Frederick Douglass False Religions

Christianity relies on the belief that God created everyone as equals. Slaveholders sell black men to build churches, black women to support gospels and black babies to buy bibles. Does this sound like equality? No. So how can slaveholders call themselves Christians? According to the constitution anyone can be whatever religion they choose to be, but according to Douglass, they are hypocrites. There are two types of Christians; false and real. False Christians are white, religious hypocrites who uphold slavery, while real Christians treat other races equally. The slaveholders in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” such as Thomas Auld and Edward Covey, are all false Christians.

There are two kinds of Christianity in Douglass’s

Thomas Auld is born a poor man who marries into slaveholding. Douglass says he is “cruel, but cowardly” because he sometimes speaks with great authority and rage, while other times he seems as if he is “an inquirer who [has] lost his way.” Due to his lack of strong authority his slaves call him “Captain Auld” instead of “Master;” the proper term slaves usually use to refer to their master. According to Douglass, the act of starving slaves is “regarded as the most aggravated development of meanness even among slaveholders.” There should always be enough food for the slaves regardless how bad it may be. Thomas Auld feeds his slaves so little, they must beg and steal from the neighbors. After Auld converts to Christianity, he prays frequently and soon becomes a class leader, exhorter. Douglass thinks Mr. Auld will be less cruel and possibly emancipate his slaves, but he only becomes more of a savage. He uses his religion to forgive his vicious actions, which makes him a false Christian. Douglass and Thomas Auld come to despise each other, so he gets sent to Mr. Covey to be “broken

He is a poor farm renter, and his reputation for breaking slaves is the only reason he can afford his rent. He gets “misbehaved” slaves from wealthy slaveholders for a period of time for free. In return he makes sure these slaves know they are not men and only property. He thinks of himself as a real christian; he is a “professor of religion—a pious soul—a member and a class leader in the Methodist church.” But Edward Covey is a false Christian. When Douglass lives with Mr. Covey “scarce a week passe[s] without his whipping [him]. [Douglass] [is] as seldom free from a sore back. [Douglass’s] awkwardness [is] almost always his excuse for whipping [him].” Slaveholders who consider themselves real Christians live a lie due to their ownership and cruel treatment of