What do you think is the best-selling book on the planet so far? I am more than sure that this is the Bible. There is an opinion that over the entire period of its existence, the Bible was edited and rewritten a huge number of times.
Very strange specimens have survived to this day. One of them you can see in the walls of the Washington Museum of the Bible. The official title of this exhibit is "Portions of the Bible Selected for the Use of Slaves in the British West Indies."
Unofficial - "Bible of Slaves". In total, three copies of this book have survived in the world - one is located within the walls of the aforementioned museum, two others - on the territory of the universities of England.
Back in 1846, the American writer Frederick Douglas, speaking before the Anti-Slavery Society, condemned the existence of a slave society in the United States.
Apparently, the writer was well aware that the local authorities with might and main used religion for terror and control, as well as for suppression of the individual. And one of the methods of such suppression is the exclusion of information about human freedom from the Holy Scriptures.
It is known that in the early 19th century, American slave owners circulated such an “edited” Bible to slaves in the Caribbean.
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Interestingly, from this "version" of the Bible, absolutely all the fragments that were capable of provoking their rebellion were removed, and replaced with fragments that only strengthen the system of slavery, which played a vital role in those days.
In total, about 90% of the information from the Old Testament and about half of the information from the New Testament were excluded from this version of the Bible. According to some researchers, a version of this Bible could have been developed in England.
The first version of this document was published in 1807 in London - it was published by the "Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves." It is not hard to guess what this society was doing - clearly not improving the lives of Africans who at that time worked in the British colonies in the Caribbean.
Some researchers believe that this particular book was used to teach blacks to read and at the same time to convert them to the Christian faith. But the faith is not simple, but the one that was beneficial to their masters. Here are just a few points that have been excluded from this version of the Bible:
1) There was absolutely no information about the enslaved Israelites in the territory of Ancient Egypt
2) In it, Paul's letter to the Ephesians was heavily edited - the words “There is neither a slave nor a free one. for you are all one in Christ, "but left out the phrase" Servants will obey their masters."
3) Absolutely all information from the book of Revelation was removed
4) There was not a single psalm that could inspire hope for deliverance from slavery and oppression.
It is not hard to guess what goals this "work" pursued - the education of "exemplary slaves". It appears that in the early 19th century, the American and English churches deliberately used the Bible as a tool of propaganda and indoctrination.
It should be noted that these churches came to such measures after the brutal Haitian Revolution, which happened from 1791 to 1803. The reason is obvious - a desperate attempt by the slave owners to retain their own power.
