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explaining Huck Finn and then some.
::I agree with you with what you say about Twain's religious views, above. And I've said on the Talk page that I believe he should be removed from the list in [[Homeschooling#High-achieving Christians who were educated at home|Homeschooling]]. Although if his religious views are to be mentioned, something must be said about his book on Joan of Arc... [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith]] 07:25, 10 March 2007 (EST)
::I agree with you with what you say about Twain's religious views, above. And I've said on the Talk page that I believe he should be removed from the list in [[Homeschooling#High-achieving Christians who were educated at home|Homeschooling]]. Although if his religious views are to be mentioned, something must be said about his book on Joan of Arc... [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith]] 07:25, 10 March 2007 (EST)
Before the end of the American Civil War (the time period in which Huck Finn takes place), American preachers in pro-slavery territories of the US did preach that slaves should be obedient to their masters (based on a Bible verse by the apostle Paul, though the exact verse escapes me) and that freeing them was a sin. In Huck Finn's mind, he was stealing property from an old woman, not freeing a man from a lifetime of harsh servitude. So, it's no surprise that he feels like he is a sinner for helping Jim escape. Huck decides that he's always been a sinner and decides that in order to do the right thing by helping Jim, he will have to "go to Hell, then" since he's always been taught that slavery was right under Christianity.
Mark Twain lived in Hannibal, Missouri and witnessed the slave trade and he wrote that the preacher and the community taught that slavery was not a sin. As he grew older, he realized that was wrong and Huck Finn shows this. I've only read excerpts of ''Mysterious Stranger'' and ''Letters from the Earth'' but I've always felt that Twain was just disappointed that Christians never seemed, in his eyes, to live up to the values and principles they claimed to possess and yet they did deplorable things at the time like support slavery (not all did, but enough did).
Sorry for the long-winded comment and maybe some original research on my part there, but I hope it helps. [[User:Ripberger|Ripberger]] 01:27, 28 June 2007 (EDT)
==Religion==
==Religion==