The “Narrative of the Life of Fredrick
Douglass, an American Slave” is an autobiography that gives one of the best
first hand experiences of slavery. Douglass is extremely honest with his
experience as a slave. Even when it is not something everyone wants to hear. He
is most honest when he is presenting conflicting ideas. Douglass makes a huge
point about religion in the south. “I assert most unhesitatingly, that the
religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,—a
justifier of the most appalling barbarity,—a sanctifier of the most hateful
frauds,— and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and
most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection,” (pg. 117).
Right off the bat, Douglass uses the words “unhesitatingly” and “assert” to
show that he means business, that this is real talk. He then combines words
that are typically used in a more positive context, “justifier,” “sanctifier,”
and “shelter” with words and ideas that are extremely negative, such as “dark,”
“appalling barbarity,” and “hateful frauds.” By doing this he shows how easily
something that is supposed to be positive such as religion is twisted into
something negative. Douglass sees how religion is used as a way for
slaveholders to justify their actions and shows how the slaveholders use
different sins as reasons to punish a slave when in reality the slaves hadn’t
done anything truly wrong. “Does a slave look dissatisfied? It is said, he has
the devil in him, and it must be whipped out,”(pg. 118). Slaveholders use
religion as a excuse for how they treat slaves, yet that is not how they treat
other white people who look “dissatisfied.” They would never think to do the
same thing to another white person. It is ironic how in Douglass’s world a
religious white person is the worst kind of master that a slave can have. It
should be the opposite because of the installment of God’s morals.
Religion
has been used as an excuse to commit horrible acts of brutality for as long as
it has been around. Entire wars have repeatedly occurred because of people that
do not truly understand the religion they are devoted to. Almost all religions
have the same core values, to behave in peace with your community, to be just,
to do the right thing, etc. It is so simple yet humanity continues to fail even
with multiple books that show exactly how that is possible in many different
ways.
Religion played a similar role to other methods of subjugation utilized by slave masters on plantations to keep their charges in check. Much like the whip and the common beating, religion could be employed to clearly both validate slave holders actions, as well as keep slaved in their place, partially due to the fact that the vast majority could not read anyway. By selectively cherry picking verses, and even changing what the bible said on the topic of slavery, it was clear that religion could be used against those who had nowhere else to turn. If they were to believe that god too was accepting of their position in life, than there was little incentive to assume that slavery was wrong, and rise up against it. Religion today while not endorsing of slavery, is used by similar extremists to achieve aims far beyond the original intention of the faith. What Douglass is namely attempting to do by asserting its role in the master/slave relationship is leave no stone unturned regarding a full exposition of what slavery truly entails for his readership to discover. Even religion has been twisted and manipulated to the benefit of a system in which an entire class of people are stripped of any human rights, and that would be a shock to many whom were unfamiliar with slavery.
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