1. ♪ I’m NOT culturally Christiaaaan! ♪
I’m culturally secular, thank you.
Like many (if not most) secular atheists, I was raised being taught about as many religions as my mom could get a hand on info about.
I have family members who are Wicca and family members who worship Candomblé.
I’ve had my Orixá de Cabeça divined by a Quimbanda priestess, been to a Buddhist temple on several occasions, taken university classes on Greco-Romano and Norse mythology & culture, celebrated a Pagan Summer Solstice celebration, and attended a South American equivalent of a Powwow to honour my Indigenous ancestors.
I’ve also been avidly studying comparative religion since I was 5 out of personal interest.
Just because I’m discussing Christianity does not make me culturally Christian.
And if you mean I’m “culturally Christian” because I live in a Christian-majority country, then Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, Sikhs, and Muslims in my country are all culturally Christian too by your logic.
2. I was talking about Christianity because the comment I was referencing was by a Christian.
Don’t worry, I know that God in the Jewish Torah and Muslim Qu’ran is pro-slavery too.
““If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to go free like the men-slaves.” (Shemot 21:7)
“If a person beats his male or female slave with a stick so severely that he dies, he is to be punished; except that if the slave lives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his property.” (Shemot 21:20-21)
“Concerning the men and women you may have as slaves: you are to buy men- and women-slaves from the nations surrounding you. You may also buy the children of foreigners living with you and members of their families born in your land; you may own these. You may also bequeath them to your children to own; from these groups you may take your slaves forever. But as far as your brothers the people of Isra’el are concerned, you are not to treat each other harshly.” (Vayikra 25:44-46)
“except with their spouses and slave-girls. The practice of carnal relations is lawful with them.” (Surah 23:6)
“except from their wives and slave girls, in which case they are not to be blamed,” (Surah 70:30)
“Prophet, We have made lawful for you your wives whom you have given their dowry, slave girls whom God has given to you as gifts, the daughters of your uncles and aunts, both paternal and maternal, who have migrated with you.” (Surah 33:50)
3. It’s not a “gotcha argument” to do exactly what the person said I should do.
The person said “Read Exodus”.
I did.
And it literally has a section on how Jews can enslave other Jews.
The Leviticus quote I gave, in turn, explicitly says “You can enslave the heathen that surround you and keep them as your property to pass on to your children.”
4. How is it a “word game” to quote an explicitly clear text verbatim?
The text explicitly says “You can own these people as property.”
If you’re telling me that that’s not what the text means when it literally says that then I’m not the one playing word games, my friend.
5. I’m not the only one who says the text in the Bible is pro-slavery.
“…scriptural passages from the Old Testament books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy which appear to denounce slavery actually condemn enslavement in certain circumstances rather than slavery in general.”
“…some clergy tried to push the idea that it was possible to be a ‘good slave and Christian’ and pointed to St Paul’s epistles, which called for slaves to ‘obey their masters’, and St Peter’s letters (1 Peter 2: 18-25), which appeared to suggest that it was wholly commendable for Christian slaves to suffer at the hands of cruel masters.”
“The Hebrew Bible condones slavery, contains laws regulating it, and even uses it as a metaphor to describe God’s relationship with Israel. The New Testament, entrenched in the Greco-Roman world, accepts the fact of slavery, commands slaves to obey their masters, and even recounts the return of a slave to his master.”
“Don’t let anybody tell you that biblical slavery was somehow less brutal than slavery in the United States.”
“Slaveowners possessed not only the slaves’ labour but also their sexual and reproductive capacities. When the Bible refers to female slaves who do not “please” their masters, we’re talking about the sexual use of slaves. Likewise when the Bible spells out the conditions for marrying a slave (see Exodus 21:7-11).”
“Slavery did not accompany a particular racial status, as it eventually did in the United States, but the Hebrew Bible stipulates preferred treatment for Israelite slaves (see Exodus 21:1-11; 25:39-55; Deuteronomy 15:12-18). … Military conquest contributed greatly to the slave market as well.”
The Bible does not attempt to hide the presence of slaves. Beware modern translations that use “servant” to cover up slave language.
“In the New Testament, Jesus frequently refers to slaves in his parables, the witty stories that marked his most distinctive teaching style. He never addresses slavery as an institution, though unfortunately one of the parables assumes that beating a slave is acceptable (Luke 12:47-48).”
