectual and moral fascia which Europeans (Britons in particular) prided themselves on – Europe and Europeans being the ‘normative’ being and all else being the ‘other’ and in even aberrations. This may be perceived as a re-enactment of the medieval cosmogonic understanding of Europe being the center of the Earth and all else being anomalies, that were not suppose to be inhabitable and in some cases were not even to exist; the post-emancipation percept of white supremacy in intellect and civility is also reiterated. Before Eric Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery, the literature on abolition and emancipation was mainly written by Britons who are believe to have been liable to portray England as an unimpeachable entity in the horrid discourse of slavery (Drescher, 1987); even
Clarkson professes that: “by prosecuting this impious commerce [slavery] you keep the Africans in a state of perpetual ferocity and barbarism …” which insinuates that blacks were inferior and needed to be converted to Christianity in order to be made into human being. This is perceivably the point of weakness in Clarkson’s arguments as he is advocating the very idea that he is trying to discredit, the only difference being that instead of race he uses religion as his basis for discrimination. Could these Africans cannot be ‘brothers’, worthy of being shown ‘brotherly love’ if they are inherently ferocious and barbaric? The words ‘ferocity’ and ‘barbaric’ are connotatively animalistic, and are not words people normally identify with or use to describe humans. By assuming that the African slave needed Christianity to be made into complete human can be perceived as yet another justification for the notion that Christianity supports slavery by way of supporting inferiority of non-Christians which inherently promotes subordination and by extension servitude. While this may not have been Clarkson’s intention, it is very implicit in his mode of wording and must not be overlooked. The efficacy of this aspect of Clarkson’s message (particularly to the receivers) is questionable because, according to Raboteau, slavers