Influential Pastor Says Slavery "Not Inherently Evil"

Gerard Anthony Ritchie

Well, it only matters if you actually believe that the bible is the word of god, rather than a collection of stories partly based on some historical events and partly based on a mishmash of ideologies that eventually emerged as the Christine doctrine. The unfortunate thing is that there are a lot of people in positions of authority, particularly in the USA, but also in other countries that are trying to tie their political authority to this book. The sensible course, of course, is for the majority of people to see this for what t is. Which is a load of nonsense and to get back to voting or supporting sensible people that who have:

1 - a reasonable level of intelligence 2 - a genuine wish to help the majority of their fellow citizens 3 - a lack of self-aggrandisement and a lack of the desire to accumulate personal power and personal enrichment 4 - a sense of public service

However, finding such a leader may be akin to finding a unicorn in the current politically polarised climate.

But, we deserve the leaders we elect and support. If we don't want idiots and despots to lead us then we need to select better ones. It's not rocket science.

Bridget Kielas-Fecyk

The Alt-Right and MAGAs are fighting tooth and nail to reverse all laws that give women and minorities any rights at all. Up to, and including, trying to erase the 13th amendment which abolished slavery.

Bailey McSwain

One can find anything one wants to find in the Bible. Do not reference the Bible to find your way. There is as much evil in the Bible as good. It was written by humans and in most cases rich humans and you know how they are.

Patrick Michael Bradshaw

God is not a person that approved of slavery. It was possibly a law edited or was asked not to be written from the original books. It is known as a fact, slavery doesn't help a society. There are a few laws edited or not added: it is illegal to be sexual with a child. It is illegal to be sexual with a non human species if that species isn't similar genome as a human (no, monkeys aren't that similar). Starving any person is illegal. War is illegal. These are laws (sins) that you don't need to study to know. Eating flesh is illegal. It was added to the Bible and laws. It's not the law that should be needed to be written. The original flesh eating laws were possibly from the news of people eating flesh and the original writer being scared of the news. Later in the book of books we read several facts that God says good grows from agricultural fields, from trees, gardens, and any fruit plant. Drugs are illegal. There can not be peace during life if every Country does not know these are laws that should not need to be written or typed. Possibly, they do need to be written and or typed.

I hope this helps every person reading this comment.

Avram Yehoshua

I agree with him because "slavery" is all over the Bible and God never condemns it. As a matter of fact, there are two Greek words in the New Testament for "slave" (or servant), and the Apostle Paul calls himself the lower of the two (dulos), enslaving himself to Jesus. In our English translations of the Bible (e.g. Joshua 1:1: After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD), the word for servant is actually also the word for slave (eh'ved). Moses was a slave of God, the greatest slave of the Old Testament, an example of doing God's will. "Slave" is a designation that neither he, nor anyone else in the Old Testament, minded. Haven't we been bought, as Christians, with the blood of Jesus? We are not our own but slaves of Jesus, just as He was of His Father, for a righteous slave does the will of his master (cf. Col. 3:22). Just because this is "hard to hear" for 21st century Americans, it doesn't mean it's wrong. Also, when you look at the OT rules for slaves, it reminds me of the Japanese model for employers of factories, etc., taking care of their workers by providing them housing, etc., until they die. Yes, slavery in the old South could be cruel and oppressive, but that was Man; not God. Most Hebrews, in Covenant with the God of Israel, would treat their slaves well…it was God's will. Blessings from Above, Avram Yehoshua. Christian minister and Senior Elder, The SeedofAbraham.net

CJC

I guess that's one of the problems of living your life by a centuries old book, and excusing your thoughts and behaviors by saying that they weren't explicitly disallowed so it must be OK. This is not common sense or well thought out at all. It also violates laws in most countries, which probably isn't important to these Bible Thumpers.

Pastor Darrell l Hampton McClain

Any pastor standing in 2025 saying slavery is “not inherently evil” is not reading the Bible he’s recycling the same theology slaveholders used to sanctify chains.

Yes, scripture mentions slavery. But it also mentions polygamy, concubines, genocide. Recording something in history is not the same as blessing it. The moral arc of the gospel is liberation: God delivering Israel from Pharaoh, Jesus proclaiming freedom for the captives, Paul declaring in Christ there is neither slave nor free.

To defend slavery today is to ignore the very heart of the faith: that every human bears the image of God. Reduce a person to property, and you don’t just break them you blaspheme the Creator.

So let’s be blunt: slavery is inherently evil. And the Church’s job isn’t to defend shackles, it’s to break them.

Darrell McClain

Patti Anne Lisenbee

Who would be the slaves? We all know the answer to that - black and brown skinned people. Maybe whites if they're single mothers or homeless people, but for the most part, people of colored skin. I have been reading lately about students with perfect scores on the SAT or almost perfect GPA's and they're all people of colored skin. We need everyone to be educated so as to have access to these wonderful minds that are erupting here lately. I'm reading a book called Black AF History by Michael Harriot. It's a history of America from the Black Person's knowledge. This history is eye opening and I recommend the book to everyone. It tells the true story of history of black people in America. It's quite a bit different than the white ethnocentric and blatently false narrative being shoved down our children's throats now. Slavery has always been about power over the very lives of people deemed lesser. But in the eyes of your god, no one is lesser, and in heaven there will be no gender or skin color.

Viola Johnson

Are they willing to free their slave with ancestral land, provisions, animals, food, drink at the sixth year? Are they also willing to abide by all the other Old Testament requirements for owning a person, especially the part about them not being chattel. If not, stick to the easy part; "...love ye one another."

Rev Ned

Christofascism at its best! Sing the hymn! 🎼 Jesus loves me, but, He can’t stand you.

Kenneth Kling

Exercising “Free Speech?” Ask for clarification and validation of the facts. If unavailable, move on. “False Prophets” and such.

Cyril R. VanKeirsbelk

"Christian Nationalists" are neither Christian nor nationalists. They hate everyone who isn't one of them. They hate America. Their statements and actions are the proof. The goal is to overthrow our government and replace it with a theocracy that allows them to enslave anyone who is different from them or even disagrees with them.

Willie White Jr

Love thy neighbor as thyself. Would you love and your family to be enslaved? If not, then why would you want to condone this act. God does not want us to sin, but he tolerates us, with a plan to elevate our minds to a sinless level. Seems like some people want to go backwards because they are afraid of equality and or afraid of the truth. God allow some things to happen based on teaching us the importance of life. If your child learned their lesson and became a better person, would you still keep punishing them? Their were many corrective measures that God used to make people better. He doesn’t want anyone enslaved. The truth will make you free, not set you free. Words have meaning and proper direction according to the time that they served. What time of life are you in. Egypt would not have survived if not for Joseph to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. Pharaoh freed Joseph. The next Pharaoh enslaved the people again based on his fear. What are you afraid of? God is love. What are you. Is slavery only what you studied in the Bible? Did you see God’s love for all of us? I am praying for you right now. Be careful, Satan seeks to sift you as wheat. Peace Abide.

Roy S. Thorpe

The antiChrist walks the earth with his minions doing his bidding with their clever ways of lying and deceit! Some as false prophets and wrapped in the robes of clergy spewing hate and mistrust as they go! Wake up children, the bad guys are already here!

John E Karlin

People need to realize that all languages involve language/words used for: 1. Description. Simply describing things as they are (not an endorsement). Descriptive language is time locked. It is either past or present (you can't describe something that hasn't happened yet). 2. Prescriptive. Language/words used to prescribe/endorse something, behavior, etc. Prescriptive language is Present-future based. 3. Advisory language is present based; "Don't do it that way!" etc.. 4. Story telling. Language/words used to make a point. It is past-present based. The Bible was written over 2,000 years ago. People can very erroneously take the language/words of the Bible in the wrong context. For example, taking descriptive language/words as being prescriptive. This is a very common error in interpreting scripture. Pastor John.

Stephen Patrick Zanghi

Mr. Chief Justice Roberts and the rest of the Originalists could use this in their reasoning as they invalidate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. America cannot have Coloreds electing their own kind to Congress. Not what the Founders envisioned. Why, the Founders would be horrified that a Colored Person was elected President. Their vote only counts for three-fifths of a white person's vote.

Since we want to return to the 1950's, maybe the Supreme Court should re-visit Brown v. Board of Education. Plessey v. Ferguson got it right the first time. Let the Coloreds have their own schools and drinking fountains and cafeterias. That's when America was Great!!

And we need to jettison politically correct speech. Bring back those racial, ethnic and homophobic slurs. My God, think of how great we would be then.

P. Keith Benefiel

Being able to stone a rebellious teenager to death would give parents some leverage. Leviticus is just full of fun stuff like that!

Cameron Lewis

Only an idiot would make the statement or association that GOD thinks slavery is OK because the bible says nothing contrary. Christian nationalists are just undereducated fools who bilk funds from maga mindless sheeples.

Raymond David Cook

Sad truth is we are all slaves to the government and the financial industry. Certainly it doesn't compare to how horribly slaves were treated in the past but even when slavery was abolished, the slaves had no where to go but to continue working on the same plantations they were working on, only then they were "free". Only how free were they? The chains were gone but they still were not allowed to own land or vote, to purchase food or supplies they had to put things on credit to the store which in turn they had to work that debt off and of course they were not paid enough to pay that debt. This lead to the modern day slavery of today ... we all work ... we all have bills ... and those bills are more then what we get paid so at the end of the month the debt just keeps going up until we have no choice but to work until we physically can't work any more. The idea of anyone having their own company or building their own house and not having a large debt to the bank has been completely lost over time. This became crystal clear to me when I recently got laid off and our debts started piling up and we were at risk of losing our home and I had to sell the art studio that I owned. Just 100 years ago, the idea of credit debt was a completely foreign concept. You didn't have a car payment, or huge house payment, a power, water, gas or any other utility bills. You worked and hunted on your land to provide food and possibly did other work to be able to purchase some things but we just didn't have a whole lot to purchase like we do today. I don't think we should go back in time but I have been doing my best to become completely debt free, so that they next time I lose my job, I don't find myself feeling completely overwhelmed. My father once said to me that the more you own, the more things you have own you, and that was never more clear than it is today.

Michael Arthur Lueras

Jesus spoke about this BOGUS "Christian" Pastor Joshua Haymes 200 years ago when He said: "There are those who say that they are of Me - but they really are not of Me." (Matthew 15:8) Jesus rescued an Adulteress from execution but Haymes wants to do see them executed. Haymes re-crucifies Jesus every time he opens his mouth to preach in his church. Haymes and other Criminal Disbelievers like Hegseth and Trump and others are TODAY the reason why Allah said in the Quran in The 7th Century: "I will fill Hell with jinn and humans all - a multitude from every community." (Quran 11:119) Haymes is on his way to Hell with and in his persistent and public mockery of everything Jesus stood for. That is the one and only thing that I like about Pastor Joshua Haymes. Amen!?

Tom Herman

Once people understand that Christian Nationalism is a movement dedicated to destroying our US Constitution and replacing it with their authoritarian values, it will be easy to understand the rest. The desire for some to control others goes back to caveman days. It ebs and flows with changing societal norms. This movement has promoted embracing racism, misogyny and white superiority those harboring such values to become public without repercussions and in some cases rewards. To consider another living soul as property is an abomination of all that is good. Anyone endorsing or turning a blind eye is the problem not the solution.

Raymond David Cook

This is an absolutely disgusting topic. What ever access this guy has to our government needs to be revoked. We do not need this type of influence.

Carey McConnell Hanna

There are verses in the Old and New Testaments that are not from a loving God, but human beings of power who sought cover for their own thoughts. Paul silenced women and would let no woman teach or preach above men. Was Paul an ancient narcissist? Or product of visions? Surely that was not what God was doing in the early church. Look at the women in the New Testament who accompanied the diisciples and supported them.

The error is that church fathers used these teachings, carried out by congregations as the Word of God, but never erased because the verses gave them power and fear over their believers. Thanks be to God that society moved beyond the traditions and humanity to a higher level. Jesus taught love of neighbor. Early church leaders carrying the Word to Europe knew that Christianity would be an easier message if Jesus was white. They were not wrong.

Look at the books of the Protestant Bible and Catholic Bible. Who decided what got left out and what was rewritten? Why? I submit power, fear and control. Those who did not agree were imprisoned, murdered or tortured. Is hell just an invention to keep parishioners in line? If so, we know what happens. The person is denounced as a heretic and the writings heretical. It was okay to slaughter unbelievers.

Bridget Kielas-Fecyk

Simply put, the alt-right n.....to party wants to relegalize slavery. It's very much starting to sound like WWII rhetoric again.

JaZe

That such thinking still exists is astonishing! Any so called God that condones it is a very little god.

Michael Ray Lane

Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament reading his teachings he does not condone nor prohibit slavery but he does teach how to treat people and he said pure religion is to love God and your neighbor as yourself. If you can read all the gospels and think slavery is okay you better read it a few more times and pray for wisdom.

Steven Ferrell

That man needs to reexamine himself as his beliefs are not Christian.
There are those fanatics in every single religion and even in nonbelievers who want to justify any feelings they may have.
What is important to remember is that those few are not what the entire body is.

JT of the plains

That guy is just plain wrong. Slavery is condemned in the Bible. 1Timothy 1:9-11 "This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, adulterers, SLAVE TRADERS, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me."

Henry Buehler

Forced Labor in the United States

While many view forced labor as only an international issue, it occurs closer to home than we may realize. Despite our nation's foundation in freedom guaranteed in our Constitution, forced labor exists and persists in the United States even today. Victims of forced labor can be U.S. citizens, or they can originate from almost every region of the world, having entered the United States with or without legal status.

Despite the misconception that most forced labor victims are in the country illegally, a study by the National Institute of Justice found that 71% of those experiencing forced labor in the United States entered the country on lawful H-2A and H-2B visas. A recent investigative report of a large-scale South Georgia labor trafficking ring revealed that of 26 farmworkers rescued on November 17, 2021, all were Latin American migrants who came to Georgia with legal visas.

James Riggle-Johnson

This is the best evidence that the Bible, written by men (not God), reflects the opinions of the times and those who wrote it. Arguing that owning human beings as property is somehow okay with God shows that religion can be used to justify any horror we can imagine. I can’t help but think that organized religion is inherently evil.

Joshua Haymes’ defense of slavery is not an isolated case — it’s part of a growing movement of extremist preachers trying to rehabilitate ideas most of us thought humanity had left behind. Haymes is the same man who claims he opposes violence, yet he’s called for the execution of LGBTQ people and the public hanging of doctors who provide gender-affirming care. He preaches peace while cheering for blood. What’s next?

What makes this dangerous is not just his words, but how many people now echo them without shame. The “quiet part” isn’t quiet anymore — it’s a rallying cry. If these people truly believe that God made us in His image, then no human being should ever be treated as lesser — not by race, gender, or who they love. The moment religion excuses cruelty, it stops being holy — and starts being evil.

Clay Serenbetz

The Supreme Court appears ready to declare that racism is no longer an issue to consider in elections. Joshua Haymes' comments bely the Court's contention and helps demonstrate the bias of Republican justices.

ServantOfJudgement

Slavery has gone nowhere. Our clothes, household products, electronics and automobile parts all come from various forms of slave labor.

Illegal alien children working in meat packing plants in the USA, slaves in China building our electronics and tennis shoes, 13 year olds in India loading cargo containers instead of forklifts, forced 12/7 days in USA factories, brutal working conditions in Mexico for pennies, on and on and on. All of us, me included benefit from slave labor regardless of how we feel about it.

No, man has not changed at all since the Bible's first printing, not one bit. He's just as savage and brutal as he was 10k years ago.

All that said, a Christian should aim for the code of conduct found in Christ's Kingdom, which contains no slavery. This guy Haynes, if he's a real Christian, is off in the woods.

Lynnea Urania Kaylor

Whether slavery deserves to be treated as a moral precept or as a historical context that the Bible sought to humanize may be clarified by another issue that may initially seem unrelated: divorce. Deuteronomy 24 introduces the writ known as a "get" to facilitate divorce. However, Christians typically regard divorce as inherently sinful (often unless it's their own). Y'shua, on the other hand, said that it was permitted due to the "hardness of your hearts." (Matthew 19:8). Clearly, while divorce is not within the desired will of God, it falls within what He permits. Such should also be the question to ask regarding slavery. Is it what God desires, or is it what He permits for some good we can't immediately see? If the former, then it would be reasonable that the preferred state for any human is to be enslaved. But if that's true, then how do masters fulfil this preferred state for themselves? Or do they just resign themselves to the same fate as Orwell's pigs in the novel, "Animal Farm?" If however, the preferred state for any human is to be free, then wouldn't it be glorious to any master to bring about universal liberation? It seems to me that anyone who thinks will understand the latter to be far more reasonable.

Patricia Ann Gross

If denying women the right to vote and slavery are morally right, yet being LGBTQIA+ is uniquely evil is your stance, you have no moral center. In fact you have no morals at all. No words. None at all.

Rev. BH

Another probably bullied young twerp from the high school debating team with a new goofy moustache and a podcast hoping for attention from fellow losers. Why is this a thing?

Lionheart

Of course the Christian god is okay with slavery, all of his followers are enslaved to him. They are not allowed to think for themselves, and if they do ever dare to question him they are doomed to endless years of torment in his created Hell. Hence the expression, Fear God.

Thank goodness there is no evidence he is real. I really do feel so sorry for those that are stuck and still enslaved ⛓️ to his mythological will and can’t get out. 😢

🦁❤️

Brian Scott Hoff

I think slavery is a level of immorality that comes close to being the worst immorality imaginable. I also think this "Pastor" is correct in his reading of the Bible. It does not state that slavery is immoral. In fact, it gives instructions that owning slaves is acceptable and how to behave as a master & as a slave. This, along with many other weirdly immoral instructions from the biblical God are just some of the reasons I have no "faith" in that god nor in much of that book. Why and how Christians can pretzel their way through such a book with such ease.. rather unbelievable to me. I can only conclude that sensible people can be completely indoctrinated into ludicrous beliefs under the right conditions. That's too bad and there's very little I can do to convince them to re-think this.

J. Anderson

...an easy suggestion, then, that Mssrs. Haymes and Hegseth would gladly volunteer to be the first in renewal of the grand old tradition of being nothing but considered subhuman, owned PROPERTY of someone else, that someone being not of their own choosing...(...waits...) No? Nah, didn't think so...

Najah P Tamargo

Najah Tamargo-USA

Reading that made me physically ILL!! I do not understand how these people have any kind of followers, except for white supremacists or Nazi's. Slavery is an abomination....and so are they!!! How dare they call themselves "christians!!!"