The Church and Slavery

Will Landschulz

Am. Lit Per. 2

Mrs. LaMagdeleine

 

The scenes described in these chapters – the Nat Turner scare among them – were interesting, but the one I thought the most thought-provoking was that of a normal (black) church service.  The ministers are white, and most of the time dispense sermons on the theme of “Servants, obey your masters,” which wildly expound on behaviors that only a minority partake in and are wildly inaccurate anyway. For example, the idea that “serving your Masters faithfully . . . is pleasing in the sight of God.”  (69) I thought that slavery was not supposed to be “pleasing” to God.  Paid servitude, yes, but not slavery.  Also, he condemns the time when they are not “engaged in worshipping Him.”  (69) I’m sure that many slaves, Linda among them, would be glad to sacrifice a minute of their time at home, working without pay, if they must spend it kneeling on the cold floor of the church praying.  The ministers, most of the time, are as hypocritical as their non-clergy counterparts, the slaveholders.  The Bible, in particular the story of Jonah, emphasizes compassion, whereas the minister becomes red in the face with mirth as a black mother unburdens the loss of her children to the congregation, who sob along with her, pitying and empathizing with her bereavement. 

However, a rare spiritual diamond is found among the rough of the clergy.  After the laughing clergyman left for a better financial situation, a new pastor came to visit.  He was more partial to the plight of the colored people in the town, and specifically gave sermons that were easier to understand to the blacks, because of the rampant ignorance so common among slaves of that era.  Even before he started his job at the church, he bought five slaves and taught them to read and write.  They adored him and his wife, and on her deathbed, they were freed and given funds to be successful.