Frederick Douglass And Religion Essay
It’s disappointing how people can me be so unreal, claiming to believe one thing while committing actions that go against that belief simultaneously. In the Narrative of a Slave, an autobiography by Frederick Douglass, Douglass explains how the Christianity that is practiced by slaveholders is the root of the internal conflicts of people leading hypocritical lives by helping them find an excuse for their brutality, through his analysis and examples. The slaveholders of America were leading hypocritical lives during Douglass’s time. They were religious but devilish as well. Those monsters who claimed themselves “Christians” prayed with the same hand they tortured slaves with. They were like devils dressed as angels. An example by
…show more content…
That was the root of all the conflicts. A quote that further illustrates this is “but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty”(Douglass, pg 66). This quote conveys how converting to Christianity didn’t do any good but instead, it made the slaveholders worse than they were before. By stating “found religious sanction” he meant that in the old testament in the bible, slavery was approved but it has restrictions. However, that slavery is not the slavery practiced by Americans during that time period.Therefore, Christianity of the land wasn’t even a real religion. Adding on, another example of why the slaveholding religion is the root of these internal conflicts is when Douglass sees master Thomas Auld tieing up the disabled women and beating the life out of her because she was worthless. Then he gave an excuse for his bloody act by quoting this passage of Scripture “He that knoweth his master’s will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Douglass, pg 68). This shows that they were practicing Christianity incorrectly. They were making their own religion up and claiming themselves Christians.Douglass also indicated that the non-religious people were less aggressive and cruel than the religious ones. Therefore, slaveholders’ conversions challenged slaves and influenced the
That was the root of all the conflicts. A quote that further illustrates this is “but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty”(Douglass, pg 66). This quote conveys how converting to Christianity didn’t do any good but instead, it made the slaveholders worse than they were before. By stating “found religious sanction” he meant that in the old testament in the bible, slavery was approved but it has restrictions. However, that slavery is not the slavery practiced by Americans during that time period.Therefore, Christianity of the land wasn’t even a real religion. Adding on, another example of why the slaveholding religion is the root of these internal conflicts is when Douglass sees master Thomas Auld tieing up the disabled women and beating the life out of her because she was worthless. Then he gave an excuse for his bloody act by quoting this passage of Scripture “He that knoweth his master’s will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Douglass, pg 68). This shows that they were practicing Christianity incorrectly. They were making their own religion up and claiming themselves Christians.Douglass also indicated that the non-religious people were less aggressive and cruel than the religious ones. Therefore, slaveholders’ conversions challenged slaves and influenced the