Gods Justice: The Sin of Slavery - Assignment Example

God’s Justice: The Sin of Slavery Outline I. Introduction. A. Throughout the course of history, slavery has been a part of almost every civilization. B. No religion has ever regarded slavery as a sin or an immorality. C. Many historians give credit to enlightenment, false consciousness and economic factors for the abolition of slavery. D. Religions have played a major and a very substantial role in the abolition of slavery and yet, they are not given the credit due by many historians. II. The sin of slavery. A. A Brief Survey of Slavery. 1. Slavery is found among the Northwest Coastal Indians in it’s real form 2. Greek and Roman Empires relied heavily on slaves both for production and consumption. 3. Slavery died a sloe death in Christendom; there was almost no slavery in Europe by the beginning of Fifteenth century. 4. Historians claim that the slaves were treated very well in the Muslim world. 5. Slavery exists in probably its worst form in Africa; they have been the most abundant suppliers of slaves to the whole world. 6. European countries made several colonies in the New World and, after failing in enslavement of the locals, they hired a huge amount of slaves from Africa. 7. The Churches in European countries urged for the need of a code of conduct for the treatment of slaves; France was the pioneer in the enactment of such a code. 8. The Portuguese had a very lose control over Indian slaves in Brazil; they imported a lot of slaves from Africa. 9. A few slaves were imported in North America probably due to the reason that their slavery was not based on the plantation of sugar unlike other colonies of the New World. B. Gods and Morality. 1. Morality depends upon the image of God that a religion has; a religion which has the kind of God that cares about and heeds the calls of his worshippers has higher morality. 2. Philosophers were regarded as the source of morality in polytheisms but none of them has ever opposed slavery. 3. Slavery was not openly condemned but made very humane in Judaism through a revelation of God on Moses. 4. Popes and Churches have condemned slavery from a very long time and played in a significant role in the abolishment of slavery by regarding it as a sin; they constantly opposed slavery and pushed the European governments to enact code of conducts for slavery. 5. Unlike other monotheisms, Islam did not turn against slavery but treated their slaves very kindly especially in the early days of Islam. C. Explaining Abolition Movements. 1. Slavery was abolished in America after hard fought battles of Quakers against the evil of bondage. 2. Quakers inspired British Quakers and the French who started a similar revolution in their countries. 3. Slavery existed on a small scale in Spanish colonies and died itself with the passage of time. D. The “Enlightenment” and Slavery. 1. The abolition of slavery is not a product of enlightenment. 2. The role of economic factors is also very minimal. 3. Misperceptions and mixed motives have made people believe that slavery was abolished due to enlightenment. III. Conclusion. A. Slavery did not die of its own inefficiency or obsolescence. B. The abolition of slavery is the execution of an immoral system incited with moral fervor and the potent capacity of monotheisms. Essay Out of so many moral problems, one was slavery. Human beings were treated like animals in cattle. Every person has his dignity and must be free to choose what he wants to do. Slavery is deprivation of the right of freedom. It, in every way, disrespects and disregards human rights. The inequality of human beings is the biggest sin that was committed through slavery. The abolition of slavery is a really big achievement on mankind. The credit for this milestone is given to enlightenment and economic forces but the role of religions is ignored by many historians. In fact, many bad things that have happened through the course of history are regarded as consequences of religious factors. Religions are responsible for many good things and one of them is the abolition of slavery. Slavery has been a part of almost every civilization. It was not regarded as immoral and never seen with required skepticism. In some cases, it is also seen that slaves were the people of the same ethnicity as their masters. According to Stark1, the primary motive of having slaves was the function of human productivity. Even now we see that some people try to have complete control of the sources of production and that time, slaves were probably the best sources of production. There are two types of slavery i.e. non-productive slavery and consumption slavery. Some early scholars have mentioned that slavery existed in its very true form in North West Coastal Indians. They were traded, killed at will and full physical controls were exercised on them. Natural resources were in abundance in those times and it was really easy for common people to afford slaves. Studies of Greek and Roman empires reveal that even they were not free from slavery. This is a general argument that slavery was the most important factor of production and the maintenance of law & order in these Empires. They depended heavily on slave labor both in the form of production and consumption. The slaves had to work in hard conditions and most of them used to be chained while working. In Islamic world, slaves were used for consumption. Most of the slaves were 'whites' from Europe and, when Islamic forces were pushed out of Europe, slaves were taken from Africa mostly. Historians claim that the slaves in Islamic world were treated very kindly and they enjoyed almost all of their rights as human beings. They were not treated very well and it is evident due to the fact that the black people constitute a very little population of the Muslims. The fight against slavery in Christendom had been in effect since the Ninth century. It was not condemned or called sinful anywhere in the Bible but Popes and priests felt that it was their moral duty to fight slavery. Slavery had been gotten rid of by the Fifteenth century in Europe but arrival of some black slaves from Africa threatened to revive it. The parts having contact with Muslims had the devil of slavery. European people were aware about the threat. They took effective measures and they regarded the incoming slaves as free people. They believed that a person arriving in free land becomes free automatically. Pope III played a major role in declaring slavery as a sin. Spanish and Portuguese successful invasions of the New World2 were followed with the efforts to enslave Indians. Pope III said that slavery was brought about by Satan and no person should be deprived of his liberty. But in those times, Popes did not have much influence and there was no pacing down in the enslavement of African Blacks. The discovery of New World urged Europeans to spread their interests and they required a huge labor force. They tried to enslave the Native Americans but failed to do so. They found out that cheap labor was available in Africa in abundance. The Africans were ready to supply slaves as they earned good margins in the process. Therefore, within a short period of time, a huge number of African slaves were working in the New World. The master-slave relation was better in the French Colonies because the French promulgated a law called Code Noir providing the slaves with the fundamental rights of human beings. However, it is argued by some historians that there is no evidence that this law was promulgated efficiently. The Spanish adopted almost a similar code in their colonies with some good modifications which made the lives of their slaves very pleasant. They even gave the slaves a right to earn their freedom. The British enacted a code called Code of Barbados which allowed the masters to treat their slaves in any manner. They can be called the worst masters of slaves as it is unbelievable that such a law was passed by the government. The Portuguese, on the other hand, had a lose control over their Indian slaves in Brazil. Most of them used to escape and they had a low mortality rate against European diseases. They imported a lot of slaves from Africa who had a high mortality rate. The studies of how these slaves were treated are vague but it is found out that beating and torturing of slaves was within the law. In America, various abolition movements took place. One of them was by John Woolman3 in the 18th century started through his writing. His and other sister movements in the country tried to persuade slave-owners to free their slaves and tried to fill them with the fear of God. Contemporary movements include the movements by Quakers4 who also tried hard to end slavery through religion. Churches in America joined forces with Popes in condemning slave trade. Quakers inspired British Quakers and they started a similar quest in Britain. As Britain was saved from the evil of bondage, they also helped France to get rid of slavery. British abolitionists, of which a substantial number of members were religious people, helped to end slavery everywhere. They gave financial support and their scope widened with the passage of time. In Latin America, the anti-slavery movements were successful at a better rate than in France, Britain and America because there were fewer slaves in Latin America. They did not use slaves mainly in the production sector. It was easier to emancipate the slaves used for consumption. According to Stark5, the moral arguments about slavery are not a product of enlightenment. Many philosophers who could be considered as the source of enlightenment accepted slavery as a part of the human society. He also mentions that the credit also cannot be given to the economic studies. Adam Smith6 said that slavery was much more costly than free labor and it was not profitable to have slaves. Stark argues that slaves were cheaper than free labor because the masters did not have to pay any direct wages to them. He also claims that the Marxists7 are also misled when they counter Smith’s views with false consciousness. Going through history, it is repeatedly revealed that slavery was opposed largely by religious people. Stark mentions the confession by the Marxist historians that religious beliefs were responsible for abolition movements denying the Marxist’s other claim that they were insincere. According to him, abolition is theological. It is mentioned above that no religion has condemned slavery in its scripture. If religions had done so, no slaves would have been found in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Theology attempts to point out new sins and condemn them. Jackson J. Spielvogel8 believes that humanitarian and economic interests were responsible for the abolition of slavery. He agrees with the views of Adam Smith that slavery was indeed costly than free labor. The economic downturn compelled the governments to lower their costs of production and they abolished slavery to cut the costs of purchasing, capturing, and maintaining costs of slaves. His views confirm partially to the views of Stark. Spielvogel talked about the moral arguments which were mostly generated by religions. It could be argued that moral arguments could have emerged from the philosophers but that is not entirely the case according to Stark. Stark also believes that economic interests were not the primary reason of abolition but he did not deny its positive role openly either. Therefore, the contradictions can be reconciled. It can be said that there are many factors that deflect one’s views from another but in the end of the discussion, we can see that there is a thin line of conformity between these views. Stark’s views are flexible and there is a room for other factors to be incorporated. His primary motive is to give the religious sector, especially monotheisms, the credit that it deserves for the abolition of slavery. Monotheisms were a very potent force in the abolition of slavery. Stark confers with and quotes Roger William Fogel, “The death of slavery was ‘a political execution of an immoral system at its peak of economic success incited by [people] ablaze with moral fervor.’”9 The declaration of slavery as sinful was the biggest factor of its abolition which put fear in the hearts of believers, the fear of God’s justice. Bibliography Stark, Rodney. For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery. United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 2003. Spielvogel, Jackson. World History: From 1500. United States of America: Thomson Learning Inc, 2007. Read More