Ask Christians for their view of slavery and they will probably tell you that it is an abomination, an evil practice not consistent with Christian values. Bible literate Christians can prove this by pointing to several warm and fuzzy scriptures that tell us how much God loves us and wants us all to be saved. Fair enough. But what about the following scriptures?

As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are round about you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you, to inherit as a possession forever; you make slaves of them, but over your brethren the people of Israel you shall not rule one over another with harshness.
LEVITICUS 25: 44-46

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt faithlessly with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
EXODUS 21:7-11

When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. EXODUS 21:20-21

For most Christians the existence of these scriptures is an unpleasant shock. It’s quite likely that they’ve never read them before and it is absolutely certain that their religious leaders have never mentioned them during any sermon or bible study. But nevertheless, there they are, in God’s apparently divinely inspired holy book!

When forced to confront this biblical approval of slavery Christians then have to do some theological tap dancing. The favourite lines are: "The word slavery is a mis-translation. These people were really just hired-hands" or, "These are old testament scriptures. You have to view them in the context of the time in which they were written, and anyway, the “grace” of Jesus heralded in a new order as shown us in the new testament.”

Well, that takes care of that then doesn’t it?... except that when we examine the new testament we find that God’s attitude towards slavery is exactly the same!

Slaves, be obedient to those who are your Earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ…
EPHESIANS 6:5

Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honour, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be defamed. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they be brethren; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these duties. If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing;... 1TIMOTHY 6:1-4

Now these same Christians are really starting to sweat! If the words "slave" and "slavery" were mis-translations in the old testament how come the error was repeated in the new testament?! Was God not clever enough to notice and correct an error of this magnitude? He obviously considered slavery an important enough issue to mention it several times in the new testament but all His comments are directed at the slaves! Christians tell us that the bible was written for the benefit of humankind for all time, up to and including today! So if God truly disapproved of slavery why wouldn’t at least one of His divinely inspired scriptures read, “No one has the right to 'own' another human being. If you have slaves, set them free”? Why, in the whole of the "holy" bible, is there not one condemnation of the evil practice of slavery? There are only two logical explanations:

1, The bible is God’s divinely inspired word, and He really does approve of slavery; or

2, The bible is a work of fiction, written by imaginative but nonetheless primitive men who at the time of writing saw nothing wrong in slavery and therefore included no condemnation of it!

Both of these explanations are unacceptable to Christians so this is the point where many of them will close the door to any further dialogue. Rather than face up to what is actually written in the bible they will carefully cherry-pick their way through it, repeating ad nauseam the scriptures that support the beliefs of their particular religion, and ignoring all those that contradict them. This is not just intellectual dishonesty, it is the equivalent of a child putting his fingers in his ears and stamping his feet!

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