During slavery, slaveholders used their version of Christianity as propaganda—a deliberate tool to control, brainwash, and pacify enslaved people, while discouraging insurrection, rebellion, or resistance. Methodist and Baptist preachers were often sent onto plantations to enforce this message, telling enslaved people that slavery was biblical and ordained by God. Slaveholders even produced “Slave Bibles,” which removed large portions of Scripture—especially stories of liberation and resistance—while leaving verses that emphasized obedience and submission. In many cases, Black ministers were pressured, monitored, or coerced into repeating these teachings, pushing scriptures out of context to reinforce obedience to masters rather than freedom in Christ. Passages like, “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ,” were weaponized to sanctify bondage and silence dissent.
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