# Corruption of Christianity in Clotel

> Theme guide for Clotel by William Wells Brown.

The book criticizes professed Christians and religious institutions for supporting and legitimizing slavery, using religion to justify oppression rather than promote justice and mercy.

## Where it surfaces

- [Preface to the 1853 Edition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/preface-to-the-1853-edition): Brown argues that professed Christians and clergy who own slaves give the system legitimacy, and that true abolition requires exposing their hypocrisy.
- [Going to the South](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/ii-going-to-the-south): A clergyman purchases Currer for house service, highlighting the hypocrisy of religious figures participating in the slave trade.
- [III: The Negro Chase](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/iii-the-negro-chase): Ministers and magistrates use the public execution to preach obedience to slaves, twisting religious authority to uphold slavery.
- [The Religious Teacher](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/vi-the-religious-teacher): Snyder's sermon and the catechism distort Christian teachings to enforce slave obedience, while Georgiana presents a genuine Christian abolitionist perspective.
- [X: The Young Christian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/x-the-young-christian): Georgiana argues that Southern Christians and ministers distort the Bible to justify slavery, making Christianity complicit in oppression.
- [XI: The Parson Poet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/xi-the-parson-poet): Mr. Peck, a Christian parson, writes a racist poem dehumanizing a slave child and defends the use of enslaved people for medical dissection, revealing the moral hypocrisy of slaveholding Christianity.
- [A Slave Hunting Parson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/xiii-a-slave-hunting-parson): Mr. Peck and Jones use religion to justify slavery and maintain control, while participating in brutal violence like hunting slaves with dogs.
- [XVIII: The Liberator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/xviii-the-liberator): The Carltons reject Snyder's sermons as tools to keep slaves docile, instead teaching the gospel in its pure form, which the slaves appreciate.
- [XX: A True Democrat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/xx-a-true-democrat): The mention of a Catholic clergyman performing a marriage based on a false blood oath illustrates religious complicity in racial hypocrisy.
- [XXI: The Christian’s Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/xxi-the-christian-s-death): Georgiana's true Christian practice is contrasted with the hypocritical priesthood supporting the Fugitive Slave Law.
- [A Ride in a Stagecoach](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/xxii-a-ride-in-a-stagecoach): The Connecticut minister's self-righteous condemnation of the South's Sabbath-breaking and intemperance contrasts with his own region's commercialism, exposing the corruption of religious piety when used for sectional superiority.
- [Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/chapters/xxix-conclusion): Brown highlights the extensive slaveholding by American Christian churches, condemning the hypocrisy of a 'pious democratic republic' that traffics in human beings.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/themes/corruption_of_christianity
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/clotel_se/themes