Why Did So Many Christians Support Slavery?

[MineralMan]

14. You are correct. There is no uniform Christianity.

There is no single set of doctrines that applies to all Christians. It's all flexible and can meet any sort of philosophical or social viewpoint. It can lead to the Crusades, when Muslims were killed on sight. It can lead to antisemitism and genocide. It can lead to torture and witch-burning. Of course, it can also lead to the spreading of peace and equality. It can be any of those things. It has been all of those things.

That's why merely identifying as a Christian really means nothing when viewed from outside of that religion. There is no typical Christian. There is nothing I can know about a person based on that label.

So, that raised the question of what Christianity really means. One person's understanding of it is not really the same as any other person's. I cannot know what it means to be a Christian, because that religion encompasses the entire range of human behaviors, both beneficial and harmful.

For me, the label is meaningless when it comes to understanding who a person truly is. I pay no attention to religious labels, for that reason. Instead, I look at people's behavior. That tells me who they are. Until I can observe that, I cannot know anything, really, about any person. Labels are useless.