Reflecting on Historical Harms and Honoring Indigenous Peoples' Day
The Painful Legacy of Christian Proselytizing, Forced Conversions, and Salvation Theology
The last thing Jesus came to do is start another religion.
Creating another religion would give human beings another way to divide ourselves.
Us and them. This religion and then that religion.
-Rob Bell, Everything is Spiritual: Finding Your Way in a Turbulent World (2020)
Many Christians cling to the idea of those in remote places having never heard of Christ — that these people are “in need of saving” because their eternal life is on the line.
In Christian circles, this idea of “saving” others is known as salvation theology; it’s why many Christian missionaries and organizations outside of the United States do what they do: to bring the good news and hopefully save some souls in the process.
This work might seem well-intentioned, but it often falls short and causes more harm than intended. I am personally against such ventures.
Salvation theology is a concept the early Church fathers, particularly the Pharisee/Apostle Paul in Rome, developed to say that faith through Christ alone is the way to eternal life, not faith accompanied with good works or aspects of the Torah law the Jewish people observed. Augustine of Hippo, a controversial Christian theologian from North Africa in the early medieval period, later expanded on Paul’s ideas of salvation, giving rise to the concept of grace and original sin — or that all humans are born sinful because of the singular choice of Adam and Eve.
However, it's important to recognize that these theological developments came long after Jesus lived; they reflect the cultural and philosophical context of early Christianity, a mix of Jewish thought and Greek and Roman philosophy. Jesus of Nazareth never explicitly taught these concepts in the way they later evolved. The Apostle Paul didn’t personally know him either. By the time the Roman Emperor Constantine culled together the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. to solidify the tenets of the Christian religion, it was largely influenced by Roman culture. Jesus was Jewish, as were his earliest followers.
The Roman Catholic Church, and later Protestant traditions, embraced Augustine’s writings and teachings on original sin, salvation, and grace.
While many Christians today seek to live lives of love and compassion, we must reflect on how these theological interpretations of salvation have been used to justify harmful actions, such as the violence of colonial conquests like Christopher Columbus’s genocide against First Nations people.
Imagine hearing the message of salvation theology for the first time, but it's accompanied by violence and attempts to erase generations of your people, their worldviews, and ways of living, while stealing your lands and resources. Wouldn’t this type of thinking presuppose a level of intellectual and moral superiority that belittles compassion and care for others? Why should care and fairness toward a group of people depend on their acceptance of a particular worldview?
It doesn’t have to. “Don’t do these deeds to be seen by others…Do not be like those who only pretend to be holy. They announce what they do in the synagogues and on the streets. They want to be honored by other people.” -Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 6:1-3, New International Reader’s Version)
When Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, the Indigenous Arawaks who greeted him and his crew were kind and giving, bringing food, water, and gifts. Columbus later noted such generosity but saw it as a weakness he could exploit for personal gain.
“They willingly traded everything they owned,” Columbus documented in his log. “They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They would make fine servants . . . with fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
Spain, the country that funded Columbus’s expedition, had recently unified as a nation-state. Though Spain was home to mostly impoverished peasants, two percent of its population, the nobility, owned 95% of the land. Gold had become the new mark of wealth, and the nobility sought this powerful currency. Columbus promised this possibility, but instead of finding gold, he found innocent people who held communal care at the heart of their tribal system — a trait he exploited via slave-based labor.
Columbus’s second expedition back to those same Caribbean Islands brought seventeen ships and 1,200 men, with the blessing of the divinely-appointed monarchs and Holy Roman Church. By 1495, Columbus rounded up around 1,500 Arawak men, women, and children, selecting 500 to send to Spain. Two hundred perished during the journey.
With Columbus’s discovery of the Americas in 1492, the Roman Catholic Church saw an opportunity to maintain control and financially benefit by incentivizing European rulers to colonize the New World. Pope Alexander VI’s Inter Caetera papal decree in 1493 gave European countries permission to colonize the Americas in pursuit of spreading Christianity, with the Catholic Church receiving a percentage of the spoils.
In the Inter Caetera decree, Pope Alexander VI referred to Indigenous people as “barbarous” and their souls as “unhealthy”:
“Among other works well-pleasing to the Divine Majesty and cherished of our heart, this assuredly ranks highest, that in our times especially the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself.”
It’s important to recognize that not all Christians today share or support the harmful actions of the past, and many actively work to foster justice, inclusivity, and reconciliation. Still, it’s understandable why some people hold feelings of resentment toward those who push salvation theology without consideration for their personal beliefs and identities.
Religious and spiritual beliefs are deeply personal. In fact, psychology tells us that these beliefs make up our unique identities — our “self,” a personal combination of values, opinions, choices, and beliefs that make us distinct individuals.
This is why I fully support interfaith community action and a strong stance of tolerance toward others in their spiritual and religious beliefs. We all have something to share, and each tradition holds an essence of truth that can make a positive difference for everyone.
In Vine Deloria, Jr.’s book God is Red: A Native View of Religion (the 50th Anniversary Edition), Deloria, Jr. articulates that our diversity is a strength we see reflected in nature. This diversity keeps both nature and humanity healthy. While creatures may belong to the same species, how each one cares for itself and its offspring differs. “The Indian is confronted with a bountiful earth in which all things and experiences have a role to play…To exist in a creation means that living is more than tolerance for other life forms—it is recognition that in differences there is the strength of creation and that this strength is a deliberate desire of the creator.”
To add to this, Deloria, Jr. includes a quote from Shooter, a Sioux Indian:
“Animals and plants are taught by Wakan Tanka what they are to do. Wakan Tanka teaches the birds to make nests, yet the nests of all birds are not alike. Wakan Tanka gives them merely the outline. Some make better nests than others.
In the same way, some animals are satisfied with very rough dwellings, while others make attractive places in which to live. Some animals also take better care of their young than others. The forest is the home of many birds and other animals, and the water is the home of the fish and reptiles. All birds, even those of the same species, are not alike, and it is the same with animals, or human beings. The reason Wakan Tanka does not make two birds, or animals, or human beings exactly alike is because each is placed here by Wakan Tanka to be an independent individuality and to rely upon itself.”1
Some Indigenous people call the North American continent Turtle Island. Turtle Island was once home to numerous Indigenous tribes, identities, and languages with variations in spiritual beliefs and understandings of the divine. Among tribes, open-mindedness and listening to those variations was a culturally accepted practice because their focus was on personal experience with the land.
And yet, in God is Red, Deloria, Jr. includes a story from Dr. Charles Eastman, a Sioux physician. Eastman recalls a Christian missionary sharing the Genesis story — believing it to be historical fact, not metaphor — to a group of Indians. In return, one of the Indians shared details about their very ancient tradition concerning the origin of maize (or corn).
The missionary’s reaction was one of disgust: “What I delivered to you were sacred truths, but this that you tell me is mere fable and falsehood!”
In response, the Indian said, “My Brother…it seems that you have not been well-grounded in the rules of civility. You saw that we, who practice these rules, believed your stories; why, then, do you refuse to credit ours?”2
Putanny - Yawanawa Tribe, Amazon Brazil 🌿
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On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, let us remember to lead with love, not domination or control that diminishes diversity and individuality. We all have experiences to bring to the table — all of us. Let us focus on our collective growth and healing, especially in bringing restoration to a planet that has so generously provided for us.
Indigenous organizations to support:
Vine Deloria, Jr., God is Red: A Native View of Religion, 50th Anniversary Edition (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2021), 80.
Ibid., 77