Peace and blessings to all, I am currently reading Dr. Ehrman’s book God’s Problem and in chapter two, page 21, Dr. Ehrman writes that the Holocaust was the most heinous crime against humanity in the known history of the human race. As a conscious African-American, I take strong exception to that statement. As heinous as the Holocaust was, I would strongly argue that the slave trade by European nations, which included both Christian and Jewish involvement, was the most heinous crime EVER committed against humanity. The slave trade went on for hundreds of years and most scholars will admit/conclude that over 100 million Africans were murdered and/or died directly from the trans-Atlantic voyage itself and the horrific brutality that went along with it. It always seems to be that black suffering is not equated to human suffering and is always overlooked, discounted and trivialized by caucasian people. Any time human beings suffer at the expensive of other human beings is a monumental travesty in and off itself. I would hope that people would recognize and understand that this historical event should be at the forefront of all human travesty and that it can never be forgotten or written out of history, like they are trying to do today. I appreciate Dr. Ehrman’w work, study and explanation of theological history and continue to inform us of your findings. Thanks!
Msandy65 said
most scholars will admit/conclude that over 100 million Africans were murdered and/or died directly from the trans-Atlantic voyage itself and the horrific brutality that went along with it.
I’m not disputing the gross injustice and horror of the slave trade or minimizing the sufferings of its victims. And I agree it is a part of American and indeed European history that many people are apt to minimize.
But where is the 100 million Africans died as a direct result of the trans-Atlantic voyage number coming from? Is this actually a scholarly consensus? This isn’t something I’ve studied closely, but intuitively it seemed sort of high, and a quick google search provided a wide range of estimates, but none (at least on the first page) so high. The consensus, so far as I could gather, for those who died on the voyage itself was around 2 million, if you count deaths on land on either side of the voyage, the number goes up quite a bit, but I’m still not seeing it approach 100 million.
Again, it is a horrific fact in any event.
“But where is the100 million Africans died as a direct result of the trans-Atlantic voyage number coming from?”
I cannot address that but can imagine a kind of death of the spirit to a race despised simply because of skin color. It’s still going on to this very day. With 46.8 million African-Americans in the US alone in 2019 (Pew Research Center), the overall number of human beings having been subjected to such an injustice is beyond reckoning.
Personally, I’ve always considered blacks the Greek gods of the world. In spite of everything, they prevail.
Msandy65
I am also inclined to agree with you however trying to understand and compare these different horrors should not be seen as trivializing one of the many other crimes in my opinion.
I find it interesting that in simple terms the church (at that time synonymous with government) had established that any government controlled by a Christian king had the right of total subjugation of any non christian lands/people/government if they could claim the foreign land and physically defend the claim.
In 1491 the Portuguese had finally sailed up the Congo river and (in my opinion and very limited scholarship) made a deal with the local African rulers that if they would convert to Catholicism, the Portuguese would give them the franchise to trade anything of value including slaves without subjugating them.
It is no large jump to see that one year later Columbus must have pointed out to the Spanish that they were closed out to the riches of the world by the Portuguese, and geography.
Columbus arrival in the new world was under the same Catholic rules which had worked for the Portuguese but he offered no franchise since the natives were not Christian (remember Martin Luther was not yet on the scene) they and their lands were subject to the absolute disposal of the Spanish king.
As time went on the Spanish mistreatment of natives was so horrifying that it was initially thought by them that a merciful solution was importation of African slaves.
For me hearing all of the misunderstanding, mistakes, falsifying interactions of the Christian religion that leads to the justification of these types of horrors is itself horrifying and appears to be a common thread in the unlimited suffering of so many so many different times. What’s worse is it is not just and only christians it is other religions too.
2380 said
Msandy65For me hearing all of the misunderstanding, mistakes, falsifying interactions of the Christian religion that leads to the justification of these types of horrors is itself horrifying and appears to be a common thread in the unlimited suffering of so many so many different times. What’s worse is it is not just and only christians it is other religions too.
Ted Turner has the solution:
Let women run the world.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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