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Condemn or condone?

The bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 2007 provides a valuable opportunity to review the history of the transatlantic slave trade and assess its legacy.

The Christian Church was involved in the trade at many levels, but also played a vital role in its abolition. What is the legacy of this contribution, and how can the Church help itself and others to move forward?

Like most religious texts, the bible can be used to support various viewpoints, including slavery. There are numerous references to slavery in the bible that can be interpreted as condemning or condoning the practice.

Even the verses that appear straightforward are unclear when scrutinised. For instance, scriptural passages from the Old Testament books of 'Exodus', 'Leviticus' and 'Deuteronomy' that appear to denounce slavery, actually only condemn enslavement in certain circumstances.

Likewise, although St Paul's New Testament 'Epistles' don't condemn slavery, they argue that enslaved people must be treated fairly as brethren.

Out of Africa

This image from the log of the slave ship 'Sandown' was drawn by captain Samuel Gamble in 1793. It shows the Fulani people bringing captives to the coast to sell to European slave ships  © Historical records show that Islam and Christianity played an important role in enslavement in Africa. The Arab-controlled Trans-Saharan slave trade, which was underpinned by Islam, helped to institutionalise slave trading on the continent.

And during the age of exploration, European Christians who approached the continent via the north witnessed caravans loaded with Africans en-route to the Middle East. Others arriving much later in West Africa observed indigenous African slavery, leading them to assume that African enslavement was inherent in the continent.

For many early European explorers, the bible was not only regarded as infallible, it was also their primary reference book. Answers to explain differences in ethnicity, culture, and slavery were found in Genesis 9: 24-27, which appeared to suggest that the differences were a result of sin.

In this passage, Africans were said to be the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, who was cursed by his father after looking at his naked form. Moreover, in Genesis 10, the 'Table of Nations' describes the origins of the different races and reveals that one of the descendants of Ham is Cush-Cush, and that the Cushites were people associated with the Nile region of North Africa.

In time, the European connection between sin, slavery, skin colour and beliefs would condemn Africans. In the bible, physical or spiritual slavery is often a consequence of sinful actions, while darkness is associated with evil.

Africans were considered heathens, bereft of Christianity. Scholars now suggest that Christianity had reached Africa by the early second century AD and that the Christian communities in North Africa were among the earliest in the world.

But Europeans refused to acknowledge African Christianity as genuine, because it appeared irreconcilable with the continent's cultural context.

The emergence of colonies in the Americas and the need to find labourers saw Europeans turn their attention towards Africa, with some arguing that the Transatlantic Slave Trade would enable Africans, especially the 'Mohammedans' to come into contact with Christianity and civilisation in the Americas - albeit as slaves.

It was even argued that the favourable trade winds from Africa to the Americas were evidence of a providential design.

Quaker opposition

Religion was also a driving force for slavery in the Americas. Once enslaved, Africans were taken to their places of labour, where they were subjected to various processes to make them more compliant to slavery. Christianitsation was part of this process.

Ironically, although evangelisation was one of the justifications for enslaving Africans, very little missionary work took place during the early years. Basically, religion got in the way of a money-making, because it took enslaved Africans away from their work. It also taught them potentially subversive ideas and made it hard to justify their cruel mistreatment by fellow Christians.

Nonetheless, some clergy tried to push the idea that it was possible to be a 'good slave and Christian', using as justification St Paul's 'Epistles', which called for slaves to 'obey their masters' and his writings that appeared to suggest it was commendable for enslaved Christians to suffer at the hands of cruel masters (1 Peter 2: 18-25).

But while some clergymen used Christian scriptures to justify slavery, others were scouring the bible to find references to help end the practice. Although evangelicals tend to receive most of the credit for this, the origins of Christian abolitionism can be traced to the late 17th century and the Religious Society of Friends or 'Quakers'.

Quakers had always been persecuted for their beliefs since the sect was established in the mid-17th century. They believed that everyone was 'equal in the sight of God', and capable of receiving the 'light of God's spirit and wisdom', including Africans.

Several Quaker founders, including George Fox and Benjamin Lay, encouraged people in their congregations not to own slaves. By 1696, Quakers in Pennsylvania officially declared their opposition to the practice of importing Africans into North American to be enslaved.

In the 1750s, Quakers in Philadelphia and London debated slavery at their yearly meetings. Quaker Anthony Benezet's 'Some Historical Account of Guinea' (1772) became required reading for abolitionists on both sides of the Atlantic.

It informed John Wesley's book 'Thoughts Upon Slavery' (1774), which influenced many British Christian abolitionists and was said to have inspired the former slave trader turned clergyman, John Newton to break his decades of silence about his involvement in the slave trade.

Many of the first Christian opponents to slavery came from congregations such as the Quakers, Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists and Baptists. These groups were called 'Nonconformists' or 'Dissenters' because they disagreed with the beliefs and practices of the Church of England.

These Christians were often marginalised because of their stance, but their philosophy enabled them to connect with people who faced other forms of persecution.

Christian abolitionists

But the real thrust of Christian abolitionism emerged from the evangelical revival of the 18th century, which spawned dynamic Christians who had clear-cut beliefs on morality and sin, which shaped their approach to the issue of slavery.

Wesley's 'Thoughts Upon Slavery' questioned the morality of slavery and those who took part in it, while William Wilberforce - the evangelical Anglican member of parliament who campaigned to end the slave trade - believed that he had been called by God to end the immoral practice of slavery.

Many evangelicals were interested in the physical as well as spiritual condition of enslaved Africans. Clergymen such as James Ramsay, who had worked in the Caribbean, was influential in pointing out to fellow believers that many Africans died without hearing the gospel.

Practical evangelical abolition work began with the Anglican Granville Sharp in the mid 1760s, when he fought for the freedom of a young African, Jonathan Strong. Sharp rose to national prominence during the landmark Somerset Case of 1772, which determined the status of slavery in Britain.

Sharp would later join up with the Quakers to establish the first recognised anti-slavery movement in Britain, in 1787. By this time, other Anglicans such as Thomas Clarkson had entered the fray. Clarkson, who wrote an award-wining essay against slavery in 1785, received what he considered to be divine instructions to work towards ending slavery.

It would be wrong to suggest that there were Christian saints and sinners with regards to slavery. It can be argued that both characteristics co-existed within denominations and individuals alike, demonstrating the idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies of all human beings.

For instance, the Quakers have been described as the 'good guys', yet their links to slavery included the infamous David and Alexander of Barclays Bank fame, Francis Baring of Barings Bank and the Quaker merchant Robert King who was Olaudah Equiano's last owner. Even at the height of their anti-slavery activity, many Quaker meeting houses refused to accept Africans into their congregations.

This was also the situation with the other denominations. The Church of England had links to slavery through United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG) missionary organisations, which had plantations in Barbados. The bishop of Exeter personally owned slaves.

Anglicans involved in slavery often poured their ill-gotten gains into church coffers. And in cities with strong links to the slave trade, such as Bristol, the church bells were peeled when Wilberforce's anti-slave trade bills were defeated in parliament.

Africans and Christianity

Not all Anglicans supported slavery. Dr Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London, was an evangelical abolitionist whose sermons regularly railed against slavery. Similarly, the Clapham Sect - a group of Anglicans based around Clapham in south London - carried out sterling work to end the slave trade.

Likewise, the countess of Huntingdon (ironically herself a slave owner) sponsored the poetry of the former enslaved African, Phyllis Wheatley. Wheatley's work, some of which addressed freedom and bondage, was published in Britain because publishers in her home town of Boston, America, would not accept that a black woman could write such exquisite verse.

But the Christian abolitionists have their detractors, and some have argued that they failed to show the same commitment towards ending slavery as they did towards ending the slave trade. Their attitude towards Africans appears condescending by today's standards.

Yet, for their time, they can be considered enlightened, because they recognised that Africans were made in the image of God and believed that Africa could trade with Europe in products rather than human beings.

One of the most common misconceptions about Christianity was that it turned Africans into servile slaves. A more accurate reading suggests that Africans accepted and incorporated aspects of Christianity that were in keeping with their traditional belief systems.

Others withstood centuries of slavery and missionary influence to practise traditional beliefs that thrived despite attempts by the respective authorities to stamp them out.

Adherents to Islam also faced restrictions on their ability to practise their religion openly. When Nonconformist missionaries stepped up attempts to evangelise Africans during the late 18th century, it was noted that African Muslims still held on to their tendency to pray with their arms open, as opposed to the Christian way with hands clasped.

The Africans who embraced Christianity identified closely with the bible's take on freedom, equality and justice - especially in drawing parallels between their own situation and that of the Hebrew people in 'Exodus'. Indeed, such was the potency of this Old Testament story that many clergymen were instructed to avoid it in their bible lessons.

But for Africans it demonstrated that God was on the side of the oppressed and would send a Moses to free them. It was ironic that for Africans, the Americas (and the US in particular) represented the biblical Egypt or Babylon - a place from which to escape, while for persecuted European Christians it was seen as the Promised Land.

Rebellion and education

It is no coincidence that in the African diaspora, leaders in the black community are invariably men and women of faith - a trait that is traceable to slavery. During this era, a religious leader was deemed to be called by God and given wisdom and power to lead.

Practically all the leaders of slave insurrections were men and women of faith (or were protected by prayers or hexes) such as Tacky (Tacky's Rebellion), Nanny of the Maroons, Toussaint l'Ouverture and Boukman (St Domingue/Haiti), Sam Sharpe (Jamaica), Nat Turner (USA) and Quamina (Guyana).

Moreover, many slave insurrections such as the Tacky, Bussa and Christmas Rebellions, occurred during Christian religious festivals. There is little doubt that Africans took umbrage at the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be followers of a merciful God, yet forced his 'children' to work on holy days.

Africans in Britain also used the so-called 'slave masters' tool' to destroy his house. The status of slavery in England remained ambiguous during the 18th century because of parliament's failure to address the issue directly in law.

English Common Law suggested that Christians could not be enslaved, and the subsequent ruling of 1772 by Lord Chief Justice William Mansfield held out the mistaken hope for many Africans that a baptised slave living in England was free. Consequenlty, scores of Africans, such as Olaudah Equiano, were baptised in St Margaret's Church in Westminster, London.

England proved a magnet for want-away Africans, and many such as Equiano joined the campaign to end slavery. Once he had obtained his freedom, Equiano wrote his autobiography and worked with a group called the 'Sons of Africa for African Freedom'.

Equiano petitioned parliament and Queen Charlotte on the question of slavery, and was a regular writer for publications such as the Morning Chronicle, London Advertiser and Public Advertiser. He also exchanged theological arguments on slavery with the number one slave trade apologist for the Church - the Liverpool-based Clergyman, Rev Raymond Harris.

Through their writing and speaking, these Africans dispelled notions of racial inferiority and black people's complacency towards slavery. Unlike their white counterparts, Africans had little option but to oppose slavery as they were always susceptible to enslavement by unscrupulous traders.

Consequently, Africans such as Ottobah Cugoano, who published his 'Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species' demanded immediate, not gradual freedom for enslaved Africans in the late 18th century, at a time when his white counterparts were concentrating on the limited goal of ending the slave trade.

The Church today

Some Christians see the bicentenary of the parliamentary act to end the slave trade as an opportunity to highlight faith-based activism at its best.

For evangelicals, it is a chance to reclaim the social justice mantle that was handed over to the liberals by those who thought that such work was a distraction from preaching the gospel.

Some are turning their attention to modern day slavery and suggesting that a new generation of abolitionists need to be as prophetic as their forebears in ending this new affront to human dignity.

But many in the Church see the bicentenary as an opportunity for it to examine its role during this era and make amends for past mistakes.

Christian scriptures were used as part of the process to enslave and dehumanise Africans and, for these Christians, the Church must work to end the legacies of slavery and the racism that still blight Church and society.

There is little doubt that the Church, like many in society, sees the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade as an opportunity to examine how the slave trade helped to shape Britain and are keen to ensure that they play a key role in marking this milestone.

Find out more

Books

African History: a Very Short Introduction by John Parker and Richard Rathbone (Oxford, 2007)

Slavery in Early Christianity by Jennifer A. Glancy (Oxford, 2002)

Islam's Black Slaves: The History of Africa's Other Black Diaspora by Ronald Segal (Atlantic Books, 2001)

Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black Religion by Anthony B Pinn (Fortress Press, 2003)

The White Man's Burden by Jordan D Withrop (Oxford, 1974)

Africa in History by Basil Davidson (Paladin, 1984)

England in the Age of Improvement: 1783-1867 by Asa Briggs (The Folio Society, 1997)

The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery 1776 - 1848 by Robin Blackburn (Verso, 1988)

Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery by Adam Hochschild (MacMillan, 2005)

The Clapham Sect by Margaret Bryant (The Clapham Society, 2004)

The Great Abolition Sham: The true story of the end of the British slave trade by Michael Jordan (Sutton, 2005)

Black Church Beginnings: The Long-hidden realities of the first years by Henry H Mitchell (Eerdmans, 2004)

God of the Oppressed by James H Cone (Orbis, 1997)

The Caribbean by Gad Heuman, (Hodder Arnold, 2006)

History of Jamaica by Clinton V Black (Collins Press, 1973)

Equiano the African: Biography of a Self-made Man by Vincent Carretta (University of Georgia, 2005)

Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution by Simon Schama (³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Books, 2005)

About the author

Richard Reddie was born in Bradford, England to Jamaican parents. He is currently project director of 'set all free', a Churches Together in England initiative established to commemorate the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 2007. He has written for a number of Christian and secular publications, including Focus, Christianity, the Weekly Gleaner and the Voice. He has just written the book Abolition about the slave trade.