Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who himself escaped enslavement, famously noted in 1845 that “between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference–so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked.
To be the friend of the one is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I, therefore, hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial, and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.” Of course, there was no Christianity of Christ, but Christians do claim to follow the Jewish Jesus whose message Christians claim to be their own.
Douglass went on to describe the horrors of the antebellum South which were perpetrated by Christians and often in the name of religious authority. The sad thing is his criticisms remain relevant today. The Queer God Squad wonders if Christianity is redeemable? Or is the antagonistic, nationalist, bigoted American version, as Douglass charged, not really Christian at all?
