Slavery in Religion

For our first assignment we were told to research online, finding reliable sources, that discusses slavery as it appears in religion. We needed to find five positions that argued that slavery was supported by religion such as in the Bible and five positions that argued that any religion does not condone slavery.

There were a couple arguments that were made that really stood out to me. The first argument that supported proslavery, Ashely, found the quote saying "In the New Testament, Paul returned a runaway slave, Philemon, to his master, and, although slavery was widespread throughout the Roman world, Jesus never spoke out against it.”(http://www.ushistory.org/us/27f.asp) This proves that slavery is brought up in the Bible, yet, never denounces using humans as property.

It makes me wonder if the Bible is still reliable to present day. Although, the Bible is said to be relate to any time in history, if this is true, and the Bible is telling us slavery isn't a immoral act, and is not seen as a sin. Therefore, according to the Bible it is okay to own another person.

However, there is also good arguments that show that the religion doesn't support slavery. Such as when in the Bible when it states "All human beings are made in the image and likeness of God and are therefore worthy of equal respect; all human beings share in the divine mandate to exercise authority in God's world (Gen 1:28)." (https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/1994-1_003.pdf)

The verse makes us believe that God would have never condoned slavery, but still makes me question why it ever occur. Also, why was it in the holy book and nothing that was putting an end to it. There's no doubt that slavery in today's society is wrong, however, what if there is a cultural norm occur now that we one day is seen as unacceptable.