tricted worship practices for all island inhabitants. This ordinance, restricting worship during the free hours of slaves, attempted to discourage participation among slaves in religious gatherings. Such measures against these Christian religions proved pointless, and eventually the slaveowners turned to their own form of education to attempt to take control of their slaves religious life. This teaching consisted of the basic belief in Jesus, neglecting any theological study or background to empower the slaves into the effects and responsibilities of Christianity. The slaveowners though professing to follow the Christian faith, actually were more cultural Christians than religious Christians, and instead of educating the slaves in the religious Christian sense, they preferred to make the slaves cultural Christians, so they would not be inclined to follow the Bible religiously, and then realize the full implications of Jesus' teaching on slavery.The Anglican and Catholic churches, in deference to their desire to remain in the good graces of the ruling class did not actively rally against these laws. However, other Christian denominations continued undeterred by the laws and unfavorable conditions put forth by the ruling class. The Moravians were the first missionary group to exert an influence upon the Negros of Jamaica. Establishing themselves as early as 1754, these missionaries, did not upset the slaveowners primarily because they exhibited a very poor track record in terms of evangelizing and conversions. By 1804, the Moravians claimed only 938 converts in 50 years of Christian teaching.(Patterson, 1967, pg. 209) As a result, the slaveowners did not actively prosecute the Moravians in the preaching. The Methodists established a missionary unit in 1789 and quickly made more of an impact among white, free black, and slave population on Jamaica. This interest exhibited by free blacks upset the white landowners because it gave the blac...
