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Re: Re: cs lewis
> > I'm sure the Conquistadors and missionaries thought they were doing
> > glorious work, but they slaughtered millions of Native Americans just
> > the same.
>
> Even that is somewhat of a sweeping generality, at least as far as the
> missionaries are concerned. The vast majority of missionaries
> throughout history haven't "slaughtered" anyone, or anything close to
> it; yet they are too often seen through this terrible ink stain of
> "missionaries who have slaughtered".
Yes, that is more or less the point historian Stephen Minta makes in his
chapter on Werner Herzog's _Aguirre, the Wrath of God_ in _Past Imperfect:
History According to the Movies_. As early as 1511, he says, we find a
Dominican friar, Antonio de Montesinos, denouncing the way Europeans have
treated the South American Indians ("You are all in a state of mortal sin
because of the cruelty and the tyranny you are inflicting on these
innocent victims"). And another Dominican, Bartolome de Las Casas, made
"passionate and unforgettable attacks on the conquistadors" that "won him
great influence in the Old World and much hatred in the New".
--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
"I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom
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