Atheists & Agnostics

olddots

(10,237 posts) Fri Jul 10, 2015, 03:51 PM Jul 2015

Is slavery part of religion or religion part of slavery ?

I was going to post this in G.D. but I'm on thin ice already .

There seems to be mention of slavery in most religious doctorine isn't there ? I think most religion is mass rationalization for some pretty vile concepts ,even the cocept of relgious "freedom" .

7 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Is slavery part of religion or religion part of slavery ? (Original Post) olddots Jul 2015 OP

Or both. Curmudgeoness Jul 2015 #1

Religion has been used throughout history to control the weak Major Nikon Jul 2015 #2

Yes in many different ways I believe slavery can be attributed to religion... AuntPatsy Jul 2015 #3

Here's a slave market in 2015... onager Jul 2015 #4

This is quite saddening. ArianaA Jul 2015 #5

They had ArianaA Jul 2015 #6

Slavery is just another tool used by ion_theory Jul 2015 #7

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)

1. Or both.

Reply to olddots (Original post)

Fri Jul 10, 2015, 07:56 PM

Jul 2015

Slavery to god is a part of religion. And slavery is condoned by holy books, as long as you follow the rules.

And religion is a part of slavery, again because it is condoned. Religion was something given to the slaves to make their plight more bearable---this life may really suck, but if you are really good in this life, you will have an eternity of paradise.

Major Nikon

(36,900 posts)

2. Religion has been used throughout history to control the weak

Reply to olddots (Original post)

Sat Jul 11, 2015, 06:10 AM

Jul 2015

If we think of god as being created in man's image rather than the other way around, religion becomes a hugely effective tool for controlling the masses and is unquestionably the greatest invention ever created for that purpose.

Unsurprisingly slave populations were almost universally indoctrinated into the religion of their captors. This was done for a few different reasons. First of all, you could claim you were actually saving the "souls" of your slaves and doing them the favor of saving them from eternal damnation and offering them the opportunity for eternal bliss, which conveniently can't be verified. This helped tremendously with marketing the idea of slavery. Forget all the forced servitude, torture, and murder. We are doing them a huge favor by rescuing them from their paganism. Then there's the consolation that the enslaved get from religion. Rebelling against the society that enslaves them is no different than rebelling against slavery itself and imperils one's position in that eternal happy place (unverified) which is one's reward for working hard all your life and not questioning authority. This is the opium such a society feeds its slaves so their crushing oppression is hardly felt at all.

Regardless of which way you look at it, religion and slavery are part and parcel to each other.

AuntPatsy

(9,904 posts)

3. Yes in many different ways I believe slavery can be attributed to religion...

Reply to olddots (Original post)

Sat Jul 11, 2015, 10:02 AM

Jul 2015

onager

(9,356 posts)

4. Here's a slave market in 2015...

Reply to olddots (Original post)

Sat Jul 11, 2015, 10:17 AM

Jul 2015

Operated, of course, by godless atheists persecuting religious believers.

GOTCHA! It's actually operated by the devout Sunni Muslims of ISIS.

ISIS even issues a handy pamphlet on the proper treatment of slaves and captives, with justifications from the Koran and hadiths:

Christians, Jews and Yazidi women can all be taken as slaves, it says.

Women can be bought, sold, and given as gifts; they can be disposed of as property if a fighter dies.

The pamphlet's Q&A format includes the following:

Question: Is it allowed to have intercourse with a female captive immediately after taking possession of her? Answer: If she is a virgin, her master can have intercourse with her immediately after taking possession. But if she is not, you must make sure she is not pregnant.

Question: Is it allowed to have intercourse with a female slave who has not reached puberty? Answer: You may have intercourse with a female slave who hasn't reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse. However, if she is not fit for intercourse, it is enough to enjoy her without.

It is a depraved and depressing document, at odds with mainstream Islam, though well-researched with Koranic verses and hadiths, or reports of what the Prophet Muhammad said or approved.

This may sound like OMG Western colonialist propaganda!1! against the poor misunderstood religious believers of ISIS. But these reports have been generally consistent from a wide range of sources, not all of them tools of Western colonialism etc.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30573385

ArianaA

(19 posts)

5. This is quite saddening.

Reply to onager (Reply #4)

Sat Jul 11, 2015, 11:28 PM

Jul 2015

ArianaA

(19 posts)

6. They had

Reply to olddots (Original post)

Sat Jul 11, 2015, 11:39 PM

Jul 2015

slavery regulations written in the old testament. smh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery

Would be nice to know just how far it goes back in religions.

ion_theory

(235 posts)

7. Slavery is just another tool used by

Reply to olddots (Original post)

Sun Jul 12, 2015, 06:09 PM

Jul 2015

the powerful to control the masses. When used in conjunction with religion, it ingrains those beliefs even further into the theist. Think about the most horrific crimes committed during slavery. To do most of those things to another human being, a person needs to either be sociopathic or actually believe they are doing the right thing.

Reply to this discussion