In the brutal world of slavery, where whips tore skin and families were auctioned, and bred like cattle, the most powerful weapon wasn’t always the lash, it was the Bible. Through sermons, laws, and redacted scripture, Christianity which was forced on Enslaved Africans, became a tool of psychological control, designed not to save their souls, but to imprison their minds and spirits.
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling,” the Bible reads in Ephesians 6:5. This verse, and others like it, wasn’t just quoted during sermons. It was weaponized. European colonists and American slaveholders used such passages as divine endorsement for slavery, a way to justify the brutal subjugation of millions. But beyond justification, the Church played a more insidious role: it became a psychological cage, making resistance feel like rebellion against God Himself.
In the American South, enslaved Africans were taught to read only to the extent that they could absorb Christian doctrine, never to think critically or explore the world beyond the pages chosen for them. They were also required to attend the churches of their white masters. Often, they outnumbered the white congregants but were forced to sit in the back or confined to balconies, a physical reminder of their “place” in both society and faith. The preachers they listened to, white, educated, and fully in line with the plantation system, delivered messages soaked in submission. “Heaven awaits the obedient servant,” enslaved congregants were told. Earthly suffering, they were taught, was the path to eternal life.
They cited scriptures like 1 Peter 2:18–20:
“You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect… even if they are cruel.”
And 1 Timothy 6:1
“All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.”
The message was unmistakable: obedience wasn’t just expected, it was divine. Submission to your master was framed as submission to God and Suffering became salvation.
Even when Black preachers were allowed to lead congregations, it came with strings. In Southern black churches, sermons had to be delivered under white supervision. Black preachers were expected to stick to the script, those same verses promoting obedience and endurance. Any deviation could mean punishment, even jail.
Southern legislatures took things further. In states like Virginia after Nat Turner’s Rebellion, laws were passed in 1832 that forbade African people, enslaved or free, from preaching at all, laws were also passed that prohibited enslaved Africans from attending nighttime religious meetings unless accompanied by their white enslavers.
The Slave Bible
The most chilling example of religious manipulation was The Select Parts of the Holy Bible for the Use of the Negro Slaves in the British West-India Islands, more commonly known as the “Slave Bible.” Produced in early 19th-century England, this version of scripture was edited and anything that hinted at justice or liberation was removed.
Over 90% of the Old Testament was removed. Half of the New Testament vanished. Stories like Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt? Was deleted. The Psalms that spoke of deliverance and crying out to God? Was also erased.
What remained were cherry-picked verses that encouraged obedience, humility, patience, suffering and unwavering loyalty to one’s master. The message was clear: God willed your enslavement, and your salvation depended on your silence. British missionaries carried this edited Bible to the West Indies, where it was used to convert enslaved Africans and suppress their desire for freedom.
Beyond cherry-picked verses promoting obedience, white preachers often leaned on a twisted interpretation of the Bible’s “Curse of Ham” to justify the very existence of slavery, particularly the enslavement of Africans. The story, found in Genesis 9:20–27, tells how Noah cursed his grandson Canaan, the son of Ham, declaring that he would be “a servant of servants” to his brothers. Nowhere in this passage is Africa mentioned. Nowhere does God ordain racial hierarchy.
But through centuries of distortion, slaveholders and theologians crafted a lie: that Ham was the ancestor of all Africans, that his curse made Black people naturally suited for slavery, and that their bondage was the fulfillment of God’s divine plan.
This wasn’t just a theory shared in elite theological circles. This myth was taught to enslaved Africans directly, in sermons, in Bible lessons, and in plantations. It became one of the most widespread religious justifications for racial slavery. According to this interpretation, Blackness itself was a mark of divine punishment, and slavery was simply the rightful position of a cursed lineage.
The damage of this lie ran deep. It wasn’t just used to explain slavery, it was used to explain why resistance to it was wrong. To question your condition was to question God’s will. To seek freedom was to sin against the very order of the universe.
While slaveholders preached obedience and justified enslavement, enslaved Africans dreamed of one day being rescued by their master’s God.
And they never stopped believing or singing.
The Church’s role in slavery was not just complicit, it was diabolical. For centuries, it helped paint slavery as sacred, turning the whip into a divine instrument and the slaveholder into a god-appointed guardian. The effect of this spiritual manipulation left deep scars, many of which still remain. Even today, some people, including in Africa, continue to believe in the false doctrine of the Curse of Ham, a myth planted centuries ago to justify their own subjugation.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/articles/slave-bible-redacted-old-testament
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/virginia-slavery-debate-of-1831-1832-the/
https://theconversation.com/the-curse-of-ham-how-people-of-faith-used-a-story-in-genesis-to-justify-slavery-225212
