(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

Crossposting to challenging_god.

Is it fair to judge a religion on the basis of actions done by its followers? By this I mean of course weighing the good deeds as well as the bad ones. Or should this judgment be made simply on the basis of the teachings themselves?

Underlying this question is another one: to what extent is a religion defined by the people that make it up?

Comments

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

The only text in the Bible that could conceivably be used to demonstrate that slavery is unchristian is Paul's letter to Philemon, which he sent back to Philemon along with the escaped slave Onesimus. In that letter he pleaded with Philemon to treat Onesimus with fairness "as a brother in Christ" or to perhaps even consider freeing him.

It could be that Paul simply didn't have the guts to tell people to stop owning slaves. It's far more likely that he didn't see anything wrong with slavery per se, just the mistreatment of slaves.

[azaz-al.livejournal.com]

"It's far more likely that he didn't see anything wrong with slavery per se, just the mistreatment of slaves."

Paul was a Roman, and from the rest of his writings, it is apparent he had no desire to change the Roman culture, which included slavery and oppression of women. So I think you are correct in your guess that he saw nothing wrong with the ownership of slaves.