While religion was referenced in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” it’s meaning to Douglass only becomes clear in reading the appendix. At first, I was confused about his take on religion and if he supported it or not. This was clarified for me in the appendix when he separates out “slaveholding religion” and “Christianity proper” (1224). Here, he goes into depth about the hypocrisy and sin underlying the former version.
In particular, the Parody of “Heavenly Union” really put this into perspective for me. It cleverly reveals how slavery goes against every part of slaveholders’ supposed religion with lines like “damn you if you steal a lamb; yet rob old Tony, Doll, and Sam, of human rights, and bread and ham,” and “Of One whose heart for sinners broke: he tied old Nanny to an oak, and drew the blood at every stroke” (1227-1228). These lines in particular struck me as poignant examples of how slaveowners used religion to make themselves feel better about themselves and their morality while simultaneously going about as far against the morality of their religion as they could through slavery.
In addition to the poem, he explicitly called out certain actions that he felt were strongly against the Christianity that he has come to know. He uses the examples of slaveowners selling women for the purpose of prostitution calling themselves pious, and the example of them thinking it’s essential to read the bible and failing to teach their slaves to read. These are examples that reveal the exploitative nature of slavery, and how the system of slavery was only beneficial for slaveowners if they were able to control every part of their slaves’ lives. This included their education, family, free time, religion, etc (or lack thereof). It seems as though they viewed it as a business, and not something connected to their own morality or religion. The lack of self awareness (or at the very least, care for the harm they were causing) is astonishing, especially through the perspective of Christianity.
I also found the appendix very enlightening as to Douglass’s views on religion which were confusing upon my initial reading. Along the same lines, I found his view of religion to expanded upon in “My Bondage and My Freedom.” When he speaks about the man that offered him the help of the root that supposedly would protect him from the harm of his enslavers he claims that at first he was against the idea and struggled to not view the notion of the root as hearsay. This contrasted his criticism of religion throughout “The Narrative of a Life,” when referring to the hypocritical slave owners as it showed that he also believed in religion. He believes in religion, but that those who believe they have the right to enslave others are immoral and therefore straying from the morals in their religion. I also find in interesting that he accepts the root despite his lack of belief in it or his support of the concept that goes against his religion. It shows that Douglass is more accepting and kind, more religiously righteous than those who claim to follow christianity but live their lives immorally as slave owners.