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- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!emory!emoryu1!libwca
- From: libwca@emory.edu (Bill Anderson)
- Newsgroups: alt.rush-limbaugh
- Subject: Re: Columbus vs Indians (was Re: PC lives)
- Message-ID: <1754@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu>
- Date: 31 Dec 92 15:20:36 GMT
- References: <1hq0ulINNgqm@cronkite.Central.Sun.COM>
- Organization: Emory University, Atlanta, GA
- Lines: 43
- X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
-
- dbernard@clesun.Central.Sun.COM (Dave Bernard) writes:
- : Bill ANderson writes:
- :
- : :
- : >: Actually, the reports I've read indicate that the missionairies were very
- : >: concerned with the Indians, at least those who converted and were under
- : >: their charge. There are constant reports of their complaints to the king
- : >: regarding ill-treatment of Indians by the civil authorities & armies. Like
- : >: missionaries- medical, spritual, teaching- everywhere, they seem to have taken
- : >: the welfare of their people very seriously.
- : >:
- : >: Dave
- :
- : >Some of them did. Most of our knowledge of Spanish attrocities in
- : >the new world comes from priests wh protested against it; this
- : >attitude certainly wasn't universal among the clergy, however.
- : >Many of them used Indians as slave labor at their missions, and
- : m
- :
- :
- : Missions were established to spread the religion and the culture, and to protect
- : converts. In effect, they were villages, often fortified. Indians who exercised
- : their freedom of choice to convert were given the opportunity of raising crops.
- : Is this slave labor? Then working in a corporation today to earn a living is
- : slave labor, by the same token. What would be the purpose of slave labor if it
- : was to make the slaves self-sufficient, not to make the owners- the missionaries-
- : rich and powerful? As for those who chose not to convert, and to live apart, how
- : could missions persecute them? Especially since those living apart frequently
- : exercised their own free will to burn down the missions?
- :
- : Dave
-
- Missions were esablished for a lot of different reasons, Dave.
- Sometimes they were there largely to pacify the natives. Sometimes
- the surrounding natives were forced to work for the Spanish.
- Sometimes the clergy tortured and executed those who refused to
- convert, and a few priests were hoping to become rich and
- powerful.
- I'm not claiming that every Spanish priest in the new world was a
- raging monster, set on genocide. Are you claiming they were all
- saints?
-
- Bill e
-