From: Witness For Peace Date: 20 Dec 91 09:06 PST Subject: WFP: Dec. 91 Myth of the Month Message-ID: <1563600106@igc.org> Lines: 312 Status: RO Witness for Peace 1492-1992 Expose the Myths: Calling for a Just World Order Myth of the Month--November 1991 Myth: The Europeans came to the Americas primarily to bring the Christian faith to the heathens who lived here. Today, the U.S. has the right to defend its interests by invading or making war on other nations_all with the blessing of God. Response: The indigenous peoples had developed religious and spiritual systems as a part of their cultures, but Europeans used the idea of converting the Indians to Christianity as a justification for their invasion. In much the same way, the U.S. today uses God's name as a mere justification for acts of aggression against other nations. Bringing Christianity to the Indigenous Peoples 1511: Yara [Cuba]_Hatuey, Indian chief of the Guahaba region...fled with his people from Haiti in a canoe and took refuge in the caves and mountains of eastern Cuba. There he pointed to a basketful of gold and said: "This is the god of the Christians. For him they pursue us. For him our fathers and brothers have died. Let us dance for him. If our dance pleases him, this god will order them not to mistreat us." They catch him three months later. They tie him to a stake. Before lighting the fire that will reduce him to charcoal and ash, the priest promises him glory and eternal rest if he agrees to be baptized. Hatuey asks: "Are there Christians in that heaven?" "Yes." Hatuey chooses hell, and the firewood begins to crackle. _Eduardo Galeano, Genesis Galeano's recounting of the true story of the Taino Indian cacique (chief) Hatuey's choice is a poignant illustration of what indigenous peoples saw as the empty promises of Christianity as it was brought to them by the conquistadors, and many of the people who followed them. These first "Christians" did not bring civilization, salvation or the good "Christian" virtues of kindness, honesty and love to the Americas. Those virtues and many religions already existed in the civilizations of the Americas. Equally true is that many of those conquering Europeans who called themselves Christians did not act according to the values they professed to believe. Certainly the Aztecs, the Mayas and the Incas are three Indian civilizations widely recognized by scholars as being advanced and as having religions involving the concepts of God, the afterlife, life on earth, creation, etc. These civilizations had great respect for their priests, and they developed elaborate temples and worship centers. In addition to these "high" civilizations, other indigenous peoples also had developed civilizations and religions. For example, the first people Columbus came into contact with in the Americas were the indigenous people of the Caribbean Islands, the Tainos. The Tainos, like so many other Indian groups, are often portrayed as simple, primitive people_principally because they did not have advanced military technology, because they believed what the Spaniards told them, and because they did not wear clothing in a hot, tropical, rainy climate. A more accurate description of the Tainos, according to Jos Barreiro in the Fall 1990 issue of Northeast Indian Quarterly, would be that they were self-sufficient, practical, kind, intelligent, and honest. Tainos, with their spiritual connection to the earth, employed a sustainable agricultural system which could feed several million people without permanently wearing down its surroundings. They were known for their good communications, and enjoyed excellent health. Their cultural center was the island of Bohio (called Espaola by Columbus and Santo Domingo/Haiti today). Gardens, ball courts, and huge areitos (social dances), with speaking forums and poets characterized that lush island, which was confederated into five main kinship nations. Bartolom de Las Casas wrote of the Tainos who lived on Bohio, Cubanakan (Cuba) and other islands: "The Indians have much better judgement and maintain much better public order and government than many other nations which are overwhelmingly proud of themselves and which hold Indians in contempt." In this setting, the Tainos "held both ceremonial and social dances, called areitos, during which their creation stories and other cosmologies were recited." Their faiths included creation stories; great respect for ancestors, natural forces and spirits; spiritual and healing ceremonies; and thanksgiving ceremonies. Clearly, the Indians were civilized peoples with their own religions. Yet the mindset of the Europeans who arrived in the Americas was not conducive to a peaceful exchange of ideas or a peaceable meeting of two worlds. The Spaniards of the 15th century had a world view shaped in part by the Crusades against the "infidels" in the Holy Land. They were preoccupied with routing "heresy" from Spain, and instituted the "Inquisition." The Spaniards also fought unceasingly to expel the Moors from the Iberian peninsula, and were working to expel the Jews. Theirs was a violent, intolerant, narrow world view. From such a point of view, the Europeans chose to see the Indians as heathens and pagans, ripe for the conquering and converting: They seem to me to be people of such innocence that, if we could understand them and they us, they would soon become Christians, because they do not seem to have or to understand any form of religion.... For it is certain that this people is good and of pure simplicity, and there can easily be stamped upon them whatever belief we wish to give them. _From an account by Pedro Vaz de Caminha _to King Manuel of Portugal, regarding the _expedition which landed in Brazil in 1500 This attitude about the superiority of the European culture and religion served to justify the conquering of the Indians and the plundering of the resources of the Americas. The Europeans came to the Americas searching for gold, silver, wood, slaves, land_whatever they could steal or usurp. They did so in the name of the Church, but dispensed with the religious charge or Christian virtues whenever it was expedient. As Barreiro said: It would take a full season for the Tainos...to lose their essential good will for the Spanish, who increasingly demanded women, continued to take captives by surprise, and virulently announced their hunger for the yellow metal the Indians called guanin_the Spanish "oro" or English "gold." ...the Admiral's main task was sizing up the real estate and its inhabitants. He did so with a banker's eye. Columbus's venture was financed by powerful investors who wanted a return, and his ship's log betrays three major concerns: finding the court of the Great Khan (for trade), finding gold in quantity, and estimating the resource exploitation value of land, slaves, precious woods, woven and raw cotton and fruits. "Our Lord in his mercy," Columbus wrote, "Direct me where I can find the gold mine." (Northeast Indian Quarterly, Fall 1990) To this end_finding gold_Columbus turned his hand in a brutal, some would say unchristian, way. As Howard Zinn relates in A People's History of the United States: In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he [Columbus] and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death. To give an idea of the effects of such attitudes and policies, Dominican missionary Bartolom de Las Casas reported that when he arrived on Espaola in 1508: There were 60,000 people living on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it.... While Europeans often toted Christianity as the reason for coming to the Americas, in reality Christianity was seen by most to be a secondary motivating factor. One could see Christianity as a mere justification for the primary reason of European ventures into the Americas: the extraction of gold, silver, wood, land, slaves and other resources. The Europeans pursued these goals in an ethnocentric, unfair, prejudiced, arrogant, inhumane way, and destroyed many indigenous civilizations, religions, and peoples. Unwittingly, such actions, policies and behaviors on the part of those Europeans were the first encounter most Indian peoples had with Christians_and led to the attitude of the Taino chief Hatuey that "if there be Christians in heaven, I prefer hell." God is on our side In much the same way as 15th and 16th century Europeans approached the Indians, so many people in the U.S. now approach people from other countries today. Many Americans feel that the American way of life is superior to all others, that Americans have invented and have a corner on the market for democracy, that America is destined to culturally rule the world, and that the U.S definition of democracy should be the rule by which all other governments are measured. The Greeks called this hubris_wanton arrogance resulting from excessive pride. Often, a justification for this attitude is the idea that God is on our side. In the recent Persian Gulf war, calling on God's blessing for U.S. involvement in the war was a staple of President George Bush's speeches. On January 16, 1991, in his address to the American people a few hours after the U.S. armed forces began bombing Iraqis, Bush said: But even as planes of the multi-national forces attack Iraq, I prefer to think of peace, not war.... Tonight, as our forces fight, they and their families are in our prayers. May God bless each and every one of them, and the coalition forces at our side in the Gulf, and may He continue to bless our nation, the United States of America. In his State of the Union address on January 30, 1991, Bush said: We [Americans] are resolute and resourceful. If we can selflessly confront the evil for the sake of good in a land so far away, then surely we can make this land all that it should be. In a later speech, Bush stated: And let me just add that I share the pride of all the American people in the magnificent, heroic performance of our armed forces. May God bless them and keep them. (February 26, 1991) Bush was quick to point out that the Persian Gulf war met the "principles" for a "just war" in a January 28, 1991 speech before the National Religious Broadcasters, largely an evangelical organization. There were many among that audience who agreed with Bush: ...Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, said, "On balance, I would say that approximately one month into hostilities, the criteria laid down for conduct of a just war have been met. (New York Times, February 15, 1991) Using religious language and defending the U.S.' actions in God's name can lead people to believe that God blesses everything that the U.S. does. However, to think that God blesses the U.S. in all that it does is arrogant, conceited, harmful, and untrue. It leads to mistaken, misguided policies, such as those in the Persian Gulf or the contra war in Nicaragua. It leads to the IMF and the World Bank draining Latin America of capital. It leads to the misperceptions that there are democratic governments in Guatemala and El Salvador because they are friendly to the U.S. government and held elections of which the U.S. "approved." If we allow ourselves to believe the myth that God is unconditionally on the side of the U.S., we run the risk of not questioning what our government does, of being too content, of being blind and unfeeling, of being mindless. God does not want us to be mindless or blind. In a just world order, people would be true to their spirituality and would form a politic based on that spirituality; they would not use religion to justify acts of political expedience. Examples: 1. In 1503 Queen Isabella of Spain wrote in a letter to the governor of Espaola that Indians be given to European landholders in the Americas so that the Europeans: ...may not lack people to work their holdings for their maintenance, and may be able to take out what gold there is on the island...[and] said Indians [should] be converted to our Holy Catholic Faith and taught its doctrines.... See to it that the Indians are well treated...and do not consent or allow that any person do them any harm or oppress them. From early on, Europeans were using the guise of Christianity to justify the harsh treatment of the Indians and the plunder of the Americas; Christianity also became a tool in the enslavement of the Indians and the looting of the land. In the above letter, chief among the queen's concerns were that the Indians provide forced labor for the Europeans, and that gold be found and sent to Spain. Only then did she address the concern that Indians be converted to Christianity. (She chose conveniently to ignore the contradiction in charging the conquistadors and colonizers to force the Indians to work, and at the same time charging the Europeans not to oppress the Indians. Forced labor is oppression.) 2. Many church and religious groups are responding forthrightly to the quincentenary and the role of people of faith in light of the 500th anniversary. For instance, in its "A Faithful Response to the 500th Anniversary of the Arrival of Christopher Columbus" document, the National Council of Churches in the U.S. has determined that the quincentenary is not a cause for celebration, but rather that 1992 be "a year of reflection and repentance" and is acting to see that the alternate view of the European arrival in the Americas is disseminated. Another example is that of the Central American pastoral agents and theologians. In their 1988 Kairos document, they said, "We ask all the churches of the world, but especially those of Rome, Spain, Portugal, England, the United States and the Latin American countries, to hold penitential celebrations of great prominence on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Latin America's subjugation." Calling for a Just World Order: * Hold a WFP house meeting, using the reflection pieces from this packet to explore the role of the church in the past, and to discuss what the church is doing today in Central America and in the U.S. * Coordinate a joint service between WFP and a Native American organization in your area to commemorate the quincentenary. Afterwards, discuss ways in which your organizations or groups could work together to promote a just world order, perhaps concentrating on one local issue. * Become a WFP Media/Legislative Contact (see enclosed form). _Write letters-to-the-editor of both religious and secular publications discussing the role of the Church and how people of faith are often unwitting participants in oppression, and how people of faith can work toward being more aware of the roles they play and toward creating a more just world for us all to live in. _Work in conjunction with Native American organizations in urging Representatives and Senators to support legislation which would honor U.S. commitments to Native Americans and provide a justice for all parties involved. Discussion Questions: 1. How have you or those of your religious heritage participated in the exploitation of indigenous people or African-Americans in the past, and in the present? 2. How can you and your religious community participate in bringing about a just world order locally or in the world? 3. In what ways does the church continue to align itself with the elites, and in what ways does the church champion the rights of the poor? 4. Which religious figure of the last 500 years would you identify with most? Why? How might that person approach a specific local issue to achieve a just, peaceful resolution? (i.e. Native American/U.S. government land claims) Resources: "A Note on Tainos: Whither Progress?", Jos Barreiro in Northeast Indian Quarterly, Fall 1990. A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn. Harper & Row: 1980. Cross and Sword: An Eyewitness History of Christianity in Latin America, H. McKennie Goodpasture. Orbis Books: 1989.