What position does the Bible take on the issue of Slavery?

[The Mikado]

This isn't even really a hard question at all. The Bible's various parts are all written in societies (ancient Judah or the Persian province of Judea for the Old Testament, the Roman province of Palestine or wherever St Paul happened to be that day for the New Testament) that were societies where slavery was part of life.

It's a bit like asking if a cookbook is "pro-carnivore" because it includes a recipe for Swedish meatballs. It's not "pro" anything, it reflects a society where slavery existed and was a common everyday part of life.

Worth pointing out that both Testaments reflect, obviously, that you don't WANT to be a slave. Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery is the obvious example, but also the very presence of the Jubilee laws making Old Testament slavery a timed thing and not an indefinite status is significant. Also, like all ancient societies, the Old Testament makes a lot of distinctions between treatment of Israelite slaves and foreigner slaves, as you'd expect.

Worth pointing out regarding the New Testament the letter to Philemon in which St Paul writes to Philemon about his runaway slave Onesimus, who has joined Paul, converted, mastered the Gospel, and is now being sent back to Philemon, not as a slave but as a bishop of their community. Paul is clearly not rejecting slavery as an institution (it'd be impossible to imagine doing so in a society like the Roman Empire that would literally be impossible to sustain without incredible amounts of slavery) but Paul is rejecting the idea that his buddy Onesimus should be put back in chains.

I'm sure people have some verses they'd love to point out, of course.

("Slaves obey your masters" in three...two...one...)