Kenneson,
To suggest that all Christians were in favor of the institution of slavery that existed in the New World is certainly not accurate. They considered it a mutant or deviation from the Biblical "slavery." Countless popes spoke out against it, but to deaf ears. Also, did you ever hear of Bartolome de Las Casas?
Please tell me where I suggested that ALL Christians were in favor of the institution of slavery that existed in the New World. If you got the wrong idea about my statements, I’d like to know where you got this idea.
I know that slavery could’ve not being ended if many Christians in the New World were against it. Unfortunately, the rich people, and a multitude of Christians in power allowed this practice to go on.
I was born and raised in Mexico City and went to Catholic schools all my life before coming to the States, and a Catholic Seminary for three years. There is no way I would’ve missed hearing about Bartolomé de las Casas. In the following document from Bartolome to the Emperor in a link written in archaic Spanish, he puts the preamble to the US Constitution to shame when both documents are compared. http://www.uni-mainz.de/~lustig/texte/antologia/lascasas.htm#1.%20APOLOGÉTICA%20HISTORIA .
Part of the document says:
Y después de quitado el horror y miedo que tienen de las crueldades e infamias de los cristianos, ...
Which roughly translates as:
And after removing the horror and fear that they have of the cruelties and infamies of the Christians,…(stress mine)
He was pleading for the Indians, but in his plea it could be understood that it applied to all humans, and included the admittance of the cruelty of infamies of the Christians.
The thing I don’t understand is why they forbade slavery for Indians, but allowed it for blacks.
I say this because De Las Casas states in the same document:
La razón desta verdad es, y pónela Tullio (2) en el libro 1.o De Legibus: conviene a saber, porque todas las naciones del mundo son hombres, y de todos los hombres y de cada uno dellos es una no más la definición, y ésta es que son racionales; todos tienen su entendimiento y su voluntad y su libre albedrío como sean formados a la imagen y semejanza de Dios;...
Again, roughly translated:
The reason of this truth is, and Tullio (2) puts it in the first book De Legibus (of the laws): it is convenient to know, because all the nations of the world are men, and from all the men and each one of them it is no more the definition, and this is that are rational; all have their understanding, and their determination and their free will as they are formed in the image and likeness of God;… (stress mine)
De Las Casas has been accused of causing the importation of Black slaves to the New World. I know he also fought for them. I ony wish that the Christians he refers to had followed his leadership and example.