Introduction
According to the Oxford Dictionary, religion is defined as, “The beliefs, values, and practices in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or god.” Although there is some debate as to the origin of religion, it can be traced back to pre-historic times. Religion has been used to establish social stratification to gain power, privilege, and prestige in society. So, What’s the purpose of religion? Some might say it’s to blind, divide, and control the society. Others insist that religion keeps people on the path to moral righteousness promoting love and harmony. For years religion has influenced civic liberties, politics, and issues of morality.
However, religion can be used as a tool to distort
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Bartolome de las Casas wrote, “The Devastation of the Indies” discussing his perspective of the Spanish cruel treatment of the Indians. De las Casas audience would be aware of the largely divers and populated Indian society. During Spain colonization of the New World the Spanish conquistadores committed horrible acts of violence towards Indies; which lead to the writing of The Devastation of the Indies.
In the photograph of the burning World Trade Center is intended to evoke emotion, shock, fear, and disbelief. The purpose of the photograph is to capture an appalling moment in history, while never forgetting the lives lost September 11, 2001. The events that unfolded during September 11, 2001 are still deeply ingrained to American member. The audience will likely remember exactly were they were when they heard the news of the terrorist attack. The will also remember seeing hours of countless news coverage of the terrorist attack. The terrorists carried out an attack against the World Trade Center and the
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These people are the most devoid of rancors, hatreds, or desire for vengeance of any people in the world.” However, other Spaniards viewed the Indians as weak and incompetent who believed in “witch doctors.” The Spanish expected the Native American to abandon their religious beliefs and traditions; failure to convert to Catholicism led to violence. According to Bartolome de las Casas illustrates the violent acts of the Spanish, “I seem even to recall that there were two or three pairs of grids where others were burning, and because they uttered such loud screams that they disturbed the Spanish captain's sleep, he ordered them to be strangled.” Bartolome de las Casas refers to the some of the Spanish as cruel and wicked Christians drove by greed and ambition. He notes that Spanish treatment beast with more respect then the Indians. The Native American viewed the Spanish as, “By nature wicked and cruel, and they have a God they greatly worship and they want us to worship that God, and that is why they struggle with us and subject us and kill us.” Although, Bartolome de las Casas was against cruelty of the Spaniards towards the Indies, he believe that Spain had a God given right to rule
In An Account, Much Abbreviated, of The Destruction of The Indies, the author is giving an introduction on Bartolome De Las Casas who was a Christian missionary at the time of the Spaniards discovering the New World. He had a rather self-taught oriented theology, philosophy and law. He went to Hispaniola ten years after its discovery in 1502 ; in Santo Domingo he was ordained priest in 1512 and a year later he went as a chaplain in the expedition that conquered Cuba . After going to Hispaniola years after Columbus settled there, he did not support what the Spaniards did to the indigenous people. From 1551 until his death , Las Casas role was to bring the complaints to the authorities of the indigenous population of the Spanish America. Dissatisfied
Through the entire article, de las Casas discusses how great the Indians of the New World are. In paragraph 2 he states: "And all the infinite universe of humanity, these people are the most guileless, the most devoid of wickedness and duplicity, the most obedient and faithful to their native masters and to the Spanish Christians whom they serve. They are by nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable nor quarrelsome. These people are the most devoid of rancors, hatreds, or desire for vengeance of any people in the world. And because they are so weak and complaisant, they are less able to endure heavy labor and soon die of no matter what malady. The sons of nobles among us, brought up in the enjoyments of life 's refinements, are no more delicate than are these Indians, even those among them who are of the lowest rank of laborers.” They are also poor people, for they not only possess little but have no desire to possess worldly goods. For this reason they are not arrogant, embittered, or
Native American civilization was not always a pit of terror and agonizing torture for every single being. The Spanish arrived in Hispaniola, during the early 1500, with the seemingly good intention of introducing to the indigenous the Christian faith. Unfortunately, their mission turned into an almost complete annihilation of a culture unlike their own. Bartolome de la Casas, depicts a graphic and ultimately disturbing castings of the happenings during their expedition. The Spanish Christians involved in these happenings can be seen as hypocritical, heartless, and close minded. Although, in the minds of these men, they were completing their God assigned duties, such as
Bartolome de las casas had hoped to prevent further harm to Indians, and clarify that they were not barbarians. Of the text named Bartolome de las casas: In Defense of the Indians(c.1550) it covers what is to be the Spanish Conquistadores, and talks of the natives to which at the time seen by many are barbaric, ignorant, incapable of learning, just another group of people to be conquered. But to the Catholic missionaries, they see the Natives as new people to influence and enlighten. But if at any time the person drops the belief in Christianity, they would use deadly force against the person or family. Adding to that, Hernán comments that their cities are “ worth of admiration because of their buildings, which are like those of Venice”(Poole 4).
The discovery and conquest of American Indians inspired efforts to develop an ideology that could justify why they needed to enslave the Indians. The Spanish monarch wanted an ideal empire. "A universal empire, of which all their subjects were but servants. Charles V remained for them the dominus mundi, the legitimate and God-ordained lord of the world." (Weckmann, The Transit of Civilization, 23) Gold and religious conversion was the two most important inspirations for conquistadors in conquering America. Father Bartolome De Las Casas was a Dominican priest who came to the New World to convert the Indians to become Christians. He spent forty years on Hispanolia and nearby islands, and saw how the Spaniards brutally treated the Indians and sympathized with them. The Devastation of the Indies was an actual eyewitness account of the genocide by Las Casas, and his group of Dominican friars in which he demonizes the Spanish colonists and praises the Indians. Father Las Casas returned to Seville, where he published his book that caused an on going debate on whether the suppression of the Indians corrupted the Spaniards' values. What Las Casas was trying to achieve was the notion of human rights, that human beings are free and cogent by nature without the interference of others.
What he and his men did to the Indigenous people is told in horrifying detail by the Dominican priest Bartolome de Las Casas, “whose writings give the most thorough account of the Spanish-Indian encounter.” Las Casas witnessed firsthand Columbus’ soldiers stabbing Natives for sport, dashing babies’ heads on rocks, and sexually abusing Indigenous women. His testimony was corroborated by other eyewitnesses, such as a group of Dominican friars, who addressed the Spanish monarchy in 1519, hoping to bring an end to the atrocities. At the very least, Columbus was complicit in the actions of his men. He cared so little for the welfare of the Indigenous people that he let his soldiers commit reprehensible acts that would be considered crimes against humanity in the present day. Christopher Columbus’ actions suggest he had no issue with serving as an enabler of the horrifying actions committed by his men against the Indigenous
Bartolomé de Las Casas was born in 1484 AD in Seville and died in 1566 in Madrid. In the ending of the 15th century and the beginning of 16th, he came to America and become a “protector of Indian”. In 1542, most based on his effort, Spain has passed the New Law, which prohibit slaving Indians (Foner, p. 7). In 1552, he published the book A Short Account of the Destruction of The Indies.
Las Casas emphasizes on three main issues throughout his account. First, in almost each chapter, Las Casas writes about the luscious qualities of the land and the different indigenous peoples that inhabit them. Second, he explains and describes in detail how the natives were rapidly being massacred by the invading Christian Europeans. Finally, Las Casas discusses how God had brought justice to the Europeans for their diabolical acts upon the natives. Las Casas, a former slave owner himself, realized that those whom he previously enslaved were just as much human and capable of learning and practicing the Christian faith as he was. As a bishop, he realized he could do little for the Natives except document his experiences (in as much detail as possible) and hope that the royal administration would have sympathy for the Natives and establish laws to protect them from the Europeans.
In fact, some Spaniards campaigned for their protection. Works calling for justice though would not be published until several years after there was no longer a population to protect. This included Friar Bartolome de las Casa’s Apologetic History of the Indies that was published in 1566 AD. Recalling his experiences in the New World on attempting to convert the natives, he attempted to persuade readers that Native Americans were naturally good and under God. He highlighted their civilization as well-developed with both political and social lives. By nature, the Taino people were peaceful; they had initially greeted the colonists with friendship and assisted Columbus with his endeavors. Regardless, the Spanish colonists that had been replaced by the Tainos turned a blind eye. Experienced with the circumstances within the mines, they had no qualms with subjecting the Native Americans to the same conditions. When the colonists first began forcing labor and conversion upon the tribes, the tribe chiefs had even allowed it and tried their hand at adjusting to the Spanish lifestyle in search of compromise, only to be ignored with the Spanish preference of complete subjugation. Furthermore, the Tainos were labeled as barbarians due to their lack of faith in the Christian god. Consequently, the Spaniards, also greatly influenced by their desires for gold, lacked the compassion needed to take wholehearted action against the cruelties placed onto the
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, by Bartolomé de las Casas, is an account of the atrocities committed by the Spanish against the indigenous Americans during the 16th century. This is made clear by multiple passages mentioned by the Dominican in his account. For example, towards the beginning of the document we are introduced to the island of Hispaniola (containing the modern countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and the five chiefdoms within it. These chiefdoms are listed as the first areas where the Spanish began to commit heinous crimes, such as slavery and slaughter, against the natives. These five chiefdoms are later incorporated into New Spain. Those sent into the Encomienda, the colonial labour system, are forced
Throughout the course of history, man has looked to religion for answers. Curiosity as to how we got here and why we are have driven people to seek out answers to these somewhat unanswerable questions. Over the past few thousand years, several varying religions have been established, some more prominent than others. Many of them share a similar story of a divine creator who has always been and will always be. In the case of Christianity, whether true or not, it has proven to be beneficial to society as a whole. The Bible set the standard for the moral compass that humans live their lives by to this day. The key fundamental problem with religion, although not the fault of religion, is that man has often used it as a gateway to power and prominence. In the case of the 18th century Gallican church, the French were abusing their religious powers, thus creating vast inequality throughout France, which eventually led to a rebellion against the church, and the eventual destruction of the church within France.
This account is a voice to create awareness for the silent indigenous people. It is a real account of what was happening in the new world real world. It was written by the bishop Don Bartolommeo de las Casas to inform the lord the Emperor. He talks about what is happening to the Indies, “Some of the things that have occurred in the Indies, however, are quite terrible, the slaughter of innocent people, the depopulation of entire villages, provinces, and kingdoms, and many other acts, on less horrifying’ (P:8) He also brings the topic of why, this so called Christians were acting like savagery. Their humanity was degraded by their greed, they were never content with the wickedness they have committed. On page 11 he talks about the some of the possible explanations to why this people committed this horrific acts. “The reason that the Christians have slain an infinite number of souls has been the desire to take the Indians gold, to enrich, themselves quickly, and to raise themselves up to the high social ranks that bears no relation to their humble origins in Spain.”
After witnessing the exploitation and brutalities that the Indians suffered at the hands of other encomenderos, he decided to give up his encomienda and became an advocate for the human treatment of the Indians. Like Sepúlveda, Las Casas writing style and use of words shows that he was a well-educated man. In a Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies, Las Casas gives a detailed eye-witness account of the atrocities committed by the encomenderos against the Indians. For instance, Las Casas mention that Spaniards burned alive Indians, forced them into heavy labor, stabbed and dismembered them. One of Las Casas strongest argument is against the legitimacy of wars against the indigenous population and the enslavement of Indians.
Religion helps establish mankind’s place in the order of the universe. As civilization began to be established through the domestication of animals, the irrigation and cultivation of agricultural crops, and life became more complex (moving from mainly a hunter/gather existence to one that could settle down and have more time to consider advanced ideas) people began to consider questions such as, where life comes from, is there a creator or creators who helped make the world, and what happens after we die. Religion helped answer some of these questions. It gave people purpose, meaning, and perspective. Religion helped establish nations in the case of religious theocratic governments. In many of the ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, the Mayans, and even Mesopotamia, the priests and other religious leaders played prominent roles in help shaping the laws and government of these civilizations. As his...
Religion is the one element of life that has connected the races and societies of the world for hundreds of years. It has given meaning to lives that may seem otherwise hopeless. Religion has provided for a universal language and culture among those who believe in a higher power. The spirit or being receiving the worship and praise may not be the same, but the practices are usually similar and serve the same purpose--to give direction, insight, courage, and a divine connection.