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Essay / Christian Religion in the Life Story of Frederick Douglass
In The Life Story of Frederick Douglass, the author analyzes how the Christian religion was practiced in the antebellum South. From Douglass's perspective as a slave, he finds Christianity in the still-slavery South hypocritical. Although he was personally committed to the Christian religion, for Douglas, Christianity as expressed through the behavior of slave owners violated the true Christian belief system. Douglass views this false Christianity that supports oppression and violence as a misrepresentation of the word of God. He is a man devoted to his faith, and he uses it to fight for justice and to expose America for corrupting God's true message of mercy, love, freedom and equality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Douglass realized from a young age that many slave owners practiced false Christianity. When Douglass was 13, he befriended a black slave named Charles Lawson. Douglass called him his spiritual father. Lawson told Douglass, “God has ordained you for more than the life of a slave, and you would do a great work in preaching the true gospel.” » Christianity was divided, slaves believed one side while white men and slave owners believed another version. Slave masters and owners used Christianity as an excuse to behave horribly towards slaves and call them racist names. Slaves would find hope in Christianity and vindicate their masters. Additionally, Captain Thomas Auld, Douglass' former slave owner, was part of the dangerous alliance between slave owners and false Christianity. Captain Auld was the son-in-law of Douglass's previous owner. Douglass remembers that when Mr. Auld converted to Christianity, he became even more cruel to the slaves. “After his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his cruelty in slavery. He had the greatest pretensions to piety. His house was the house of prayer.” Captain Auld believed that Christianity allowed him to treat slaves humiliatingly, but treat other people of his race better. Douglass always referred to religious slave owners as “the worst.” Additionally, another former Douglass slave owner, Edward Covey, was driven by morally evil religious motivations. Mr. Covey was a religion teacher and class leader at his church. He had the reputation of being a “slave breaker”. Slave owners sent their most poorly behaved slaves to Mr. Covey who punished them by working on his land while disciplining them with violence. “He found religious sanction and support for his slavery cruelty.” Mr. Covey also encouraged slaves to engage in drunken behavior during the holidays to get them to not want to pursue freedom, because that is what they would think freedom looked like; being drunk and having fun with nothing much to do. Douglass knew better than to do this during his Christmas vacation, as it would do him no good, and he religiously hoped to become free. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Douglass argues that a person cannot be both a Christian and a slave owner. As Christianity spread throughout the South during this time, slavery..