Uncle Tom's Cabin-Part I

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

During my high school years, Uncle Tom’s Cabin remained on the list of approved classics that English teachers gave out at the beginning of the year. Since that time, there has been local controversy over the appropriateness of the subject matter. I’m not sure where it stands on our school corporations reading list now, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’m betting it isn’t there anymore. But the controversy was enough to put Uncle Tom’s Cabin on my radar and finally decided to give it a go.


Although I’ve been reading it for a few weeks now, I’m only a third of the way through it. What can I say? It’s not a book that I enjoy. In fact, I’ve had difficulty sleeping on the nights when I’ve read it right before bed. Obviously, with two black daughters, reading about blacks being treated as less than human is uncomfortable. Reading hateful derogatory remarks makes me squirm. I’ve even cried a few times after reading about this cruelty or that punishment. But then, those are all things I expected from the book.


What I did not expect, and what I find just as disturbing as the issue of slavery, is the commentary on the Christian church, then and now. There are several references to southern preachers preaching the acceptance of slavery.


For those of us that go, we often head to church on Sunday under the premise that our pastor is there to guide us in following the path of Jesus Christ. We turn a blind eye to the political nature of the church, and accept as fact all of the moral judgments our kindly pastor, with his superior understanding of the Word, has to offer.


And yet. . . .Here is a clear example, certain proof, that even the Bible can be manipulated to support the political ideology of the times. I don’t think anyone, outside of the KKK or Neo-Nazi groups, would agree that Christians have a right to own another human being, but church leaders of that time supported, tolerated, or encouraged the practice. It leaves me wondering what morals we’ve gleaned from our own church that will be considered political propaganda a hundred years from now.


At the very least, I’m left with a need to look more closely at the political agenda at our church or any church for that matter. And that just doesn’t feel very good. It has taken something that has seemed so good and replaced it with doubt and misgivings.

I will finish the book. I might even change my mind about it. But I’m not sure about the timetable. It’s an emotionally difficult read for me.