Christianity's Role in Slavery
The plantation work gave the slaves very little time to have any type of for religious instruction (like going to church). Some masters even required the slaves to work on Sunday, but when some slaves would have that day off, they had to attend to their own gardens which supplied their diet while others decided to dace and drink. Many masters believed that Africans were too brute or violent to comprehend the gospel, while others doubted that Africans even had souls. Many of the masters can't be persuaded that the Africans and Indians are just beasts like they think they are. Others would think that the conversion to Christianity would make Africans "saucy" because they think that they are equal to the whites. According to John Bragg, a Virginia minister, he thought that Africans would be even worse slaves once they were Christian. Many masters in colonial America thought that once they were baptized they must be freed. The Colonial Legislators thought to clear up this matter and by 1706, at least six had passed acts saying that even if a slave was baptized it didn't change the condition of the slave. As Virginia's law stated, it was passed so that masters may more carefully try to promote Christianity.
The plantation work gave the slaves very little time to have any type of for religious instruction (like going to church). Some masters even required the slaves to work on Sunday, but when some slaves would have that day off, they had to attend to their own gardens which supplied their diet while others decided to dace and drink. Many masters believed that Africans were too brute or violent to comprehend the gospel, while others doubted that Africans even had souls. Many of the masters can't be persuaded that the Africans and Indians are just beasts like they think they are. Others would think that the conversion to Christianity would make Africans "saucy" because they think that they are equal to the whites. According to John Bragg, a Virginia minister, he thought that Africans would be even worse slaves once they were Christian. Many masters in colonial America thought that once they were baptized they must be freed. The Colonial Legislators thought to clear up this matter and by 1706, at least six had passed acts saying that even if a slave was baptized it didn't change the condition of the slave. As Virginia's law stated, it was passed so that masters may more carefully try to promote Christianity.