Sunday, June 16, 2019
Conflict of Religion and Slavery in the Frederick Douglass Narrative Essay
Conflict of Religion and Slavery in the Frederick Douglass Narrative - Essay ExampleReligion is not the domain of the dermatologist. The arguments of the sportys to view religion from the eyeshot of color needs to be dismissed without further arguments, as only lunatics can forward such a point of view. Those who justify slavery quoting scriptures atomic number 18 like Satan quoting the Bible. They just do not possess an elementary knowledge about the revelation. Douglass encounters with the so-called Christians, who treat slaves in the most inhuman style, perk up his belief in religion. Mr. Severe, overseer in charge at Colonel Lloyds plantation, is one of such individuals. As the divinity intervenes he dies as soon as Douglass arrives there. The gullible and innocent slaves take it as a blessing from God. The replacement for his place, Mr. Hopkins, is a good person. The love-hate tussles as for religion in his mind continue, and he thinks that it is a good fortune that he is no t one of the slavery victims when he is selected and shifted to the Great House Farm, where life is comfortable. The cruel strokes of destiny fallen on his nanna who is left to die alone shake his faith in God, and he puts his judgment to test by asking questions about His style of functioning. What deeply tenor Douglass is the hypocrites donning the garb of preachers as guardians of religion. Some of them are Master Thomas, the Methodist who holds the slaves on the plea that he takes care of them, but in reality he does not spare even a crippled girl named Henny from his practices of cruelty. At St. Michaels, a Sabbath school for slaves established by Whiteman is closed under the violent threats by white religious zealots. Religion, as it is practiced, never helps the cause of blacks, and Douglass mentions Mr. Rigby Hopkins, one of the sterling religious hypocrites, who derives sadistic pleasure in beating his slave on silly pretexts. such(prenominal) religious leaders quote from the Bible selectively, and their assertions are out of the context. Douglass writes, I read said my master found religious sanction for his cruelty. I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cow skin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red root to drip and, in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture ? He that knoweth his masters will and doeth it, not shall be crush with many stripes. (Douglass 52). This is the highest form of insult to Christianity. Thus, in the mid-1800s, religion is used as the tool to destroy the emotional world of the slaves and break their psyche. Severe whipping is prevalent which often causes bodily harm to the slaves. Their working hours are long, from the sun-rise to the sun-set in the open farms, in all kinds of weather. With no educational facilities and no scope for personal say-so possible for the slaves, the doors to the knowledge world remain shut for them from the cradle to the grave and from the womb to the tomb In Douglass time, slavery is being practiced at its worst. The bulk of the religious clusters in America barring the Society of Friends support slavery. That is the period when the brotherhood and South are vertically divided by the issue of slavery. The Christians of the North favor the abolition of slavery, but the Southerners are adamant about retaining it and thoroughly convinced that it has the religious sanctity. The worst part is the condemnation and appreciation of slavery is make in the name of Christianity. So, the politics of religion dominates the issue of slavery. Douglass does not condemn Christianity as such, but his strong resentment is
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