The American Family Association (AFA) has issued a warning that, by 2060, Christians could be oppressed in much the same way that African Americans were before the coming of the civil rights movement. It further warned that the nuclear family could go the way of the dinosaur, and that the U.S. could have a Muslim president.

Donald Wildmon (or is it “wild man“?) founded the AFA in 1977. Wildmon is the group’s chairman and is a former minister from Mississippi. The reactionary group is anti-gay, anti-Muslim and opposed to reproductive rights.

All of this nonsense raises the question: Where was the Religious Right of its day when African Americans were literally enslaved? The answer is clear: They were on the side of the slave owners. The historical literature makes this point absolutely clear. Forrest Wood, in his book The Arrogance of Faith, demonstrated the profound influence that Christianity and the Bible had upon slavery in the U.S.

Just a cursory examination of the Bible reveals that it routinely condones slavery. In Luke 12:47- 48, disobedient slaves are commanded to be beaten. In Colossians 3;22 and Ephesians 6:5, slaves are instructed to obey their masters. In 1 Timothy 6:1-4, slaves are taught that their masters are “worthy of all honor,” and that for anyone to teach otherwise is to engage in “evil surmisings.”

Robert Green Ingersoll taught that the Bible was the real auction block upon which Black people stood during slavery. In his excellent pamphlet,A Christmas Sermon, he demonstrated how the Bible was used in every aspect of slavery, from the capture of slaves, to the selling of slaves, and to the control of slaves.

Frederick Douglass noted that the pious Christian slave drivers were the most brutal. In his speech on “The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro,” Douglass condemned the Christianity of slave owners and their apologists and enablers. He said: “I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome atheism! welcome anything [in] preference to the gospel, as preached…[by persons who] convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny and barbarous cruelty.” (From The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, ed. Philip S. Foner, 5 vols., vol. 2:197. For more on Frederick Douglass read “Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist and Political Leader,” in my book, African- American Humanism: An Anthology.)

Numerous Black militants have railed against the ways in which Christianity had been used against Blacks during slavery. Indeed, C. Eric Lincoln quoted Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Elijah Muhammad from Muhammad’s book The Supreme Wisdom, in Lincoln’s landmark work, Black Muslims in America, 1961, p. 78:

The Bible is the graveyard of my poor people…and here I quote another poison addiction to the slavery teaching of the Bible: “Love your enemies, bless them who curse you; pray for those who spitefully use you; him that smiteth thee on the cheek, offer the other cheek; him that (robs) taketh away the cloak, forbid him not to take (away) thy coat also….” The Slave masters [sic] couldn’t have found a better teaching for their protection.

Perhaps worst of all, slave masters taught their slaves the importance of blind loyalty and other slave virtues from the Bible. For this reason, some slaves reported to the masters what they knew about planned slave rebellions. One of the best examples of this kind of betrayal was when George Wilson and another slave told their master about a plot hatched by Denmark Vesey.

The issue of slavery tore White Christians apart. Southern Baptists, Southern Methodists, Southern Presbyterians and others split from their Northern counterparts over the issue. Only in recent years did the Southern Baptists issue an apology for their support of slavery.

So, it is clear where the Religious Right of its day stood on the subject of slavery. As Sam Harris would say, anti-slavery Christians were on the right side of the slavery issue morally, but on the wrong side biblically. For the Bible clearly condones slavery in no uncertain times.

However, where was the Religious Right of its day during the civil rights movement? Unsurprisingly, they stood against the movement. White reactionary religious leaders presided over rigidly segregated churches and fought for a segregated society. Leaders such as Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority not only defended segregation in the U.S. they later promoted “constructive engagement” with the South African White supremacists during apartheid.

White religionists were not the only opponents of the civil rights movement. Contrary to popular opinion, most Black churches did not support it in the beginning. Indeed, there was a major split on the issue among Black Baptists. Many Black religionists in the South were afraid of rocking the boat.

Wildmon’s real fear is that White people - particularly White Christians - will be losing their majority status by 2060. Many Whites have had a difficult time dealing with what they consider to be a frightening reality. However, there is precious little chance of anyone enslaving Christians in America. Even if that were to occur, would it not be poetic justice? After all, Christians had been slave owners in America for centuries. Moreover, the Bible does say that we reap what we sow.

Just sayin’….