Slavery and Religion in Frederick Douglass's The Narrative

            Back in the mid 1800's, slavery was in full effect in the areas of the South. Slavery consisted of individuals that worked for so called slave masters who treated them not as human beings but as their personal property. Some say that the slaves basically were treated like animals. The slaves would perform various job duties that were done on large plantation fields. Generally, most of the slaves started work at the break of dawn and did not finish up until sundown. If any of the slaves for whatever reason disobeyed their slave master commands, they would receive severe punishment that usually resulted in severe whipping and brutally, bloody, bodily harm. In Frederic Douglass's dramatic autobiography Narrative of the Life written by him, clearly show how religion was used to work in a harmful way towards slavery. .
             In this paper I will show the negative effect that religion had on slavery in Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life. I will demonstrate the treatment that the religious slaveholders put towards the slaves, the passages they used from the Bible while beating the slaves, and how they refused to educate slaves, fearing the power they would gain if they were on the same level mentally. Even though someone who is considered a religious person as a whole is thought to have a positive outlook, during the times of slavery, it proved to have the opposite effect. I will also show how Douglass distinguishes the vast difference between the Christianity of Christ and Christianity of the slave holding religion.
             For the purposes of this paper, "religion" will mean a certain belief that an individual may have about someone or something. Although there are many types of religions in the world that people believe in, the religion that is mentioned in Narrative of the Life is of the Christian faith that believes in the word of the Bible and that there is some kind of God. Most people say that believing in a certain religion is good for the body and soul and is also a good way for one to communicate with God on a personal level.