Frederick Douglass was one of the most important leaders of the slave abolitionist movement and fought to end slavery in the United States during the 19th Century. In his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, he thoroughly describes the harsh life and life-threatening conditions of slavery and his escape to freedom in the North. Throughout the narrative, Douglass' masters justify the beatings, the blood, and even the murders of slavery through religious "excuses," which, ironically, question some people's religious views in the 19th Century. Douglass makes a point in his narrative that the Christianity of the slave masters (or "white Christianity") was different from the slaves' Christianity in that the whites' religion was a wrong belief and that their acts were very sacrilegious.
             "He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes" (p99). This is a passage from the Scripture that one of Douglass' masters quoted in justification of beating his slave until her back dripped with blood and barely any skin remained. First of all, slave masters did not have a right to cowardly turn their backs on slavery and give religious justification for their obvious sins. Deep down, these masters knew that slavery was wrong, but mistakenly, they used religion as an excuse for it. Douglass does a great job of pointing this out in the narrative, and he makes his audience think twice about organized Christianity in the 19th Century. In addition, the white churches during the slave era did not take a stand against slavery, but, instead, turned their backs to it. For example, one of Douglass' masters, Captain Auld, went to a Methodist camp meeting, and upon returning home to the slaves, he became "more cruel and hateful in all his w!
             ays" (p97). These slave masters were cow
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