Why did no Christian Churches condemn slavery?

Answer 1

Coz everyone needs a house cleaner, to be fair i dunno

Answer 2

Most Christian churches condemned slavery in principle. In practice, many pastors tended to turn a blind eye to it. This is much the same as the current rather muted condemnation of war and sexual permissiveness.

The anti-slavery movement, which eventually led to abolition in British territories and America, grew out of the Christian churches.

Answer 3

Some of the churches DID condemn slavery, but just like today, nobody listens when the church condemns something. And Larry... Life back in Bible times was very different than it was in the days of slavery in America. Just because the Bible mentions slaves, doesn't mean God was okay with it. The Word of God still stands. <*)))><

Answer 4

1) The Prophet Mohammed was a slave owner.
2) Some of the Islamic traditions describe the Prophet Mohammed buying and selling slaves. i.e. saying he was a slave trader as well as an owner.
3) One of the principle drives of the Arab conquests was booty, and slaves formed a large part of that booty.
4) Slavery was endemic in the Islamic world from the ealiest recorded times up until the end of the 19th century. The slave market in Zanzibar wasn't shut down until 1888. (Shut down by the French and English)
5) One form of taxation of the Christian population in the balkans was in children, a lot of which went into slavery.
6) It is estimated that more slaves went from Africa into the middle east than went across the water to the Americas. Even the ones that went to the West, often had an Arab middle man selling them in the first place.
7) Slavery still exists in a number of Muslim countries (Sudan and Mauretania). If anything it is growing in the Islamic world at the moment.
8) The Koran sanctifies slavery. For example by allowing Muslim men to have sex with their slave girls (a bit difficult if there aren't any).

Answer 5

Jesus Christ may not have openly condemned slavery but he did teach that God is no respecter of persons. It seems that, as has been said or suggested, slavery in Biblical times was as much a system of class distinction and servitude rather than a system, as experienced in Colonial America, of racial distinction that permeated into long standing, institutionally sanctioned, prejudices and brutality for decades after the “slaves” were freed. It seems to me that Christ never let anyone, including and especially slave owners, off the hook when it came to humane treatment of our fellow man.

I believe it was because Jesus and the writers of the New Testament were trying to change the people and not the institutions ... when you change the people, they change the institutions on their own. The fact is that the anti-slavery (and civil rights) movement(s) were started by and were overwhelmingly "Christian" movements.

Answer 6

It was an accepted institution. Slavery today is unacceptable and it is illegal in every country on earth. The USA is one of the few countries that prosecutes the crime, although it is still widespread throughout the world. In Biblical times it was an honored institution. If a slave could purchase his freedom, often he would stay with his master as a bond servant in pay. Such a person was highly regarded by his mater and in the community. Cruelty has always existed in slavery, but never the likes of it as in the West and as against Africans. Christianity clearly teaches that i am my brother's keeper, but not his master. My brother is my equal----I am to forgive him, help him and above all to love him and respect his dignity as a human being.

Answer 7

Slavery was accepted as part of the natural order of things by all major cultures down the centuries.

It was in fact churches and individual Christians who created the anti-slavery movements in the 19th century, first in Britain and then in the US.

Slavery is still practised in many non-Christian societies in Africa, India and the Gulf, for example.

Answer 8

BrianinChina hit the nail on the head. The very idea of human rights and emancipation from all kinds of social injustices came about in western christian societies, where freedom of expression was respected. Christianity, up to now, has been more than the christian churches - it has been a civilisation.

Answer 9

Could you reference the trusted academic source showing that no Christian churches condemned slavery? I can think of several prominent religious folks who condemned it (such as Harriet Beecher Stowe).

Answer 10

That's a very dogmatic statement, how do you know that they didn't? And if they did/had, would anyone have taken any notice? The church only had jurisdiction in this country, and no slaves were brought to this country. Anyway, it happened a very long time ago in a very different moral climate. Please focus on today's more relevant problems, and don't provide the left wing s--t stirrers with ammunition.

Answer 11

Check your history, that's not true. Quakers for one opposed slavery. So why do you think some muslim countries STILL have slaves? Is this the sign of of a "enlightened" religion in this modern age