If you happen to find yourself in Liverpool for whatever reason, do try to set aside a day to visit the Albert Dock next to Liverpool One. If you also plan to visit Liverpool One then you may need at least two days in Liverpool because you can easily spend a whole day at the Albert Dock if you want to see everything.
The Albert Dock is home to the Maritime Museum. The most interesting museum, if that is the right word to use, is the Slavery Museum. Okay, maybe interesting is not the word I should use. Try heart wrenching or tragic instead. And if you are not moved to tears by what you see then you are not human, or at least not a compassionate human being.
Well, maybe I am just a sentimental old fool. Last night, my wife, Marina, and I watched the 2013 movie12 Years a Slave and I cried. So I suppose that is the mark of a sentimental old fool. Remember that 1961 Sue Thompson song Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)? Well, that is I. And I seem to do that ever so often as I get closer to the end of my time here on earth.
Some people may view slavery as immoral. It is certainly illegal in many countries although it is still secretly done in some parts of the world, mainly in the prostitution trade. But it is not immoral or illegal according to religion.
To be honest, I have not studied Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, etc., in great depth. So I do not know the stand of those religions regarding slavery. But as far as the Semitic religions or the Abrahamic faiths of Judeo-Christianity and Islam are concerned, slavery is both legal and moral.
The Bible (both the Old and New Testaments) as well as the Qur’an and Hadith talk about slavery. And slavery is provided for in the Semitic religions. Islam believes there are 124,000 prophets since the beginning of time and 25 of those Prophets are mentioned by name in the Qur’an. And both the Bible and Qur’an testify that even the Prophets owned slaves.
Slaves are not only legal but you can also have sex with your slaves. That is not considered adultery and the Bible and Qur’an say so. And the common patriarch of the Abrahamic faiths, the Prophet Abraham, himself had sex with his wife’s slave who bore a child named Ishmael, or Ismail to the Muslims. And Ismail, the son of this slave, is the patriarch of Islam while his brother Isaac (Ishaq to the Muslims) is the patriarch of Judaism.
Jews, Christians and Muslims will tell us that their religions are religions of peace and love. At the same time, however, their holy books tell us that their Prophets declared war on the ‘enemies of God’ and they killed all the men they defeated (the prisoners of war) and took their women and children as slaves. And this, according to their religions, is the booty or profits of war.
Hence there is no Geneva Convention as far as the Semitic religions are concerned. Prisoners of war are butchered and their women and children are taken as profits of war and subjected to slavery. And this is not what I say. This is what their holy books say. I am just quoting what their holy books say.
