[CondoleezzaProtege]

- Excerpt from a good article. Yes, Christians owned slaves and plenty defended the institution, with some half-defending it. And still others who came to regret their views later, even freeing their slaves to reflect this.

Regardless, the ideological and theological origins of the abolition movement (both in USA and UK) are not discussed enough in historical discourse.

The debate about slavery far preceded the 19th Century as is noted by the 3/5ths clause in the Constitution and such -- but the seeds of abolition were very much present even before the USA's official founding. And it's because these seeds were rooted in the highly religious soil of the 13 colonies.

[jeffersondem]

“Furthermore – and here it sounds scandalous – most Southern slaves were treated materially well by their “owners.” The average slave consumed more calories and lived longer than the average, white, Northern city-dweller. Contrary to popular myth, slave families were rarely divided up — only about 3% were — and slave-owners rarely used their slaves for sexual indulgence, with only about 2% of slave births being by white fathers."

This is going to rub some fur the wrong way, especially among liberals.

[GOPJ]

Fogel concluded that it was not economic forces that brought about the end of slavery but a moral revolution rooted in Puritanism. Christians, mainly from Puritan New England and Quaker Pennsylvania, turned the tide of popular opinion in the North against slavery. Remember, originally every state was a slave-state. Slavery was normalcy for America too at its founding. That changed because Christians increasingly agreed that slavery was evil, transforming what had been a slave-holding country into a house divided.

Great post...

[Yaelle]

Thanks, saving to read.

[Cronos]

Christians AND Zoroastrians ended slavery:

1. In Europe and the Christian Middle East (Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, Iraq) - by Christians. There were no more slaves there

2. in Iran and Persian ruled Iraq and Central Asia - by Zoroastrianism which had similarly outlawed slavery when Cyrus the Group conquered it.

3. Slavery of local “indians” in the Americas - by Catholic priests who protested against the actions of the Spanish and portuguese.

4. Slavery of black people transported from Africa — by METHODISTS specifically (I’m not Methodist, note) - who protested against the slavery transportation and use by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans and Baptists.

Islam is pro-slavery in contrast