![]() It's a worldview that led to the murder or enslavement of millions during the Age of Exploration. "Obviously, the Indigenous peoples were there long before Christianity arrived." "So, there was a superiority for Christianity and Christian rulers that have rights that are not recognized in terms of others living in these lands," she says. Pineda-Madrid says the mindset was that explorers could take the land from people who were not Christians and assume the land in the name of Christianity. ![]() The Doctrine of Discovery gave religious justification for the colonization of Africa and North America. "There are a series of documents – papal bulls – in which the pope gave rights to claim these lands to Portugal and to Spain."ĪP Depictions of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas often include a cross. "It's not one written document," she says. That tradition of claiming new lands for European powers is based on an idea now called the Doctrine of Discovery, says Nancy Pineda-Madrid, professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Healed from a long tradition of conquest and colonization started in the 15th Century during the Age of Exploration, including the time when Christopher Columbus arrived in North America. The Doctrine of Discovery has its roots in European Christianity So that the things that have been broken can be healed." "Repentance is not just so that we can wallow in the guilt, but so that there can be a mending. "As Christians, we have a deep, long tradition of repentance, of truth telling, speaking truth to power," Wattman Rosenau says. She hopes placing these words at the beginning of the service is leading her flock to both learn more about their Native neighbors and reflect on the historic violence toward Indigenous people perpetrated by churches during the era of colonization. It's a relationship with the earth Wattman Rosenau says Christians should emulate and a relationship with Native and Indigenous people they should cultivate. NPR Pastor Frances Wattman Rosenau first began using a land acknowledgement to open services at Culver City Presbyterian Church in 2017.
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