Good Mannered Christians

The World Council of Churches has come out against doctrines that were issued and have been used against Indigenous people. My first reaction was:

Wait, there is a doctrine against indigenous people?

Two examples given are the Catholic Church documents DumDiversas (1452) and Romanus Pontifex (1455), but the statement suggested that there may have been more then just those two. My second reaction was:

Wait, people actually used this doctrine?

Christopher Columbus. Need I say more? For those who aren’t clear on how such a doctrine was used, it was spiritual and moral justification for forced conversion, murder, enslavement, etc. to those non-Christian heathens. Fun stuff, right?

It goes beyond just being jerks to people who happen to be there first. The mentality behind such a doctrine suggests that Christians have a right to land that is settled by non-Christians. I am hoping that these concepts are not new to people. I hope most of you know this shadow side of Christian history.

Of course we can all comfortably say that today we do not endorse or practice this doctrine, right? We don’t go into people’s homes and say that they have to become like us and that their homes now belong to us (unless we were talking about the Jewish settlements of Palestine? Ouch!). When we send out our explorers today we tell them to be nice, courteous, take what is offered, and try not to embarrass us. Maybe when we finally get to Mars and meet all of the natives of that planet we will be more sensitive to their land. That is if they don’t suck out our brains and use our bodies as a throw rug (Hail our martian overlords!).

Then again, have we really rejected such doctrine? The doctrine came from a belief of superiority in the mind of Christians. Of course the Pope would justify the actions of Columbus, he was Christian, they were savages, and therefore Columbus was right in his slow, methodical genocide.

This attitude, that we are right and superior, is one that continues to prevail throughout Christianity today. Think about Rick Santorum. He is carrying a warped idea of religious freedom that rests on an imperialistic idea of Christianity. This approach encourages religious freedom if it supports his ideas of Christianity and screw the rest. After all, the rest (read: progressive Christians, Jews, Muslims, Jedi, etc.) are pagan, heathen people who should be converted and forced into a morality that is “right.” Santorum is not the only imperialistic Christian, there are many, many others who look to walk lock-step to the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers, neglecting the social-justice roots of the hymn, and looking to dominate the world with a particular view of morality. The doctrine may be obsolete, but the ideas behind it are still very much alive.

So bravo to the World Council of Churches for finally condemning this doctrine of superiority against indigenous people. Hopefully no real harm was done. Next we finally condemn any and all doctrines used to justify slavery.