Theological blessing of slavery severed slaveholders’ natural moral impulses

Evidence

In his first piece of public writing, Douglass eloquently cut to the heart of the problem with white Christianity. The “garb of Christianity” and the church covered the injustices of slavery in the social realm, and Christian theology gave “religious sanction” to punishment and cruelty in the personal realm. The churches conferred respectability, and even elevated esteem, on white Christian slaveholders; and the theological blessing of slavery paradoxically lobotomized white Christian consciences, severing what natural moral impulses there may have been limiting violence and cruelty. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 251

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Religious conversion made slaveholders more cruel, not less — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 246; Enslaved people regarded religious masters as the worst masters — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 250; Biblical master-slave duties were framed as protective guardianship — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 240 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Racist theological ideas sanctioned and made American slavery acceptable to Christian churches #expands (0.92) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 20
• Believing Africans lacked souls let slavery coexist with Christian morality #expands (0.90) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 222
• Western religious doctrine gave slavery its highest moral sanction #corroborates (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1709
• Religious justifications for slavery used curses to keep converts enslaved #qualifies (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 118
• Christian belief in its own superiority gave colonialism essential moral validation #expands (0.75) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 734