When Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Conquistadores engaged in the conquest of the Americas, they did do so under the direction of the Pope, and their slaughter and subjugation of all natives was justified through Christian theology. When Spanish conquerors came into contact with new groups of people they were required to read an article to them, in Spanish, called the Requerimiento.
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The Requerimiento stated that all men were descended from Adam and Eve, that the Catholic Church had been granted the right by God to rule all people, and that there was no way to deny the authority of the Pope. Those who resisted would be slaughtered or enslaved.
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Of all these nations God our Lord gave charge to one man, called St. Peter, that he should be Lord and Superior of all the men in the world, that all should obey him, and that he should be the head of the whole human race, wherever men should live, and under whatever law, sect, or belief they should be; and he gave him the world for his kingdom and jurisdiction.
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And he commanded him to place his seat in Rome, as the spot most fitting to rule the world from; but also he permitted him to have his seat in any other part of the world, and to judge and govern all Christians, Moors, Jews, Gentiles, and all other sects. This man was called Pope, as if to say, Admirable Great Father and Governor of men. The men who lived in that time obeyed that St. Peter, and took him for Lord, King, and Superior of the universe; so also they have regarded the others who after him have been elected to the pontificate, and so has it been continued even till now, and will continue till the end of the world.
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Wherefore, as best we can, we ask and require you that you consider what we have said to you, and that you take the time that shall be necessary to understand and deliberate upon it, and that you acknowledge the Church as the Ruler and Superior of the whole world, and the high priest called Pope, and in his name the King and Queen Doña Juana our lords, in his place, as superiors and lords and kings of these islands and this Tierra-firme by virtue of the said donation, and that you consent and give place that these religious fathers should declare and preach to you the aforesaid.
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But, if you do not do this, and maliciously make delay in it, I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of their Highnesses; we shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals who do not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and resist and contradict him; and we protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their Highnesses, or ours, nor of these cavaliers who come with us. And that we have said this to you and made this Requisition, we request the notary here present to give us his testimony in writing, and we ask the rest who are present that they should be witnesses of this Requisition.
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- Requerimiento, 1510
"And these deeds are done and palliated by men, who profess to love their neighbours as themselves, who believe in God, and pray that his Will be done on earth! It makes one's blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we Englishmen and our American descendants, with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty":
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- The Voyage of the Beagle; Charles Darwin, 1839
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Darwin Stolen that Idea from an arab Ibn Maskavaih ,a 9th century researcher.Like many other theories that bear european names came from those arabs.Accroding to Ibn Maskavaih the missing link was date-palm tree which has the quality that if you cut the head it will die which is an animal property not plants property.From it came the inferior animals to superior animals and then from superior animals can inferior humen and then superior human.Thats enough for shitting on darwins face!
leotakesleo 2 years ago
The Greeks also had evolution-like ideas. The Arabs kept a lot of the Greek's knowledge alive while the Christians dumbed down the whole of Europe in the Dark Ages - we have a lot to be thankful to them for. If only Christianity had had a concept of 'Ilm' like the Muslims did, we might be a lot more advanced by now.
The concept of evolution was not new, but no-one had a credible theory of descent with modification through natural selection before Darwin.
dogblessamerica 2 years ago
i dont like how Darwin viewed the Tasmanian Aborigines
islandwarrior16 2 years ago
I take your point. Reading Darwin's 'The Voyage of the Beagle' gave me many very uncomfortable moments. It's only when you compare him to many of his contemporaries that he comes off remotely well. But either way, the notion that he was deliberately furthering a racist agenda for its own sake is false (IMHO).
dogblessamerica 2 years ago