Christianity & Racialism

[Unregistered]

1852 was not a time in American History where people understood and discussed sensitive racial issues that we discuss today. Therefore, it is unfair for people to accuse Stowe of creating a simplistic, 'racialist,' stereotypical portrayal of slaves. People must be judged by the ethics of the times they live in and not the ethics of today. In that regard, Stowe had remarkablly modern ethics for her time.

[Unregistered]

i Think your both rite stowe uses many racialistic comments but u <br>have to judge her not by our standards today. back then it was commonplace to speak like that sure she said some racialistic things but that's how she grew up and i believe you should look at the good as well as the bad

[Kenesha]

I think that this book did a good job of telling white people in the North and South at the time about some of the horrors of slavery, but I think it was too focused on Christianity and Stowe had a very racialized view of black people. <br><br>The emphasis on Christianity may have been effective in changing some people's minds about slavery, but slavery was also enforced using religion as well. Also, Stowe seems to think that slaves were only good if they were very Christian, not taking into account that slaves already had their own religions and moral base while in Africa.<br><br>Stowe uses several generalizations about black people that are very racialized. Though some of the things she attributed to blacks were positive any kind of broad canvas of attributes to one race is misleading and wrong, it's called stereotyping.

[antonito]

I was amazed to learn that such a thing as your Klan still existed. I congratulate you for your boldness to stand for something you really believe, though you are not accepted by the majority of people in your own country (which you seriously intend to defend). I was blessed to stay in America for a year and half as a missionary, it was an awesome experience and I learned to love your people as they really treated me so lovely. So, I think you have numerous reasons to feel proud of being American, first of all because your values, especially from the founding fathers, who had so much to do with Christianity, and I felt really sad after I found out you guys had lost so much of it. I also noticed that many of your ideas (not your organization) were quite popular among many people. But, (it's a shame there is always a "but" to everything) I seriously believe you are extremely mistaken. I'm Latin-American, that according to your beliefs makes me a beast, since I am (as 90% of all Latin-American) a result of racial intermarriage, my color is not white or black or red, it's just a melting of the three; and guess what? I'm as proud of being latin as you are, of being entirely white. What you say is that all of Latin-American goes to hell! Amazing!
Well, by entirely white I mean your phenotype shows an entirely white person, but, What do you know about your genotype? Can you really assure that there weren't any interracial unions in your ancestry? You were not there to witness it, so I guess you trust documents, old people stories and so on, in order to convince yourselves you are pure white. I am amazed at the way you can distort holly scripture in order to support your ideas. You omit all the Bible passages that promise a future salvation for the Gentiles, you should read the entire epistle of Paul to the Romans, and try to remember that most of the disciples in the beginning were from Israel, Jesus was a Jew, and the Bible says so! You would have despised Jesus if he had come to America. Do you know for sure that he was white? There are only paintings about him and none of the painters saw him. You are so sure about so many things that you can't actually prove.
You may go on calling me a beast, I still will pray for America to be blessed, for it is the only nation on earth that has stood for Israel, and that is one of the reasons I think the US is still so blessed.
But let me tell you that you are running out of blessings as you have forsaken God's commandments, and by that I don't mean marring other races, by that I mean banning gospel from schools, allowing abortion, etc. when God forbade marriage with other nations in Israel he did it because that would lead them astray from his ways as foreign spouses would teach them to worship other gods, not because of races themselves, Actually he ordered Israel to forgive those nations that had been respectful to them such as Jethro's family, and the Reason God ordered the Canaanites death wasn't because of their race but because they were so sinful they couldn't be forgiven or restored any more, the same that happened to Sodom, just that in this case God didn't use fire from heaven but the Israelite swords. Therefore, race is not men's problem, the problem is sin that’s within the heart, the problem of mankind is not what you can see in the outside, but the inner being, when it is full of deceit, murder and hatred.
By the way; did you know that Moses married a non-Israelite woman and God punished Aaron and Mary when they criticized him for doing so? Do you think God made ten Adams and ten Eves in order to create the different races, or do you think- as the Bible teaches- that we all came from one blood line? Do you know that melanin (The pigment that gives us our skin color) is exactly the same in every human being? The only thing that changes about it is the amount of it, the more you have the darker you get (Sun light stimulates melanin cells and that's why you get a tan) and the less you have the lighter you get, so in the end we all have the same color but in different quantities.
Please, don not try to blame foreigners about your defeats and start taking responsibility for the things you do wrong. Your ancestors invaded a land that wasn’t theirs in the first place, I don’t think God ordered them to do so, They could have at least respected the lives of the real native Americans (indigenous people) instead of killing most of them, and black people (you are so angry about and hope they would never get in touch with you, your family or your land) did not get to America by their own will, they were kidnapped and enslaved; Is it their fault to be in America? Of course not! Your ancestors took them without their permission, so the least you can do is to be nice to them, but that happened too many years ago, and forgiveness should come from both sides. African-American people should also forgive white people and get rid of movements like the Black Panthers, among others.
I pray that if there is someone on the other side who still has at least a little bit of tenderness in the heart, let him/her have repentance from such discrimination and hatred. I pray that God may forgive you and your land for all the curses you've brought upon yourselves by doing what your are doing, and I pray that those people your have caused to suffer because of your lack of understanding and wisdom may be healed. I pray that God may bring reconciliation and peace to your “heaven rescued land”.
God may save you and transform your mind into His mind

[Tis]

Antonito...

Forgive me, Antonito, but it appears your time in our country did little to instill a broader more accurate perspective of the America in which I grew up. There is much wrong with America, and like most countries that truly respect individual liberties, we struggle with those inevitable conflicts daily. There is also much right with America, but I will not bore you with the many reasons that I so proudly count myself among the most fortunate human beings to occupy space on this insignificant little planet.

You may rest assured the Ku Klux Klan is not and has never been representative of the American ideal. The very principles by which they live and breathe are abhorrent to this American and the vast majority of Americans and are in direct opposition to the fundamental intent of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. Their very existence is an insanity born of madness in a time when this country was only beginning to mature as a nation with a national conscience. They were merely the remnants of a cause lost; a final effort to bind together a failed belief of supremacy of one race over another. It was not the first time in the history of the world for this to happen and it would happen again in Europe in the 1930s and 40s.

Today, in the 21st century, demographic studies using genetics has clearly demonstrated that the differences in the genetic make-up of every human that walks upon this Earth varies insignificantly. From the Aborigine people at the bottom of the world to the blue eyed, blond haired inhabitants at the top, it has been suggested that we all, every man, woman and child, originated from the same gene pool on the African continent.

These studies simply confirm and give new meaning to those fortuitous and thoughtful words written so many years ago....

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

It was these few American words that usurped the power and rendered impotent, all the Kings and Emperors of the world and put that power in the hands of the governed. That... is the America I would hope you remember most.

[antonito]

Tis...

I totally agree with you, I didn't mean to say the KKK was representative to American ideals, or anything of the sort. My post was placed for those few people who still support that movement (openly or secretly). I'm afraid they do exist, and I tried to write a direct letter to them.
There is also the purpose of making american people aware of this truth. On the other hand there are many ideas quite popular among many that I think should be refused and placed in the same pit as the KKK. I spoke to many people, all of them christian who told me things like this: "the problem with America is the increasing ammount of inmigrants, they have broght their cultures in and have tried to change our beliefs, they have influenced government and caused laws to agree with theis ideas".
I also heard those who told me that people from different races should never marry, they didn't mean to say it was a sin (as the kkk says) but they said it was impossible for it to work out. Many of the times I visited a house, people tried to explain to me what a lightbulb was, how to turn a light on, what a microwave oven is, they asked me if there were cars in my country, and even if I hunted (snakes or gators) for a living! I am from Venezuela, the fourth oil producer country on earth, we still are a developing nation, but I believe most countries in the world have long left behind the era when electricty wasn't known, but many americans don't know it. They accept Japan, Australia and Western Europe are civilized, but the rest of the world is pretty much jungle and primitive indigenous people. Television programs in the US help to establish such a mindset; I saw reports about Venezuela while in the US, but they were invariably about amazon jungle, indigenous people, and maybe angel falls. They never showed Caracas skycrapers, subways, the largest oil reninery on earth, or the largest concrete bridge on earth, neither any other things that represented some development about my nation, nor in any other nation in the developing world.
There seems to be an interest from someone up there, to control what american people believe, so they continue to think they are the only, civilized, developed, or even democratic country in the world. Don't get me wrong the US is awesome, God has really blessed your nation in every way, no wonder you are the world's first superpower.
I do believe the founding fathers thought about a republic where averyone was regarded the same, I have read the declaration of independence, I have read the Gettisburg address, I have read the Constitution. God is mentioned everywhere, the liberty bell, the pledge of alliegance to the flag, the national anthem, etc. They all talk about freedom and equality among every human being.
But think about it, you even have black people churches, white people churches, latin people churches, etc. That goes against christian values, Why that happens? In my country that doesn't exist, there isn't such a separation between races, that amazed me. I visited more than three hundred different churches in 32 states of the union, that's more that most americans ever will. And very few churches held people from diferent races as members, most were either black or white. You have your neighborhoods divided by races were every race sticks together and so on. If a black family moves to a neighborhood of white people, the rest get unconfortable to say the least, that is something I saw, nobody told me about it. And that is sad.
I went to a church in missoury were the youth pastor had a picture of one of his relatives wearing the white dress and the white hat the kkk uses, and he proudly showed it to people in his living room.
The truth is that most americans get horrified when someone mentions racism, white superiority or similar things, the are ashamed of that, they don't like it, and most of them are loving, caring people who are willing to share and to help others, but at the same time I found many, not a majority I have to say, but many; who in spite of not supporting any segregation movement, do agree with some points of view that belong to that kind of posture.
Thanks a lot for your answer as I'm quite sure you are just as great as most americans I met.

[genoveva]

because your values, especially from the founding fathers, who had so much to do with Christianity, and I felt really sad after I found out you guys had lost so much of it.

America declared independance from England in order to have freedom of religion. That means any religion, not just Christianity. Yes, the word God is all over government documents- heck, it's even on our currency. I for one think the word God should be edited out of it all!! Freedom of religion means freedom from religion as well. There is separation of church and state for a reason- so that we don't have religions dominating our government or taught in public schools. This is not one nation under one God.

Yes, racism still exists in America. It's existed since non-native Americans landed here. Thank goodness we don't have all the lynching any more! Instead, we have other hate crimes like rape and violence as a result of homophobia, and the random jailing of Muslims due to our president's paranoia since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Police profile drivers and pull them over simply for what they look like and what type of car their driving. The KKK still does exist, but not in the numbers they used to have.

We are definately not a perfect country.

[Tis]

Antonito...

Thank you for your kindness, Antonito, but I still think your introduction to my America was much too constrained to permit you a more objective view. Through no fault of your own, I perceive from your comments that your travels exposed you, at least predominately, to America’s Christian Right. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, they are generally fine, hardworking and honest people. However, they really only represent a factional portion of this country and typically reflect exceptionally conservative views. For example, you said...

"I spoke to many people, all of them christian who told me things like this: "the problem with America is the increasing ammount of inmigrants, they have broght their cultures in and have tried to change our beliefs, they have influenced government and caused laws to agree with theis ideas"."

Strictly speaking, this appears to be true. However, I firmly disagree that immigration to this country is a problem. This is not to say that illegal immigration isn't troublesome, because it certainly is. But this would apply to any country that would allow unrestricted and unmonitored travel to and from their country. Between 1800 and 1850, the United States allowed free flowing immigration from all over the world. The result was 15 major epidemics that included cholera, Asian cholera, Yellow Fever, and other diseases that devastated whole communities from Boston to Chicago to New Orleans.

As of 2004, Native Americans and Native Alaskans made up about 1% of the estimated 296 million Americans. The rest of us are the descendants of immigrants from every country on the planet. It was immigrants that built this country and it is this very diversity that has contributed most to America’s super power status. We are one of the youngest republics in existence, only 230 years old, yet our collective culture has become a marvelous, beautiful blend every other culture on the earth. While I am a proponent of all immigrants learning to speak English, I do not wish them to drop their own language or to dismiss their heritage. It is much too important.

Your many Christian acquaintances appear to reflect a negative bias, whether racial or cultural, that I find exceedingly troublesome. Of all the immigrants I have come to know, I cannot recall any single one that has expressed a need or desire for America to alter or change the fundamental ideals of our founding fathers established. Most of them seem to feel that these principles are the primary reason they came here in the first place.

My paternal ancestry is Scottish and maternal ancestry is English. I am a white, male Caucasian, 59 years old, well educated, with a wife, 20 year old daughter and a 28 year old son that has given me a 5 year old granddaughter. I am an agnostic, while my wife and children are Catholic. I am an electrical engineer with 39 years in the electric power industry and I am quite aware of the status and world position of Venezuela. I have traveled extensively in Western Europe and some Eastern Europe and I am incredibly envious of the rich and wonderful history of each of them.

Bigotry exists in the world, Antonito. It is a fact of the human animal and it is not unique to America. You may think Venezuela is immune, but you are wrong. In the thousands of years it has taken Mankind to ascend to the top of the food chain, he still remains tribal in his nature. He is a clever animal, to be sure, and his technological miracles persistently astound us all; he has cured or arrested many diseases, he has walked on another world and sent remote intelligence beyond the limits of our solar system; he can peer deeper into the universe than ever before, almost to the beginning of time. Yet for all his genius and capacity for reason, Man has failed to mature beyond his instinctive existence. Everything wrong in America, is wrong everywhere!

Incidentally, for Genoveva in Oregon, freedom of religion and freedom from religion existed well before the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It was one of the primary reasons for colonization of North America. We broke with England for much grander purposes than simply religious freedom. Separation of Church and State was merely the genius of our founding fathers. That should never diminish the debt we owe to the faithful of all religions. It was religion that provided the moral base of our ancestors and permitted them to survive and prosper. ;)

[Decon]

Today, in the 21st century, demographic studies using genetics has clearly demonstrated that the differences in the genetic make-up of every human that walks upon this Earth varies insignificantly.

This is nonsense. A genetic difference amounting to merely one base pair is the difference between a normal child and one crippled by cystic fibrosis.

[Tis]

"This is nonsense. A genetic difference amounting to merely one base pair is the difference between a normal child and one crippled by cystic fibrosis." Decon


Thank you for the confirmation Decon... isn’t that precisely the point?... That the diversity in our genetic make-up is so remarkably inconsequential relative to the diversity of our physical appearance that no distinction need be made between the human rights of one and the human rights of another.

Wasn’t it incredibly and wonderfully intuitive of Jefferson and the rest of our founding fathers to realize, without the benefit of the genetic sciences, to recognize and put into words, the fundamental truth of the equality of mankind?

I think so.... :nod: