If the ongoing debate over the appropriate Christian
response to the institution of slavery is not the single touchiest subject
currently batted around by evangelicals in multicultural societies, it has to
be at least Top Five.
Some Christians, perhaps wisely, dodge the issue entirely if
at all possible: “Are there slaves today anywhere in the West? Have there been
any for over a century? No? Well then, it’s irrelevant what I think about it.
Next question!”
Most of us wouldn’t put it that baldly, but we would be just
as happy discussing something else.