CONTINUING WITH PROFESSOR MARSHALL EAKIN'S LECTURE FROM HIS 24 LECTURES CALLED "THE CONQUEST OF THE AMERICAS" FROM THE TEACHING COMPANY - THE GREAT COURSES.
THE CREATION OF THE INQUISITION IN THE LATE 15TH CENTURY; THE EXPULSION OF MUSLIMS AND JEWS , ESPECIALLY IN THE 1490s FROM SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, IS A VIVID EXAMPLE TO ACHIEVE A RELIGIOUS UNITY IN IBERIA, THE PURSUIT OF RELIGIOUS ORTHODOXY.
THESE WERE EARLY EUROPEAN FORMS OF WHAT TODAY WE WOULD CALL ETHNIC CLEANSING.
WITH THE DISCOVERY OF THE AMERICAS, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH FACED THEOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL QUESTIONS - WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE INDIANS. THE NATIVE AMERICANS, AND THE AMERICAN CONTINENT AS I'VE POINTED OUT BEFORE, DO NOT APPEAR IN EITHER OF THE TWO SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE OLD WORLD - THEY ARE NOT IN THE BIBLE AND THEY ARE NOT IN THE ANCIENT GREET OR ROMAN WRITERS. AND AS THE IMMINENT BRITISH HISTORIAN J. H. ELLIOT BRILLIANTLY AND SUCCINCTLY SHOWS IN A SERIES OF ESSAYS CALLED THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW (1970) IT TAKES THE EUROPEANS AT LEAST 150 YEARS TO WRESTLE WITH THIS THEOLOGICAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROBLEM TO SOMEHOW ASSIMILATE THEM INTO THE WORLD VIEW.
IT WAS A WORLD VIEW BUILT ON AUTHORITY, AND WHAT WAS ONE TO MAKE OF THE LANDS AND PEOPLE THAT DID NOT APPEAR IN THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT SOURCES OF AUTHORITY.
NOW, AS STRANGE AS IT MAY SOUND TO US TODAY, THE SPANISH ENGAGED IN A DEBATE ON THE HUMANITY OF THE INDIANS. THEY HAVE A DEBATE IN THE MIDDLE 16TH CENTURY TO DETERMINE IF THE INDIANS ARE HUMAN. AND WHAT MUST ONE HAVE TO BE HUMAN? THE FACULTY OF REASON TO DECIDE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, AND A SOUL. FOR WITHOUT A SOUL THERE IS NO SALVATION, AND WITHOUT A FACULTY OF REASON, THERE IS NO ABILITY TO CHOOSE BETWEEN SALVATION AND DAMNATION.
THIS DEBATE IS NO SMALL MATTER. EVENTUALLY; THE THE SPANISH MONARCHY WILL DECIDE, YES, THE INDIANS ARE HUMAN, THEY ARE RATIONAL BEINGS, WITH SOULS, BUT THEY'RE LIKE CHILDREN. AND SO THE INDIANS ARE RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR HUMANITY, FOR THE FACULTY OF REASON, AND FOR THEIR SOUL. BUT THEY ARE TREATED AS "WARDS" OF THE KING. SO IN THIS SENSE THE INDIANS ARE NEVER SEEN AS EQUIVALENT TO THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE. THE POPE, PAUL THE 3RD, ISSUES A PAPAL BULL "SUBLIMIS DEUS" (1537), DECLARING THE INDIANS AS RATIONAL BEINGS WITH SOULS.
ONE OF THE GREATEST FIGURES IN COLONIAL AMERICAN HISTORY, SOMEONE I'VE MENTIONED BEFORE, BARTOLOME de LAS CALAS (1474-1566) EMERGES AS THE GREAT DEFENDER OF THE INDIAN PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS. HE BECOMES THEIR DEFENDER IN THIS DEBATE.
BORN IN 1474, HE GROWS UP IN A MERCHANT FAMILY IN SEVILLE. LAS CASAS PERSONALLY WITNESSES THE RETURN OF COLUMBUS TO SPAIN; THE TREASURES HE BRINGS BACK, AND THE INDIANS WHO ARE WITH HIM.
IN 1502 HE SAILS TO THE CARIBBEAN AND WORKS WITH HIS FATHER SUPPLYING GOODS TO THE CONQUISTADORS. AND THEN HE JOINS THESE EXPEDITIONS AND BECOMES A CONQUISTADOR HIMSELF. HE WITNESSES FIRST-HAND THE CONQUEST OF THE CARIBBEAN AND THE ANNIHILATION OF THE NATIVE PEOPLES.
WHILE IN HIS 30s HE EXPERIENCES A RELIGIOUS AWAKENING, AND AS A MATURE ADULT HE IS ORDAINED, EVENTUALLY ORDAINED AS A DOMINICAN PRIEST; HE TAKES UP THE CAUSE OF THE INDIAN PEOPLES.
AFTER HAVING PARTICIPATED WITH NORVIUS AND BOLASCUS IN THE CONQUEST OF CUBA HE REALIZES THE IN-HUMANITY OF WHAT IS BEING DONE. THE DECIMATION OF THE INDIAN PEOPLES OF THE CARIBBEAN, MOVES LAS CALAS TO SPEND THE REST OF HIS VERY LONG LIFE, SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THE INJUSTICES, CONDEMNING SPANISH TREATMENT OF THE AMERICAS.
HIS BOOK THE DEVASTATION OF THE INDIES: A BRIEF ACCOUNT (1542) WAS WIDELY TRANSLATED, ESPECIALLY IN PROTESTANT TERRITORIES, AND USED TO CONDEMN SPANISH AUTHORITY IN THE AMERICAS, AND TO CONDEMN CATHOLIC MONARCHIES. THIS BOOK IS STILL IN PRINT TODAY AND WIDELY READ. AND IT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT STATEMENTS EVER WRITTEN ABOUT HUMAN RIGHT.
LAS CALAS WRITES ABOUT INDIANS IN A WAY NO OTHER SPANIARD DOES. IN ONE OF HIS MOST FAMOUS STATEMENTS HE SAYS:
INDIANS ARE OUR BROTHERS; CHRIST HAS GIVEN HIS LIFE FOR THEM. WHY THEN, DO WE PERSECUTE THEM WITH SUCH HUMAN SAVAGERY, WHEN THEY DO NOT DESERVE SUCH TREATMENT. THE PAST, BECAUSE IT CANNOT BE UNDONE, MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO OUR WEAKNESS, PROVES THAT WHAT HAS BEEN TAKEN UNJUSTLY, IS RESTORED.
LAS CALAS WRITES FERVENTLY DEFENDING THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS.
LAS CALAS CROSSES THE ATLANTIC MANY TIMES IN HIS LIFE. AND HE DIES IN MADRID AGED 90.
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TO BE CONTINUED
WE NOTE HERE THE GOOD AND RIGHT THINGS SOME ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS LIKE LAS CALAS HAD. THE GREAT BABYLON WHORE CHURCH OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION, IS MIXED WITH TRUTH AND EVEN SOME RIGHTEOUSNESS....SO MAKING IT THAT MUCH MORE DECEPTIVE. IT IS HUMAN NATURE TO FLOCK TOWARDS HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT PURSUES GOODNESS TOWARDS OTHERS, AND SO PUTTING ASIDE ALL THEOLOGICAL ERROR, FALSE CUSTOMS, FALSE PRACTICES, THAT MAKE UP THE WHOLE NATURE OF A "CHRISTIAN CHURCH." THIS IS WHY TODAY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS OVER ONE BILLION [WITH A "B"] MEMBERS AROUND THE EARTH, THAT IS ONE IN SEVEN PEOPLE OF THE EARTH ARE ROMAN CATHOLIC. CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA BECAME HUGELY ROMAN CATHOLIC THROUGH THE WORK OF PEOPLE LIKE LAS CALAS, AND THEIR HUMANITY TOWARDS THE NATIVE PEOPLE AND TOWARDS THE BLACKS.
Keith Hunt
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