In the United States today, we try our best to keep religion out of our government as much as possible by having a separate church and state. With this being said, people will still try to use their beliefs to argue if something is right or wrong. Mainly, this works out well with not too many issues. For example, murder is a sin in the bible. However, people see what the bible says in different ways, causing arguments between each other. This is the case with slavery. Many believe the bible allows slavery, while others say it forbids it.
When reading an article from Time magazine, you can see one of the ways that many Christians believed that the bible allowed this action to be done. In the Old Testament, slavery was prevalent among the Israelites, making most people believe this was expected acceptable behavior.
In Exodus 21:2, slavery was a common way for people to pay back their debts. "When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, but in the seventh, he shall go out a free person, without debt," not as an enslaved person just let free in the seventh year, but the master was also provided to set him with the tools to start a successful life.
With these reasons on how the bible allowed and accepted slavery, you might be able to understand how many people argued to keep slavery. However, there was also much evidence supporting the bible being against slavery.
In Acts 17:26, the bible says human beings are from one blood. When saying one blood, they mean the same meaning. As part of equals, one does not have the right to a higher person than another. Representing slavery wouldn't be accepted (The Bible and Slavery)
Another reason the bible was against slavery is that the Deuteronomic code (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Deuteronomic-Code) says Israelites are forbidden to hand over fugitive slaves or oppress them. We can see how this is very clear on slavery and how it's terrible.
With this reasoning, it is obvious how people could argue on both sides, defending or opposing slavery using the bible.
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