Reply #41: article: Glenn Beck's History 'Expert' Endorses Biblical Slavery [View All]

[Shallah Kali]

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/7/12/94224/9568/Front_Page/Glenn_Beck_s_History_Expert_Endorses_Biblical_Slavery

or google cache if the site is down:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.talk2action.org%2Fstory%2F2010%2F7%2F12%2F94224%2F9568%2FFront_Page%2FGlenn_Beck_s_History_Expert_Endorses_Biblical_Slavery

Judging by an article by Stephen McDowell, The Bible, Slavery, and America's Founders http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=120 , that's been on Barton's Wallbuilders web site since 2003, David Barton appears to be in favor of the institution of legalized Biblical slavery. As McDowell writes in his article,

God's laws concerning slavery provided parameters for treatment of slaves, which were for the benefit of all involved. God desires all men and nations to be liberated. This begins internally and will be manifested externally to the extent internal change occurs. The Biblical slave laws reflect God's redemptive desire, for men and nations.

McDowell then lists various types of slavery which can be legal according to scripture from the Old Testament books of Leviticus, Exodus, and Deuteronomy. According to McDowell, "pagans could be permanent slaves" and to bolster this position McDowell quotes theologian R.J. Rushdoony:

"since unbelievers are by nature slaves, they could be held as life-long slaves" 1 without piercing the ear to indicate their voluntary servitude (Lev. 25:44-46). This passage in Leviticus says that pagans could be permanent slaves and could be bequeathed to the children of the Hebrews."

Rushdoony, the founder of Christian Reconstructionism, was a virulent racist who wrote that Africans were lucky to become slaves in America, claimed the Holocaust death toll was wildly inflated, and maintained that the Sun orbits the Earth.