Religious Intolerance Profile
Event: American Slavery
Time Period: 1620? to 1865
Type of Intolerance: Secular, Inter-Faith

           As slaves were brought from Africa to America, the nation began to economically bloom. Southern plantation owners became some of the wealthiest citizens of the country at the expense of their imported slaves who worked sunrise to sunset with little if any refuge from their grueling work. Many discovered an outlet of hope however; Christianity. They became thrilled by learning of Jesus Christ's love for them in their home and saw light in the revelation that there was a God who would provide them with salvation when their lives were done.

           Slave owners in America became somewhat threatened by the thought of the new-found salvation as their religion preached of equality among men; a notion accompanied with biblical news that slavery was somewhat wrong. To counter this, some members of the church adopted techniques of preaching that stated, while men were meant to be emancipated, slavery was still 'the will of God'. The attempt worked to a certain degree as religious leaders attempted to explain that becoming Christian didn't make slaves free but insted made good slaves out of bad ones (Babinski). Southern preachers were also usually supporters of succession and many were slave owners themselves. They are believed by some to be perhaps the biggest reason for the south leaving the northern union states to start the Civil War.

Extended Information
Christian Intolerance, Historic Examples
Maintained by an Agonist and a Deist, this website offers up a view at the history of religious intolerance in America. Edward Babinski and Sharon Mooney (the site's creators) condense hundreds of years down into a summarized history of religious discrimination in our country.

Slavery Videos/Audio (if available)
Related Media