Rick Davidson Journal Prompt 2
The simple definition of Christianity is the belief of Christ. I am atheist. Just as I have different views of my beliefs, I know Christians do to: Pentecostal, Catholics, and Baptist. They all believe in the same deity but they all practice their religion differently. What I find very interesting in this piece is the assumption of the owners knowing they are good people while they engage in the slave trade. When Mrs. Huston tried to scare Mr. Hoskens straight she stated, “You should remember, Sir that there is a just God.” To that Mr. Hoskens answered, “I does, and guess its monstrous kind an’ him to send such likely niggers for our convenience.” I, being atheist, find that revolting. Any person using logic linking religion to moral correctness is close-minded and ignorant; the logic is flawed by assumption.
The very beginning of the narrative uses a reference to God in a poem. Poems and songs add depth and personal meaning which mere words cannot. What stirs more emotion? God created all man equal or “God gave us only over beast, fish, fowl, Dominion absolute; that right we hold By his donation. But man over man He made not lord; such title to himself Reserving, human left from human free.” William even added another poem about his sister being sold at auction. Of course the use of the poem heightens our sense of loss and hopeless more than simple saying “ My sister was sold while I watched”.
Christianity is the abiding right in abolition text where the “good” people help those in need against the “bad” people. The good people are always portrayed as godly people with high morals while slaves are also trusting in God. What else could they do? Slaves have nothing but had even basic rights denied to them so all they had left was God and the right to end their own life. I do believe most if not all slaves were avid Christians. I may be biased here, but I believe the use of Christianity in the narrative was used rhetorically but I believe the Crafts’ have true faith. What they endured can only be described as a miracle, so to them their faith was tested and tried truly multiple times. So in a very real way, the slaves who found freedom would have a nearly unbreakable tie to their beliefs. One question that may be worth exploring would be the argument—did slavery create the foundation for a black Christian community? I believe it would’ve helped create one, when slaves were freed after the civil war; Since most slaves were kept ignorant how could they possibly understand law and being free were related? I’m sure many slaves felt only an act of God could save them and then here they were saved.