When the Calvinist and Lutheran colonists arrived on Turtle
Island- they claimed they were seeking freedom of religion, the
right to worship their god according to their beliefs, which
differed from the majority in Europe.
The Eastern Indigenous people welcomed them and helped them to
survive on this land. Soon as more and more immigrants arrived,
instead of clearing their own farm land they begin to
aggressively move onto the Indigenous peoples cleared garden
lands - they took their dried foods out of the store houses
without asking - stole the cured hams, fish and meat off the
trees - killed anyone who protested.
Complaints were made by the Chiefs to the church leaders. The
church fathers convened to discuss the conflict, and soon a
decision was made. They declared that "Indian people were not
human beings, neither were they animals, they were creatures
spawned by the devil, who had no rights to own the land, they had
only a use and occupancy, the land was for the exclusive
ownership of Christian nations. In fact God despised the savages
and wanted them totally exterminated from the face of the earth.
The rest is history!
All churches should check their history, uproot their bigotry and
hypocrisy -
This contemptible decision became the unwritten "Menagerie
Theory" of law that still permeates every court in the U.S.
Indians are defacto human beings with no rights to protect them
from any injustices. Look at Central and South American where
Indians are massacred. Land is still taken. We are still denied
religious freedom according to our original instruction. The
only rights we can be assured of is the "last rites.
All indigenous peoples of the entire Western Hemisphere are still
victims of Euro-American greed, racism, over and covert violence.
Far too many native people are dispossessed homeless, landless
beggars in their own homeland, yet they are the true owners of
this land-.
Churches today offer empty meaningless gestures - apologies
cannot undo atrocities which have never ended. The truth is
written in early church records for those who care and dare to
search for them.
America's dream is a living nightmare for Indigenous people. And
now, what goes around comes around. America is slipping and
sliding on a path to destruction.

graphics ® AICAP
American Indian Computer Art Project
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