Was It "Unchristian" To Take The Land From Native Americans??.....

[Tim Myers]

This may seem like a silly question or a silly topic for a post, but I have not seen anyone else ask the question, or bring up the subject, or (hopefully) start a discussion thread about it......

I feel this question, as well as this subject, is a two-edged sword, so to speak.....

On the one hand, we can claim that it was "unchristianlike" and wrong and a terrible injustice for Europeans to come over to North and South America and take all the land from the Native Americans and reduce them all to minority status......

But, on the other hand, we could claim that, had Europeans not dominated the native peoples of North and South America, nations like the U.S., Canada, Brazil and the rest would not be a great and as prosperous as they are today.....

Nor as "Christian" as they are.......

However, I am not taking sides, one way or the other, on this subject......

I am simply asking was it "unchristian" for European settlers to have taken the land away from Native Americans??

 

[Steve Petersen]

The natives themselves believed that no man could own the land, so how could Europeans take what the Natives didn't own?

 

[Walter Kovacs]

The natives themselves believed that no man could own the land, so how could Europeans take what the Natives didn't own?

True enough, but it was quite unChristian to kill most of them in the process.

 

[revanneosl]

And this guy right here - the one with the smallpox-infected blankets? Yeah him. I'd venture to say that he had carnal knowledge of his nearest distaff relative.

 

[Steve Petersen]

True enough, but it was quite unChristian to kill most of them in the process.

Native Americans were killing each other long before Europeans arrived.

 

[CryptoLutheran]

The natives themselves believed that no man could own the land, so how could Europeans take what the Natives didn't own?

Native Americans weren't and aren't a monolithic group. Instead there were dozens of nations with distinct cultures and beliefs and forms of government; all as dynamic and robust as anything Europe had.

That some of those tribes were willing to share the land with the newcomers demonstrated their generosity and beliefs about the land being the common property of all.

Engaging in genocide, and forcing them onto reservations, no matter under what pretense or how you slice it is one of the most barbaric and evil acts in human history by any civilization ever.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[CryptoLutheran]

Native Americans were killing each other long before Europeans arrived.

Irrelevant.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[katherine2001]

Native Americans weren't and aren't a monolithic group. Instead there were dozens of nations with distinct cultures and beliefs and forms of government; all as dynamic and robust as anything Europe had.

That some of those tribes were willing to share the land with the newcomers demonstrated their generosity and beliefs about the land being the common property of all.

Engaging in genocide, and forcing them onto reservations, no matter under what pretense or how you slice it is one of the most barbaric and evil acts in human history by any civilization ever.

-CryptoLutheran

I agree. And add to it taking people from Africa and selling them as slaves and tried to excuse it by saying that they would make Christians out of them. I have a sneaking suspicion that Christ often isn't very happy about what we do in His name, especially when it goes against everything that He taught!

 

[Incariol]

Native Americans were killing each other long before Europeans arrived.

You can tell yourself that if it helps you sense of racial guilt.


The rest of us, I think, are fine acknowledging the horribly evil atrocities committed by our forefathers. What the settlers did was sick and wrong, and someday there will be a reckoning for it, as there is for all sins.

 

[Steve Petersen]

You can tell yourself that if it helps you sense of racial guilt.


The rest of us, I think, are fine acknowledging the horribly evil atrocities committed by our forefathers. What the settlers did was sick and wrong, and someday there will be a reckoning for it, as there is for all sins.

What guilt do I have? My ancestor didn't come here until 1893.

 

[Incariol]

What guilt do I have? My ancestor didn't come here until 1893.

I wasn't being literal.... I thought "forefathers" sounded better than "Those who have lived in the generations before us in this nation".

 

[Steve Petersen]

Native tribes were pushing each other out of territories in North America before any Europeans even arrived here.

How are we going to decide who owned what? If taking land by force was acceptable in Native cultures, why grouse about Europeans doing the same things to them (and each other for that matter?)

Yeah, it was unchristian. Now what?

 

[Tim Myers]

"The rest of us, I think, are fine acknowledging the horribly evil atrocities committed by our forefathers."

Which forefathers??.....The Whites or the Native Americans??

 

[Incariol]

"The rest of us, I think, are fine acknowledging the horribly evil atrocities committed by our forefathers."

Which forefathers??.....The Whites or the Native Americans??

The Whites, of course.

 

[Tim Myers]

Ahh, yes......the innocent Native Americans......

 

[Incariol]

Ahh, yes......the innocent Native Americans......

I wouldn't say they were completely innocent, but the rape of of their lands and lives by Americans is something that God will surely judge our nation for one day.

 

[Steve Petersen]

I wouldn't say they were completely innocent, but the rape of of their lands and lives by Americans is something that God will surely judge our nation for one day.

'Their lands' why?

 

[Incariol]

'Their lands' why?

Rumor says they were kind of living on it. I wonder how many Americans are Zionists but refuse to condemn the brutal murder and eviction of the Native Americans. Probably would make an interesting poll.

 

[Steve Petersen]

Rumor says they were kind of living on it. I wonder how many Americans are Zionists but refuse to condemn the brutal murder and eviction of the Native Americans. Probably would make an interesting poll.

So aboriginal peoples are the only ones with legitimate rights to any land mass?

 

[Incariol]

So aboriginal peoples are the only ones with legitimate rights to any land mass?

I don't believe I said that.