Sometimes slavery is raised as an objection to the Bible and Christianity. And a superficial reading of the Bible could lead one to conclude that God has a positive view of slavery. However, when engaging the historical context and relevant theological issues this is not the case. The Bible unequivocally teaches universal human dignity and equality because all are made in the image of God.
What is often forgotten is that atheism rose to prominence only after centuries of Judeo-Christian ethic and thought had shaped modern civilization. Atheism did not lay the groundwork for inherent human dignity and equality; it borrows that from a Judeo-Christian worldview. If you remove God from the equation, you also remove inherent human dignity and equality.
Atheistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (who was carefully read by Adolf Hitler) explains:
Equality is a lie concocted by inferior people who arrange themselves in herds to overpower those who are naturally superior to them. The morality of “equal rights” is herd morality, and because it opposes the cultivation of superior individuals, it leads to the corruption of the human species.
History stubbornly does not let us forget that ideas have consequences.
Which idea do you think is more dangerous: that all people are created in the image of God and possess inherent dignity and value, or that the concept of equal rights leads to the corruption of the human species?
Some may argue that if there had been no Bible, advocates (including preachers!) of colonial slavery couldn’t have (apparently) justified the practice. Perhaps. But by this line of reasoning, we would also have to say that if there were no physics— if E didn’t equal MC²—then there would have been no atomic bomb.
When you think about it this way, the common denominator that emerges yet again is people. What is most needed is the transformation of the human condition. And that, in stark contrast to the worldview of atheism, is exactly what Jesus of Nazareth offers.
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