Religion
In reply to the discussion: Why Did So Many Christians Support Slavery? [View all]MineralMan
(146,384 posts)the dominant religion in the United States. I believe that humans invented religion, so it's only natural that religion reflects the values of the societies that create it. When societies change, they simply ignore what was once standard in their religions and forget that out of convenience, it seems.
Today, most Christians would not like to recognize Christianity's role in slavery in this country. When someone brings it up, there's all sorts of hand-waving and reference to "cultural norms" and the like. The fact is, though, that Christianity and its scriptures were once used to justify the enslavement of human beings. That cannot be denied.
A similar case can be demonstrated with regard to misogyny and inequality of the sexes. Right now, that sort of thing is not in vogue, but religious misogyny was a fact through most of the history of Christianity. Perhaps today's society is just an aberration in that history. Perhaps the future will bring another round of misogyny and slavery, justified again by scriptural doctrine. As recently as the 1910s, women were not allowed to vote in the USA. It has been less than 100 years that the right has existed. And getting even that right meant fighting Christianity here. Preachers preached against women's suffrage from their pulpits and quoted the Bible in doing so.
Christianity has not changed. Its scriptures have not changed. Society has changed. Today, those things in scripture are ignored. Tomorrow, they may not be ignored.
Religion reflects society. It always has. It was created by societies.