The Bible condones slavey as seen in colonial America

Four Types of Slavery The Bible defines four kinds of slave: Type 1) Voluntary Temporary Indentured Hebrew ServantsType 2) Voluntary Permanent Hebrew ServantsType 3) Involuntary Hebrew and Gentile Criminals in RestitutionType 4) Permanent Pagan Servants [3]Israelite (Indentured Servant) vs. Non-Israelite (Chattel) SlavesIsraelite "slaves" received special status and treatment: "If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God." [ Leviticus 25: 39 - 43 ] Now read Leviticus 25: 44-46, which describes non-Israelite slavery: "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly." This passage describes chattel slavery: "Chattel slavery is what most people have in mind when they think of the kind of slavery that existed in the United States before the Civil War, and that existed legally throughout many parts of the world as far back as recorded history. Slaves were actual property who could be bought, sold, traded or inherited." [4]How to Beat Your SlavesNon-Israelite slaves were not freed in the seventh year; they were slaves for life. Non-Israelite slaves were considered "property" to be bought, sold, and given away, and beaten. Yes, beaten: "Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property." (Exodus 21:20-21)Protective Laws: Biblical and American In the Bible, there are laws protecting slaves from excessive abuse. (Exodus 21:26-27, for example.) I will graciously assume that these protective laws applied to non-Israelite slaves as well. Guess what? There were protective laws for black slaves in America, as well. Here's an excerpt from the Alabama slave code of 1833: "The general assembly…shall have full power…to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity, to provide for them necessary food and clothing, to abstain from all injuries to them extending to life or limb, and, in case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the directions of such laws, to have such slave or slaves sold for the benefit of owner or owners." Furthermore: "Any person who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a slave of life, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offense had been committed on a free white person…" [5]Anti-Slavery Bible VersesThere are none. "Jesus had many opportunities to disavow slavery. He never did." [1] "It's hardly surprising then that it took almost two thousand years for Christians to twig to the fact that slavery is wrong. The spectacularly unreflective authors of the Bible had absolutely no problem with slavery whatsoever..." [6]Ephesians 6:5 says, "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Seve them sincerely as you would serve Christ." 1 Timothy 6:1 says, "All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered." These are New Testament verses.Justifying American Slavery with the Bible Prior to the Civil War, the Bible was widely used to justify slavery in the United States. Baptist leader and slave owner Richard Furman (d. 1825) laid the foundation for the biblical arguments that would be made in support of slavery leading up to the Civil War. While president of the State Baptist Convention, Furman wrote to the governor of South Carolina, "The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example." [1] -Another prominent churchman, Alexander Campbell (d. 1866) wrote, "There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral." [1]- Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, claimed to follow what the scriptures said: "[Slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God ... it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation." [1] - While some pre-Christian groups had outlawed slavery, Christianity continued it and expanded it worldwide. There were probably far more people enslaved (tens of millions) under Christian empires than in all pre-Christian empires combined…. Aside from unprecedented geopolitical and demographic developments, the major difference between previous eras of Christianity and the period between 1775 and 1900 was the marginalization of the Bible as a sociopolitical authority. That period witnessed the rise of biblical criticism, which undermined the authority and perceived reliability of the Bible in Europe and America. It was in that period that Americans invested their textual authority in a Constitution made by ‘We, the People’ instead of by a deity. Influential abolitionists such as Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and Frederick Douglass were part of that shift away from the Bible. Even if they did not all accept the new biblical criticism, they certainly realized the problems that using the Bible posed to abolitionism. [2] [1] Victor Stenger in God: The Failed Hypothesis[2] Hector Avalos in Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Ethics of Biblical Scholarship[3] Bob Seidensticker, Yes, Biblical Slavery was the Same as American Slavery[4] http://fightslaverynow.org...[5] http://www.archives.state.al.us...[6] Michael Shermer in The Moral Arc