I was able to save it as a pdf pretty easily. I don't want to break any copy right laws or forum rules by posting all of it. I can send you the file if you wish. Here is the gist of it.
I. RELIGIOUS JUSTIFICATIONS FOR DISCRIMINATIONThe fact that Judge Bazile referenced God in his decision upholding the Lovings’ conviction is neither surprising nor accidental. Bazile’s religious arguments were part of a long line of segregationist attitudes that tied religion to opposition to racial mixing. As William Eskridge has documented, for much of American history, biblical stories and religious principles provided the primary justification for various forms of racial oppression from slavery through segregation.9There were generally two biblical arguments used to justify slavery: the story of Ham and the regular appearances of slavery in the Bible. The story of Ham involves the three sons of Noah—Japheth, Shem, and Ham—who, according to Christian tradition, were said to be related to the three major races—Japheth with Europeans, Shem with Asians, and Ham with Africans.10 In the biblical story, Noah planted a vineyard and became intoxicated.11 While he slept, Ham saw his father naked.12 When Noah “awoke from his wine,” he “knew what his younger son had done unto him” and thus cursed him.13 Medieval and early modern Christianity viewed this passage as an indication that Ham had performed a sexual act on his sleeping father, thereby justifying the following curse: “Cursed be Canaan [son of Ham]; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. . . . God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”14 This biblical curse on the descendants of Ham served as a religiously ordained justification for enslaving Africans in the colonial period.15Supporters of slavery also pointed to the prevalence of slavery throughout the Old Testament. Numerous biblical laws reference ownership of slaves.16 In addition, the Israelites were specifically instructed to take slaves from among the “heathen” surrounding their land: “‘[T]hey shall be your possession,’ and ‘ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever.’”17 Although divisions arose within Protestant churches over support of slavery, for those who continued to approve of it, this biblical support for the institution provided the religious cover for their position.18After the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, biblical references and religious ideas continued to provide the primary justifications for segregation and discrimination. A second biblical story involving Nimrod, Ham’s grandson, provided the support for the notion that separation of the races was divinely ordained.19 According to Christian tradition, Nimrod led the project to build the Tower of Babel, attempting to reach the heavens.20 In response to this display of “human arrogance,” God made all the builders speak different languages and then “scattered them abroad . . . upon the face of all the earth.”21 In the minds of many, this passage identified God as the original segregationist.22 Finally, segregationists were also particularly concerned with miscegenation and interracial sexual mixing and found support for their position in biblical passages. Christian clergy pointed to Isaac’s blessing to Jacob in which he said, “Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,” which they interpreted again as the descendants of Ham or those of African descent.23.
