Slavery and religion

Religion has been used in history to support, regulate, or be against slavery.

In Judaism, Hebrew slaves were given many treatments and protections. They were treated like they were family, and could be freed. While they were thought as property, the slaves could also own things.

Early Christian authors (except for Assyrian Christians, who did not believe in slavery) thought that slaves and free persons were equal. Popes in the early modern period allowed non-Christians to be slaves. After the 1400s, popes started to say that slavery was bad. This did not stop the Anglican church from being involved in converting black slaves in Barbados. Some Christians thought that God allowed slaves to exist. In the 1700s, many Christians used religion to believe in the abolition movement. Many religious denominations did not say slavery was bad until after the 1900s. Many enslaved non-believers were sometimes converted to Christianity. Many of these slaves' beliefs merged with Christian beliefs.

Early Islamic writings says to treat slaves with kindness and manumission (legally freeing individual slaves). However, it also saw slavery as an institution and allowed slavery of non-Muslims that were imprisoned. Children born to slaves would also be slaves.

Other websites

• William Gervase Clarence-Smith (2010). "Religions and the abolition of slavery — a comparative approach". LSE - Global Economic History Network (GEHN) - Conferences.