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Although some Enlightenment philosophers opposed slavery, it was Christian activists, attracted by strong religious elements, who initiated and organized an abolitionist movement. [1] Throughout Europe and the United States, Christians, Christian faith movements or " non-conformist " believers within established churches, were to be found at ...
Christian views on slavery are varied regionally, historically and spiritually. Slavery in various forms has been a part of the social environment for much of Christianity's history, spanning well over eighteen centuries. Saint Augustine described slavery as being against God's intention and resulting from sin. [1]
In the United States, Christianity not only held views about slavery but also on how slaves practiced their own form of Christianity. Prior to the work of Melville Herskovits in 1941, it was widely believed that all elements of African culture were destroyed by the enslavement experience. Since his work, scholarship has found that "Slave ...
John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of the colony, had been a supporter of abolition before coming to Upper Canada; as a British Member of Parliament, he had described slavery as an offence against Christianity. [2] [3] By 1792 the slave population in Upper Canada was not large. However, when compared with the number of free settlers, the ...
Catholic teaching began, however, to turn against slavery from 1435. [7] While the Age of Discovery greatly increased the number of slaves owned by Christians, the response of the clergy, under strong political pressures, was ineffective in preventing the establishment of slave-owning societies in the colonies of Catholic countries.
Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing believers the freedom to assemble and worship without limitation or interference. [2]According to the 2021 census, Christianity is the largest religion in Canada, with 53.3% of the population (more than half of these are Roman Catholic); one third of Canadians stated that they were irreligious or had no religion.
Though Christians like the Apostles Paul and Peter accepted slavery as a societal institution, they also recognized the dangers inherent in it.
The Quebec government opposed it as well. Under Henri Bourassa's leadership, Quebec argued for the rights of conscience and provincial autonomy in the Lord's Day debate of 1906. The Roman Catholic Church supported Sunday as a day to attend the Mass and as a day to enjoy the simple, if not secular, benefits of a day off from work.