If Slavery Had Found A Different Scriptural Emphasis

          When the Civil War divided the nation, most church denominations  divided north and south.  To support the slave economy of the south, two very different theological interpretations of the Bible were undertaken. 

         What I believe is that the use of the Bible to justify slavery in this country may be the worst misinterpretation of the Bible in our nation’s history.  The consequences of that theological framework, that way of thinking about God, still haunts us as a nation over the question of race.

         But imagine if the North had grasped Deuteronomy 23: 15-16, and made it their call and response to slavery?  “If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master.  Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.”  Imagine if ‘refuge’ had been the watchword of the nation as it divided?  How much more of Jesus do we see in that?

         The great fear of the South in regards to their slaves was that of an uprising.  There were many places where, locally, the slaves far outnumbered the free and a rebellion would have caused much death and desolation.  Imagine if the great fear was, in fact, flight?  What if Harriet Tubman and those who followed her lead were the great heroes of the time, carrying out this mission from Deuteronomy 23?

         I am very aware of how deeply racism runs in this country and how much deeper it was in the time of the Civil War.  But prooftexts, verses taken on their own, can take on a life of their own, for good or for ill.  How powerful would it have been if this one had taken hold?

Pastor Peter