True Christianity Vs. False Christianity

In comparing the role that religion and spirituality plays in the lives of Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass one must define their religions. It is evident that in both The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African and A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave Christianity is a major focus. However, Christianity as described by both of the authors has a double meaning. In today’s society, Christianity is relevant to people who worship God. These are people who follow the word of God and are honest believers. While this is true, Equiano and Douglass believe there to be both “false” and “true” Christianity. They consider themselves “true” Christians, while slave owners are “false” Christians. Although the institution of slavery existed long ago, its basis sprung from “false” Christianity. Similarly today there are people who take his/her respecting religion to an extreme and try to base neurotic behaviors on a “true” religion transforming it into a “false” religion. For example, there are Islamic people who have used their religion to justify their disgusting behaviors that threaten the United States. People who consider themselves to be Islamic but stand against those who do wrong are the “true” believers. They realize that they are not practicing the same behaviors but are still labeled under the same religion. This idea of “true” and “false” Christianity is significant when applying it to the institution of slavery. The people enslaved and the enslavers are on two different spectrums in relation to Christianity. Equiano and Douglass firmly believe that through the practice of “true” Christianity and the belief in Divine Providence, the institution of slavery in which they are held captive will degrade and eventually set them free.

Like many slaves, Equiano learned about Christianity through his slave owners. Because he was not educated he found interest in learning about books. He often talked to them and listened for responses in hope of hearing something. When he worked for the Miss Guerins, they were surprisingly nice to him and sent him to school. While working for the ladies he was introduced to the idea of an after life. “While I was attending these ladies their servants told me I could not go to Heaven unless I was baptized. This made me very uneasy; for I had now some idea of a future stateâÂ?¦” (Equiano 133). Here in London, Equiano was taught to read and write and also about religion by the Miss Guerins. By learning how to read he was able to help himself. The Guerins opened a window of discovery for Equiano.

The travels over to England were a discovery in itself. Upon meeting people Equiano perceived people as they presented themselves and not through prejudiced eyes. “For a man whose woes were a direct result of European actions, Equiano showed no obvious hostility to white people, choosing instead his friends and enemies by their behaviour, not their ethnicity” (Walvin 32). He was extremely interested in the church that he first attended and found himself asking question after question comparing what he had learned to his past African customs. Through the traveling on the ships and moving from place to place, Equiano discovered many things and among them was God (32). Known as ‘the black Christian’, he often read the bible and considered himself a free man after being baptized. To his surprise he was sold and taken to the West Indies where he would again be enslaved. It was there that Equiano decided that he was entitled to his own freedom. He pondered his own fate and was assured through his Christian belief that life was predestined. Because of this he prayed and hoped that God would give him strength (69).

While Equiano believed in fate he was tempted through others to believe in salvation through works of good. It made more sense to him that the better his behavior was the more chance he would have to get to Heaven. However, he found it hard to comprehend the fact that the Lord would forgive his sins “âÂ?¦and how he could ever know that” (104). Through all of this emotional and religious upheaval, Equiano found himself confused and depressed. He thought of suicide but realized that God would not accept him into Heaven if he were to commit such a sin. The religious turmoil that Equiano was subjected to resulted from slave owners’ idea of Christianity. Slave owners who believed themselves to be Christians did not represent the essence of “true” Christianity. Most slaves did not believe in “false” Christianity. Because Equiano was taken at such a young age he had no choice but to believe what he was told. It was his courage that enabled him to challenge those beliefs and to form his own.

Unlike Equiano, Douglas and many others wrote about “âÂ?¦the difference between genuine or “proper” religion and the religion lived and taught by enslavers and others given to prejudicial attitudes toward blacksâÂ?¦” (Burrow 157). Douglas believed that the slave holders who taught this “false” Christianity were from the devil and not Christ. “The religion of the white enslaver was to the more enlightened enslaved Africans “hypocritical religion,” in comparison to “true” Christianity” (156). In addition slaves who were educated about religion were stepping closer to freedom. Masters frequently complained that Christianity would destroy their slaves by making them “saucy”. Slaves would consider themselves equals to white people. Slave holders ironically feared Christianity because it would make their slaves self-righteous and unmanageable and even disobedient (Raboteau 102-103). Even as a little boy Douglass was aware of the benefits of becoming educated. His mistress Auld was caught teaching him to read the bible and was scorned by Master Hugh who reminded her of the unlawful act she was pursuing (Burrow 96). In Douglass’ narrative Master Hugh is recorded as saying, “If you give a nigger an inch he will take an ell. Learning will spoil the best nigger in the world. If he learns to read the Bible it will forever unfit him to be a slave” (96). Because of this, Douglass knew that the more he could learn the closer he would find freedom. Perhaps that in itself was Divine Providence. Without that piece of knowledge it may have taken Douglass a longer more severe time in slavery to realize the possibilities. “It was just what I wanted, and I got it as a time when I least expected it” (Douglass 33). However because of this blessing, Douglass found himself cursed as a slave for life. The more he read the more he learned. He wished himself as stupid as other slaves and pondered death as a release from slavery.

During his stay with Covey, Douglass assumed that he would be fed well because Covey was said to be a Christian man. While Covey would often pray in the mornings and in the evenings before bed, he also whipped Douglass weekly. His belief that Christianity would have an impact on Covey was wrong because Covey was as they called him a “nigger breaker”. Therefore Douglass held a strong belief in Christianity of Christ rather than the Christianity of the land. The idea of slave holders acting as preachers on Sunday mornings preaching about a path to salvation left Douglass cold and angry. He states in his narrative, “I love the pure, peaceable, and imperative Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land” (118).

Slaves who understood and believed like Douglas and Equiano that there was a difference between “true” and “false” Christianity or Christianity of the land or Christianity of Christ also hoped and believed that their would be retribution for their slave owners in the future. Douglas claimed that “Slaves knew enough of the orthodox theology of the time to consign all bad slave holders to hell” and that “You shall reap what you sow” (Hopkins and Cummings 41). Slaves hoped and believed that God would turn death into life and it would result in a life of liberty and righteousness. Both Douglass and Equiano contemplated death over slavery at a point in their lives, like thousands of other slaves. However, both of them had the courage and strength to withstand the struggle in hope for salvation from God. Their belief in Divine Providence held them through the toughest trials during their lives. While it seemed impossible to believe at the time, God had a plan for each of them and through unfair and ignorant times they fought to hang on to that belief.

Sojourner Truth wrote in Daughters of Africa, “I have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for me to do; I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain” (Boyd 144-145).

Works Cited
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Vassa, The African. London: UNC University Library. 16 Nov 2004 .
Hopkins, Dwight N., and George C. L. Cummings. Cut Loose Your Stammering Tongue
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