To Christians: Do you feel slavery should not have been abolished?
483870
Slavery has existed in every society, race, culture and religion for eons. It only began to be condemned in the Christian West since the religious fanatic abolitionists came on the scene in the early 1800s. St. Paul writes in the New Testament for Christian slaves to obey their masters. Slavery exists in many parts of the world today especially in Islamic countries where generally their slaves are Negroes. A slave trade still exists between esat Africa and Arabia. Of Course Negroes were the first to enslave other Negroes and then by the Arabs centuries before the Portuguese arrive on the west coast of Africa.
196145
I am a Christian.  However the bible was written by MAN not GOD.  I do not think God wants us to be slaves to our husbands, thats just what man wanted from women.
637315
First of all no it was not proper for those souls to be enslaved. God created all men..or should I say people equal.\n\nBut it was the Irish who brought the slaves over to North America to start with...so they are to apologize as well.\n\nAn apology is indeed warranted to the peoples of Africa .
961666
First of all there were black people in the bible *shock*. One of the disciples is even refered to as Niger, which in Greek, yes Greek, this is not a misspelling of "the N-word", it means- "The Black Man". So, blacks even followed at the footsteps of Jesus when he was living. In the New Testament era, slavery was not an all bad thing. Slaves were required by law to be released at age 33, they were paid for their work and recieved the lump-sum at their release, and after they were release they became Roman citizens. It actually was a pretty good deal, assuming your "owner" treated you well, and most did from all of the accounts we have. Most slaves once released used the skills they learned and the money they made to go open their own business. Oh, and most Roman slaves were white. Also, there is a Ethiopian eunich mentioned in the New Testament, most likely he was black, and he became a Christian as well. So, Christianity and black Christians far outdates the White to black slavery you are refering to.
916215
While Lincoln had bad feelings about slavery he had even worse feelings about Blacks as a race.  So while St. Peter and St. Paul and even Jesus seemed to have had little objection to slavery they would have had serious objections to Lincolns attitude toward Blacks.\n\nLincoln was a great man and a great president but his views on human rights for ALL races would have disappointed Jesus, Peter and Paul.\n\nIn the 1960's I think Peter and Paul would have gone with the civil rights activists.  Slavery hadn't been a question for 100 years but the HUMAN rights of Blacks had never really come true for them.
592384
It was not just about slavery but that is about all most people know about it. Of course it is good that slavery was abolished but slavery continued in the North even during the Civil War. In the south, most cotton farmers faired little better than the slaves, picking cotton along side them. It was not just about big Plantations and rich white slave masters in red coats and top hats!\n\nThe south was destroyed.\nThe war was primarily an economic war just like most wars. In this case, over cotton.\nThe South was threatening to have their cotton sent to Europe and bypass the East. The East would have been hurt tremendously and used the slavery issue as a way to garner public support.\n\nThe pros were that the East kept their manufacturing and slavery was abolished.\nThe cons are too numerous to mention. People's lives and livelihoods were destroyed for decades to come. Carpet baggers made it even worse after the war was over. Many blacks stayed on the farms and helped with the recovery.\n\nThis is an interesting war to study and I hope you enjoy your research. It seems like the slavery issue is all people know about it.
888751
slavery still exists. its just in a different form. there are slaves here in america and in other parts of the world. i am surprised u never heard of it. there are woman who come into this country with a promised job as a "maid" and when they get over here their employer takes their passports and keeps their wages. which is slavery.
625165
I think so. It was definitely helped along by radicals on both sides but I don't think either the issue of slavery or that of whether or not states had a right to secede (A major point of debate and contention since the ratification of the Constitution), would ever have been resolved otherwise. It's unfortunate but sometimes that's just the way it is. In the end our country was much better off though.
1085274
Slavery, as it pertained to the jews, was different from in most other parts of the world.  Jews, for instance were required to free whatever slaves they had every seven years.  In addition, they were supposed to treat their slaves with decency - shouldn't rape or kill or beat half to death.  As a result, slavery was never very profitable or common among the Israelites.  Also, being a slave would therefore imply something different.  Given time, you would be free.  Thus you should serve your master with dedication and loyalty until such time as you were freed.  Love thy neighbor, no matter what station you are in life.
799626
I am a christian and that is a great question. Often we see the world as we wish that it was, not how it is. It seems to me that Jesus condemed the wealth in the Bible rather than encouraged it.
615459
slavey? \n\nSlavery has not ended for everyone. There is currently sex trafficking, for example, where women are sold into sexual servitude by their families who don't value women as part of their culture or women are abducted and forced into slavery.\n\nSlavery for the Jews lasted during before World War II until after World War II where the Nazis forced them into starvation slavery where they were forced to work until they slowly starved to death. Those deemed to be unable to work when they got to the camps were thrown into fires or gas chambers or killed by other means. \n\nAfrican American slavery ended after the Civil War.\n\nThere are other forms of slavery alive and well all around the world. Do you like chocolate? Cocoa beans are harvested by slave children who often die at a young age. There are too many forms of current slavery to list here.
140461
Not uncomfortable as much as saddened. It reminds me of the unjust servant who demanded of his slave to repay his debt of $5 after he was forgiven $50,000 that he owed. They will never go unless they can forget the past and look to Jesus--where they are suppose to be walking toward. You cannot serve two masters, you will either love one and hate the other or be devoted to one and hat the other. If they love civil rights more than growing in the Lord, they will lose their true freedom.
313435
Actually, Abolitionism was a major political force before the Civil War, primarily in the North but some in the South (where it was extremely dangerous because of lynching, etc). And, slave labor in the South was not free, there were huge costs entailed in housing and disciplining the slaves. There was also the huge moral and psychological cost of keeping slaves, as there is always at least some implied violence in the Peculiar Institution. In fact, because at the founding of the country there were so many people in the South who unilaterally freed their slaves, most Southern states placed huge financial disincentives against emancipation.\n\nAnyways, to finally get to the question at hand. Abolitionism got most of its support because it advocated the emancipation of slaves because of religious and moral reasons, and as such they tried to take the moral high ground from the Southern slave holders. People in the South tended to believe the propaganda that blacks could not take care of themselves, could not live in society, and would never be amenable to Christianity if not forced to live as slaves. This attitude from the Abolitionists to portray slavery as an indefensible and amoral evil practice made many people on both sides of the debate feel there was no room for argument. The radical fringe of Abolitionists also wanted to end the idea of governmental emancipation with federal compensation to owners and colonization of the freed slaves either to Haiti (with disastrous results) and Liberia (not much better). With absolutely no common ground from which to seek compromise, the two sides grew farther and farther apart until conflict was almost inevitable. In fact, when the Southern states were discussing secession, the congressional delegations from several Northern states suggested that a compromise could be reached if the Southern states would agree to even a rudimentary hearing to determine if black people seized as Runaway Slaves under the federal act were actually slaves at all, but because of the hard feelings the suggestion that a Southern gentleman could actually be mistaken about who was and was not a slave simply made the Southerners even more angry.\n\nMany people, myself included, see a corollary between Abolitionism and the tactics of the Pro-Life movement, who portray all abortions as indefensible murders of innocent children, thus allowing no meaningful debate on the issue at all.
109289
No. It would go against the idea of relgious freedom. Just because most of the population is christion does not mean it should be recognized. That would be like saying the US is a white Nation.
494736
The slave trade has been going on since before written history and continues to this very day.In days of old it was common practice to enslave a defeated enemy, in some civilizations you could even enslave someone for owing a debt. Civilization as we know it was built by slaves, ancient Eygpt, Persia, Geece, Rome, all built by slaves, at one point or another every group has been both the slave and the master. The african slave trade is by no means unique, slavery has been a fact of life in Africa since the beginning, slaves were always valued spoils of war among fighting tribes,Anyone that thinks the slave trade started because a boatload of europeans sailed down to Africa and started rounding up peaceful natives is sadly mistaken, at the time when european nations were getting involved in the slave trade there exsisted on the \nafrican continent a number of very large and powerful kingdoms, each with a large and powerful army, slaves were just one of a number of traded commodities, it should be noted that at the time when europeans were trading for slaves to sell in the americas, arab and african pirates were raiding european coastal villages for white slaves to sell in northern africa. There is no innocent guilt-free party here, everyone has blood on there hands. The slave trade in Africa continues to this day, why doesn't anyone talk about that? Slavery in america is a disgrace this country has to deal with, as are the segregation years that followed. This is still a fresh wound for america, slavery exsisted for three hundred years before the civil war and it's only been fifty years since the civil rights movement, we still have a long way to go, but giving away money doesn't solve anything, if you want to throw money at the problem throw it at education, health care, job training, things that actually do some good.I am not responsible for the sins of my forefathers, I cannot affect the past, only the future,personally, I think we need to spend more energy working on tomorrow than crying about yesterday.
164246
I have respect for all people. If you where walking past me and fell, I would help you to your feet. Would you accept my hand if you knew that I was a Christian? I hope you would, but my point is that, what I have seen of your religion, makes me think that you wouldn't. And its not my government, or my God(that I believe is god), that influenced my feelings on this. It's a combination of what I've seen and heard of your beliefs and the actions that make me want nothing to do with your religion. As a Christian I would hope you'd take my offered hand, but I can't bring myself to believe that you would.
628323
When out of town for work I went to an African American church in Virginia with a friend.  I was the only Caucasian in the place.  It was a great time.  I felt more at home than in the church I normally attended because it was much freer and much less stuffy.\n\nI no longer attend traditional church, but think it would be a great idea.  If people would step out of their comfort zones and love like Jesus did... the world would be a far better place.