if church supported slavery.....how can there be so many christians from the black race ?

Question

their ancestors suffered so much thanks to their christians masters.

Answer 1

Being from the South, I know a lot of christians who are black. The answer to your question is in the question itself. SLAVERY! Christianity was not an option for slaves. To make black slaves more docile and less resistant to their circumstances, Christianity was forced upon them. A bit of history here, an English law forbade Christians from enslaving Christians, so early colonial legislation instituted a law that said if slaves were baptized to become Christians that would not alter their slave status. For over 200 yrs "African-Americans" were forced to obey Christianity, so you can see leaving it is not an easy option, especially today since ~75% of Americans came to Christians. But by the same token, Black-Americans interpreted the Bible slightly different from White-Americans. Since the African-American experience closely resembles the Jewish experience(like in the the Old Testament where Moses led the Exodus), blacks began to change their interpretation of the Colonial Churches role for them in Christianity. If you ever have a chance to go an African Methodist Episcopal church, compare it to a Roman Catholic church and you will see some the differences I refer to.

Answer 2

Back when slavery was legal, the slaves' masters would gather everyone together with an african american priest to talk about God and Jesus, to obey their master, etc. Because of this, you could say early african americans were introduced into christianity, and beleived that God was a loving god, and would save them from slavery. When slavery ended, god was thanked, and their religion was passed down generations.

Answer 3

there's a big difference between Christianity and the church, between what Jesus taught and what the establishment decided what was true - already soon after Jesus was gone, and especially when the church became acceptable, people took what Jesus said and told others - this is what Jesus meant. So when the black slaves were exposed to the Christian Bible and heard the words of Jesus, they heard the words of liberation there, they could see that the slaveowners perverted those words, but that perversion didn't make the original words untrue, they believed the words of liberation that Jesus said.

Answer 4

Good question. Especially since many churches didn't totally integrate until the 1960s.

Blacks must have liked the message.

Also, SOME American religions gave blacks their freedom after 7 years or so back in the 1600s, which was unprecedented.

Maybe that helped.

Answer 5

The church did not support slavery. Some of people of the day did. They taught their slaves to believe what they, themselves believed. Some of the people living in the south, were taught from the time they were little children to believe in slavery.
Whites and Blacks alike. You can't do better till you know better.
There are whites today who teach their children to think of blacks as less. Blacks who teach their children to fear whites. I don't see this wrong way of thinking dying in my time. So Sad.

Answer 6

Because it was the religion of the dominate culture. If from your prospective you saw how easily your people could be kept in bondage by a people who claimed their "God" gave them the right, wouldn't you maybe want some of that?

After many years what became a survival technique became the way things were done.
It is kind of like an advance version of the Stockholm syndrome.

Answer 7

God asks EVERYONE to be accepting, non-judgmental, and without prejudice. Just because one's Church is defying God does not mean that the congregation needs to rush to Hell along with their pastor. I live by ONE word and law ... Harm No One! It makes it really easy. When you see that your words or actions are harmful to others, such as the gay-bashers, then don't do it. Simple. Peace I AM Dartagnon

Answer 8

ive heard that maybe the blacks prayed to their god/gods[before christianity] to help them from thier crual slavery. but of coarse since there is no such thing as a god nothing responded theyre help in time and many might have stopped believing in thier god/gods...and converted to believing in the christian god. [christian god because what other god is there at the time and place?] and by the time something did start happening many of the enslaved blacks probably had converted by then thus making them believe the christian god did exist and had answered thier prayers to end thier crual slavery.

Answer 9

The Bible DOES support slavery.

Answer 10

They were not Christians and sadly they are not waiting to join us in heaven, those who opposed and were alienated for denouncing slavery wait to enter the kingdom of god, not all who claim to be christian are in fact Christan, a follower of Christ shall be like Christ, they are to be Christ like and no less.