Frederick Douglass was a slave for a time and he lived in Maryland. After his escape, Douglass was a major abolitionist who tried to dispel and disprove all of the myths that were used to justify the horrible practice of enslaving people. Frederick used many examples of how the people who owned slaves were guilty of religious hypocrisy. Not only were slave owners cruel in their direct treatment of their slaves but they thanked and prayed to God for the things that the masters kept from the slaves to be granted to the masters themselves. One such example was on page 64 of Douglass' first autobiography: "A great many times have we poor creatures bee

Along with being enslaved, the slaves also were not allowed to read or write. As a result of this the slave holders were going against one of their own preachings that said people should be familiar with the Bible and what God would want of His people. Douglass gives his example of this hypocrisy: "He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning how to read the name of the God who made me."(Douglass 119) Douglass makes a powerful point of how slaves were denied their rights to their own religion as well as to their humanity in the preceding quote.

Religion has been used to not only justify slavery bit also to justify such things as wars also. A very good example of this would be the Christian wars against the Muslims in the Crusades. During these three wars the reason for having them was to protect the religious lands and values of Christianity. Another example of religious war is still practiced today. Muslims still are ready for a jihad or Holy War. This is still practiced today and Muslims from all over the world must vow to volunteer their services should any need for a jihad present itself.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 778
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)