Indians and Other Savages
Religion, Culture, and Law

Abstract
OF THE ARTICLE THAT WILL SOON APPEAR HERE

Here's what it says:

• Columbus had no bias against "native Americans," but believed they would be noble and peaceful.
• He was shocked at their barbarism, savagery, idolatry, and perversion.
• The Framers of the Constitution believed it was necessary to Christianize and Civilize the Indians.
• Native American religion is destructive of civilization

We are not looking for white supremacist theory. Nor are we looking for anti-Indian bigotry. Every human being is created in the Image of God, and shows "the work of the Law written on their hearts" (Romans 1-2). We can learn something from every culture. But on the whole, the "native Americans" were apostates from Christian culture, and as a matter of law, the attitude of a Christian nation toward them should be one of evangelism, just as our own motto should be "semper reformata" (forever reforming).

Resources:

• Indians: The Noble Savage?
  • The Ignoble Savage
  • The Indian as Environmentalist
  • The Indian as Egalitarian
  • Where the Buffalo Roamed
  • Powell on Las Casas
  • The Ecological Indian Is a Myth
  • The Ignoble Savage | Michael Shermer
• The journals of Columbus reveal his faith: Steve Wilkins:
  • Columbus Contra Mundum (I)
  • Columbus Contra Mundum (II)
  • Columbus Contra Mundum (III)
  • Columbus and the New World Order
• Discussion in First Things
  • The Crimes of Christopher Columbus
  • Consequences of Columbus
• Columbus' Colleagues
  • Cortez the Infamous
  • Christianity and Conquest
  • In Praise of Gallant Men
• Multiculturalism is war on Christianity
  • Multiculturalism: CP or PCA?

Discussion on Columbus and the Indians

The Constitution and Evangelization of the Indians

As the United States moved from the 18th into the 19th century, Congress appropriated time and again public moneys in support of sectarian Indian education carried on by religious organizations. Typical of these was Jefferson's treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians, which provided annual cash support for the Tribe's Roman Catholic priest and church.5 It was not until 1897, when aid to sectarian education [472 U.S. 38, 104] for Indians had reached $500,000 annually, that Congress decided thereafter to cease appropriating money for education in sectarian schools. See Act of June 7, 1897, 30 Stat. 62, 79; cf. Quick Bear v. Leupp, 210 U.S. 50, 77-79 (1908); J. O'Neill, Religion and Education Under the Constitution 118-119 (1949). See generally R. Cord, Separation of Church and State 61-82 (1982). This history shows the fallacy of the notion found in Everson that "no tax in any amount" may be levied for religious activities in any form. 330 U.S., at 15-16.

Justice Rehnquist, dissenting in Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 103-104 (1985)

(While we agree that the First Amendment does not prohibit endorsement of Christianity nor the teaching of religion by the government, V&FT does not support expenditure of "tax in any amount" for religious activities in any form -- or any other activities, for that matter.)