The Invisible Church Essay Research Paper The

The Invisible Church Essay, Research Paper

The purpose of this paper is ask and attempt to answer the question of the presence of religion during oppressionistic times, particularly during the enslavement of black people in the United States. Rev. Thornton Stringfellow, a Baptist minister of Culpepper County, Virginia, during the 1850 s was one of the most forceful and popular preachers of the biblical defense of slavery. Scriptural and Statistical Views in Favor of Slavery, a widely article published in 1856, Stringfellow stated that the institution of slavery has received . the sanction of the Almighty and quotes Genesis to prove that the posterity of Ham (Africans) should be held in a state of abject bondage by the descendants of Japheth (Europeans) as a divine curse, the so called Hamitic Curse. The biblical curse upon Ham is the centerpiece of White Cultural domination. Stringfellow believed that masters should have absolute authority over theirs slaves and that the masters had the right to expect unfailing obedience from them. Southern White Christians had a religion that saw the African as people, yes, but as an inferior people who needed parenting. This belief which legitimated the practice of slavery, was based on the notion that a father/son or mother/daughter relationship existed between the master and the slave. This relationship allowed the master to regulate the actions and behaviors of the slave, as a parent would do the same for their child or children. Slave owners where confident that he being the slave s superior knew what was right and best for the slave and this justified the demand for unfailing obedience. This was to be attained through the use of moral persuasion or if necessary the use of physical force. Rev. Fred A. Ross, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Huntsville, Alabama, during the 1850 s had this to say; ..the relation of the master and slave is not sin; and not withstanding its admitted evils, it is a connection between the highest and the lowest races of man, revealing influences which may be, and will be, most benevolent for the ultimate good of the master and the slave . There were times where slaves dutifully played the role of a child in relating to their masters and earned rewards. This is true of Mary, a slave in St. Louis, who remembers her life with the Armstrong family: Mr. Will and Miss Olivia sure is good to me, and I never calls Mr. Will Massa neither, but when there s company I calls him Mr. Will and roundthe house by ourselves I calls them Pappy and Mammy, cause they raise me up from a little girl. White Christian slaveowners had the tendency to see their slaves as inferior to themselves and that inferiority required parenting those who they deemed inferior. This paternalism justified the segregation and exploitation that were very critical to in keeping the economic interests of the community. This idea of paternalism raised a very disturbing question amongst the leadership of the church. Should African slaves be forced to conform to the religion or should the remain as they are seen in the eyes of their masters, as heathens. Believers of slavery believed that that the action of christianizing the African slaves was the a requirement of being a good Christian and the will of God, while others opposed the idea arguing it violated the divinely ordained master/slave relationship, and still others ignored the matter. Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816, endorses the christianization of Blacks he described his master as an affectionate and tender-hearted man who after becoming Christian, worshipped with his slaves and respected them as fellow-believers: While living with him we slaves had family prayer in the kitchen, to which he frequently would come out of himself at the time of prayer and my mistress with him. At length he invited us from the kitchen to the parlor to hold family prayer, which we attended. As a Christian, Allen s owner, could not be satisfied to hold slaves, believing it to be wrong, and, acting on this conviction, he allowed Richard and his brother to purchase their freedom. Slaveowners maintained that it was their responsibility before God, the pragmatically argued that it did not challenge White domination. Thus, they tended to spiritually interpret, but did nothing to change the existing power relations based on race. Blacks were slaves, and Christians or Non-Christians, Whites were free. On the other hand, some slaveholders were resistant to the christianization of their slaves. One of the best examples is the attitude of Master Hugh, the owner of Frederick Douglass, who chastised his wife for teaching Frederick to read the Scriptures. Learning will spoil the best nigger in the world. If he learns to read the Bible, it will forever unfit him to be a slave. He should know nothing but the will of his master and learn to obey it .. If you teach him to read, he will want to know how to write, and this accomplished, he ll be running away with himself. As Master Hugh prohibited Douglass from reading the Bible, other slaveholders forbade their slaves to attend church services. Such is the report of Henry Box Brown, a Virginia slave who during the early 1800 s had himself shipped in a box through the public mail from Richmond to Philadelphia and so to freedom. Prior to 1750, slave owners had shown little interest in African religious life and had made no concerted effort to share their