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#1391157
Mudak
Um. Jesus talked about how harshly we should beat our slaves. How does this do away with slavery?
4/11/2012 3:34:04 AM
#1391163
Thrutch
Just a cherry picker who doesn't want other people to pick cherries
4/11/2012 3:57:22 AM
#1391170
Extraintrovert
Those against slavery used/use [insert religion here] to justify their position, just as those FOR slavery used/use [insert religion here] to justify their position. That's what you get when a belief system is based on fiction and mythology.
Also, there is plenty of slavery in plenty of Christian nations, you ignorant shit stain.
4/11/2012 4:18:38 AM
#1391176
Darwin
Even if your silly-ass assertion were true, how does it prove the main question: the existence or non-existence of a god? Some children might be good because they follow the examples of the Berenstain Bears, that doesn't mean that anthropomorphic ursids are living in the woods.
4/11/2012 4:24:02 AM
#1391178
John_in_Oz
I've read the whole text you refer to. It preaches the exact opposite of what you proclaim. It enjoins slaves to be subordinate to their masters.
Tell me more about these Japanese slaves.
4/11/2012 4:25:13 AM
#1391184
Tatch
Wanna know something amazing, moron? Both sides of the slavery argument used the Bible to "prove" that God was on their side.
Who wudda thunk it? A book full of vague contradictions taken as absolute truth could be used to equally support opposite arguments!
4/11/2012 4:30:17 AM
#1391185
Filin De Blanc
The Bible explicitly says that it's okay to sell your own children into slavery.
4/11/2012 4:32:13 AM
#1391191
Shoegazer Watched The Stars
You mean the New Testament where Paul tells an escaped slave to go back and be a slave again for his master?
4/11/2012 4:39:45 AM
#1391196
Hertzyscowicz
This would explain how the first instance of abolitionism is Zoroastrianism in 550 BC.
4/11/2012 4:44:26 AM
#1391201
Brain_In_A_Jar
That doesn't really gel with the whole "god owns you and can treat you how he likes" thing the bible, old and new testament, has going on.
4/11/2012 4:56:11 AM
#1391202
Canadiest
Sit down children, it's time for another Christian history rewrite, where we pretend the things that are recognized as good in society are always to be atributed to the church.
Never mind that the church still operates as if they own their flock and every racist group has deep religious convictions. Ignore that, ignore the vast documentation of the various Christian denomonations against freeing the slaves back when and those that still call for it's return.
4/11/2012 4:56:19 AM
#1391210
Leighton Buzzard
Funny how slavery managed to exist for 1865 years of the Christian era, then, isn't it?
(It is true that some very Christian people, like Wilberforce, were at the forefront of the abolitionist movement. But so was Darwin).
4/11/2012 5:10:53 AM
#1391220
jesus-face tortilla
oh, it's the old 'catholicism is the true humanism' stance again. it must be really weird to have a mind that comprehends and believes that statement.
4/11/2012 5:33:07 AM
#1391224
Xotan
Mark Shea in his arrogance and ignorance has failed to note that slavery wasn't abolished until 1850 years after Jesus. and that was only in some countries.
In others it is still alive and thriving.
Not much of a recommendation, eh Mark?
4/11/2012 5:39:23 AM
#1391226
Mister Spak
"within the New Testament is, ultimately, the only thing that succeeded in finally extirpating slavery: namely, the insistence that man is made in the image and likeness of God and that Christ loves the slave as much as the master. "
But that was cancelled out by the verse that tells slaves to obey their master. So much so that this verse was used by christians to 'prove' that god approved of slavery in the american southeast and anyone who opposed it was an infidel.
On the other hand, Charles Darwin was an abolitionist, so I guess the Theory of Evolution ended slavery, and Christians hate Evolution beause it opposes their pro-slavery religion.
4/11/2012 5:42:21 AM
#1391232
WWWWolf
> the insistence that man is made in the image and likeness of God and that Christ loves the slave as much as the master
So it's "hate the sin, love the sinner" all over again?
"Look, there's nothing wrong with slaves as people! They're just slaves, but that's not their personal fault, is it? We should love them all the same while we boss them around!"
You can create these categories of people all you want, but if the choice has to be made between treating people like those afflicted with (Insert Sin Here) and human beings, there really isn't much choice on the matter. You treat people like human beings. If you don't, quit pretending you do.
4/11/2012 6:00:07 AM
#1391254
John
Christ loves the slave as much as the master.
Saying you love slaves is easy. I'm sure that's a great comfort to them. [/sarcasm]
The mystical dogma of human equality in the eye’s of God ... is the only thing that has ever succeeded in killing the dragon of slavery.
You think maybe the US South gave up slavery because of the "mystical dogma of human equality in the eye’s [sic] of God", as opposed to, say, a .58 caliber musket ball between the eyes?
4/11/2012 7:00:22 AM
#1391257
dionysus
People who read the Bible looking for more than Selected Ammunition Verses, would realize that contained within the New Testament is, ultimately, the only thing that succeeded in finally extirpating slavery
Then Jesus should have been clearer with his intentions. For over 1000 years slavery was a common thing in Western, Christian-majority (like the US) and legally-Christian (like medieval and Renaissance Europe) nations. Those nations even justified slavery USING THE BIBLE. For a supposedly omniscient, wise deity he sure did a crap job of expressing his intentions.
4/11/2012 7:04:15 AM
#1391261
Reynardine
Had he quit at "dragon of slavery", then, given he is writing for a religious publication, he would have done fine. But no: he had to go pick a fight, and, it seems, so do they all.
4/11/2012 7:08:33 AM
#1391270
Mayhem
There's a NEW atheism?
4/11/2012 7:20:39 AM
#1391276
fmitchell
@Mayhem
New Atheism = 4000 year old atheism + "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."
People like Shea would have no problem with atheists if we'd just sit quietly and praise Jesus like we've been doing for the last several centuries. But now we're getting uppity.
4/11/2012 7:33:58 AM
#1391280
Doctor Whom
Oh, good, it's yet another fluffy bunny who thinks that the "mystical dogma" "contained in" a text somehow cancels out what that text plainly says. It's amazing how Christians managed to overlook that mystical dogma for the majority of Christian history.
4/11/2012 7:38:12 AM
#1391291
Brendan Rizzo
What part of "atheists are steadfastly opposed to slavery and would not tolerate anyone who wants to make it legal" does Mr. Shea not understand?
4/11/2012 8:00:38 AM
#1391304
TB TabbyAnd yet, to this day, there are Christians saying slavery is okay because of the Bible.
Like this one. And this one. And this one.
If God viewed all humans as equal and wanted slavery to go away, why beat around the bush? Why not just decree "to own another human as property is an abomination unto the LORD" and call down the smiting on anyone who continues to own slaves? According to the Bible, God had no problem with punishing others for a lack of hospitality, or picking up sticks on Sunday, or making fun of someone's bald head, but for "killing the dragon of slavery," it takes 2000 years and we have to to most of the work? In fact, it didn't even begin to go away until the Renaissance, when people in the West began to realize that maybe the Church wasn't so infallible after all and secular values began to emerge.
4/11/2012 8:18:32 AM
#1391307
Noneofyourbusiness
I'm fairly certain that human equality IS an empirical observation based on reason.
4/11/2012 8:21:55 AM
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