[dragonwriter]

> What does it say that it was actively used with authority (and horrifyingly is still being used) by both sides of the slavery debate?

That Christianity isn't a unified hive mind?

> Shouldn't the literal word of the most moral being in the universe be clear regarding slavery, at the very least?

Arguably it should be, but then the idea that the Bible is the literal word of God is not, itself, a doctrine shared by the whole, or even majority, of the Christian community (it's a doctrine primarily of the evangelical and fundamentalist branches of Protestantism.)

[redial]

> That Christianity isn't a unified hive mind?

If they claim to have direct communication with the creator of the universe, like all christian communities do, they should have at least a minimum standard of congruence. Or is he just having a laugh with some of them?

[dragonwriter]

> If they claim to have direct communication with the creator of the universe, like all christian communities do, they should have at least a minimum standard of congruence.

Well (1) all Christian communities do not claim that all Christian communities have direct communication of that kind (in fact, Christian communities often claim that other such communities are deficient, and perhaps willfully so, in there regard), and (2) I don't even think all Christian communities claim that even they themwelves have communication of the kind that would support any conclusion much stronger than that that community’s authoritative teachings are free from error (certainly not that any subject of a specified degree of material impact should be addressed.)

[redial]

They would love to claim a whole lot more, and in fact originally and for a long time they did. But I know that with so little to back them up, that is what they've been resorted to claim.