Slavery and the christian church.

The christian church was comfortable with slavery.

 Q. Yes way? No way?

 A. Yes way.

Slavery has existed for thousands of years. In fact the day that man discovered that he could forcesomeone to do his work and pay him by kicking his ass, was the day that slavery was initiated. How many thousands of years ago did that happen? I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine in this case but it hasn’t stopped since. The Greeks, the Romans, the warlords, ancient kings and emperors (dictators really) and, yes, the catholic church, in Europe and in the Americas, all “owned” some.  Even today in certain instances, in certain corners of the world it exists but at least it can nowadays be punished by law.

However, in some of the southern U.S. states, ownership of slaves was practiced on an industrial level. Plantation owners could have two or even three hundred slaves working twelve hours a day for them without any remuneration. It was impossible for a man to buy a gift for his wife or children. It was also impossible for loving parents to buy decent clothes for their children or to treat them to an ice cream cone on a warm Sunday afternoon or to take the family out on a picnic. It was totally impossible for those people to do normal activities that regular families like to do together. It was a difficult life for those people without as much as a “thank you” for all the work that they were forced to do.

But what about the christian church in all of this? Don’t you think that this church, which represents some invisible god on earth, whom all of its fervent followers believe to be loving and charitable towards human beings (his children), should have elevated its voice against the practice or fought in order to eradicate that barbaric practice?

If you convincingly answer yes to that question you’re simply crazy or you don’t understand absolutely anything to the business that is called; church. Let’s admit it churches are huge, international, tax-exempt and super-rich businesses for which money is the sole purpose for existing. And as long as rich slave owners poured some of their profits into the local church, who the hell in that business was going to complain?

This sort of connivance I, of course don’t approve of, but can easily understand, because it’s an excellent business practice. On the other hand there is something that completely baffles me. That Mickey-Mouse, man-created god who’s supposed to love and protect us all from such situations and who obviously didn’t do his job in the case of the black people was adopted with open arms by those same people once they obtained their freedom. Strangely puzzling, indeed.

Whether you agree with or have an objection to my blog, leave a comment. I’m open to favorable or unfavorable criticism and what you write might enlighten other readers or myself.

© 2012 Jean-Paul Gosselin

Thank you.

 

Take this with you.

New company policy.

When the wise company president learned that his employees were tanking up on no-trace vodka martinis during their lunch hours, he issued the following memo:

To all employees: If you must drink during you lunch hour, please drink whiskey. It is much better for our customers to know that you're drunk than to think that you're stupid.

Have a swell day, stay relaxed, have a beer and don’t forget: keep smiling. Life is good. Buena la vida. La vie est belle.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS------FELIZ NAVIDAD-----JOYEUX NOEL