I was actually referring to our own thinking about issues in general, not just about slavery. In today’s world, we don’t need to examine legalized slavery as an issue, since we hope that is long settled. I’m sure most of us would like to think that we would have opposed it 200 years ago, but obviously the evidence is not there for that. (Although there are more people enslaved now than at any time in history, according to something I heard recently.)
I agree that understanding another viewpoint can be a helpful thing to know; I’m not sure it knowing it is necessary to understand our own thinking.
I don’t need to understand the thinking of the Charlottesville Nazis to understand my own thoughts on white supremacy and white nationalism.
Estimates vary, depending on what categories are considered “slavery”. For example, http://www.alliance87.org/2017ge/modernslavery#!section=1 lists 40.3 million slaves today, including 15.4 million in forced marriage as well as various categories of forced labor. Some slaves are in debt bondage, similar to indentured servitude of early American history.
Comparison with historical numbers may be inaccurate depending on whether forced marriages were included in historical numbers. Also, the population was smaller previously, so the number of slaves today could be larger even if the percentage of people enslaved is smaller.
@sylvan8798 , I noticed the seeming pun when I posted, but I didn’t mention it because it was totally unintentional. I use the phrase “colors my thinking” every so often, so it’s not out of character for me to say.
Learning about the past, including the wrongs of slavery, is both appropriate and valuable.
And since there are no good reasons ever for slavery, yes, that teacher should have known better.
My 4th grader is aware that slavery is very wrong, but also aware of reasons that people engaged in slavery. We have had numerous discussions about the different reasons for the Civil War, slavery, attitudes of the time, as well as how we are to treat each other. I would say that the teacher was trying to provoke thought and that the assignment was age appropriate, just badly worded.
Maybe the point in the lesson was to demonstrate that there aren’t 3… or even 1…“Good reasons” for slavery. Maybe she was planning to come in the next day and shoot down every single case a kid made.
I agree, it was NOT a well thought out assignment. But I wouldn’t mind hearing the teacher’s side of it.
The use of the word “good” is obviously a problem. I can’t read the article because it is blocked for me.
Phrasing it different would have made sense here and permitted the discussion the teacher obviously wished to address. Perhaps something like: “Reasons why slavery occurred in that time and place” and “Reasons why it was vehemently opposed” might have been a better way to go.
Shaking my head a bit at the disdain for moral relativism on this particular topic, when the truth is that virtually every current topic is argued on the same basis today, now that the values and standards once at least supported by the community even if everyone didn’t live up to them are no more (marriage, for example).
Excuse the typos! Phrasing it differently, that should read.
First, I would like to express my sympathy to romanigypsyeyes and to everyone else who has been oppressed by narrow-minded people who have still not understood the Gospel message of inclusion (and who may be Christians in other some other aspects of their lives). This is terrible, and I am very sorry about it!
Also, I can’t see this assignment as appropriate for fourth graders, even if corrective discussions were planned for the next day, in case any supposedly “good” reasons were found by anyone.
But with regard to the statement about using the Bible to support slavery, that “Christians did it for centuries,” as romanigypsyeyes mentions parenthetically in post #1, I think this really needs to be modified. It is true that there were some people who considered themselves to be Christians who found support for the practice of slavery in the Bible.
On the other hand, Christians were heavily represented among the British and American Abolitionists. William Wilberforce, who was perhaps chief among the Members of Parliament who brought an end to the slave trade in England, was encouraged in his efforts by John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Church. There are many American Abolitionists who were true Christians.
When I think about Biblical commentary related to slavery, the first thing that occurs to me is Luke 4:18. Jesus is reading the lectionary near his hometown, and says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.” This reading is from the book of Isaiah, 61:1.
I have originally known this in the form “I am come to proclaim liberty to the captives.” Luke is the “social justice” Gospel, and I commend the book to those who may be interested.