So long as biblical slavery is properly understood, I'm not sure this is actually that unpopular a position. Or unpopular, maybe, but not regarded as incorrect in orthodox circles.It's when this view of biblical slavery and the permissibility thereof is projected onto a very cruel and different type of slavery that we start to have problems (and I'm not saying that you're doing that; in fact, I'm sure you're not).Under the Law, antebellum slaveowners would have been put to death (Exodus 21:16, go to the ESV for the most precise translation). I am not advocating for that position, but those who would go to the Bible for support of American chattel slavery will not find themselves on solid ground. It is quite possible that some Christian Roman slaveowners might have been put to death under the Law as well. But the Law was not for Gentiles. And I do not think a slave born in 1855 to another slave falls under the category of Exodus 21:16. Now perhaps the Africans who stole and sold his Great-great-great-great Grandpa would be condemned by Exodus 21:16