A Course Blog for Elon's REL 204: Christian Traditions.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Misinformation in the Age of Information
While reading Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo's journal article on evangelizations during the time of Christopher Columbus, I realized how misinformed Americans are about these past religious conversions and about the heroic historical figures involved. Currently, Americans celebrate Columbus Day to honor and praise Columbus for discovering America. Despite popular opinion, this statement is actually a fallacy. Since the United States tends to offer a biased and more positive view on the country's history, countless American citizens are unaware that Columbus was a violent, selfish, and demanding individual who did not live by the Christian ideals. Rather than establishing a pleasant relationship with the Native Americans and preaching about Christ peacefully, Columbus treated them brutally and adhered to tactics of terror as a means of persuasion. Columbus was vainly motivated because he wanted to increase his reputation and attain the approval of his fellow colonists, so he went to extreme measures to ensure this, such as physically harming the natives, stealing their food, enslaving them, forcing them to complete demanding labor, requiring them to share their gold, and more. Because of this, the Native Americans resented Columbus and did not want to identify with any religion he practiced. Instead of convincing the natives to convert to Christianity, they were turned off completely. Columbus poorly represented Christianity, and because of that, he failed to garner the natives' support for the faith. On the other hand, the figure whom Americans and Christians should honor is Pane. He was a man with great intentions since he actually cared about the natives as individuals and wanted to get to know them better by learning their language and never forcing them to change their culture as converts. Although Pane did use physical violence at times to persuade the natives to accept the faith, this tactic was common at the time, so he was used to the practice and did not know any better. Pane serves as a true model of Christianity since he was respectful, compassionate, and helpful. His actions were evidently successful since his interactions with the naborias caused this family to be some of the first converts to Christianity. Pane serves as proof that if Christians value patience and honoring the dignity of others, they will witness more positive results and feelings of satisfaction. Even though Pane did not generate a rapid explosion of conversions, he emerged as an example of how to regard potential converts. Because of this, Americans should disregard solely venerating Columbus and should extend this appraisal to Pane.
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I find your inquiry concerning Columbus as a fatal conqueror rather than a celebratory settler very intriguing. I very much agree with you in terms of the fallacy regarding his motives. What I find even more interesting is what was recorded in his personal journal that we read: "Medieval Sourcebook: Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal."
ReplyDeleteColumbus seems also sociopathic at times. It is like he sees himself as the archetypal epic hero, where he is, to those reading his journal entries, quite the contrary, perhaps even evil and malicious. In his October 11th entry, Columbus writes: "As I saw that they were very friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force, I presented them with...trifles of small wolves, wherewith they were much delighted, and became wonderfully attached to us" (pg. 5). Later, Columbus says "It appears that they would be good servants and I am of opinion that they would very readily become Christians" (pg 6). From an outsider's interpretation, one can assume that these natives were not as readily willing to convert, and that this presentation of small trifles was not an act of gratitude but perhaps one of force. Upon reading these primary artifactual writings, readers are exposed to the true side of Columbus who is so readily celebrated.
You bring up a great point. Is Columbus the one who should have a holiday in his name? Or should instead it be Pane, who we read extensively about in the Stevens-Arroyo document? Is more conversions necessarily better in terms of the Christian evangelization movement? Or is the nature of these conversations to be rendered important?
These are great observations and questions! In the state where I'm from there is a real push to have "Indigenous Peoples Day" instead of "Columbus Day." Not everyone likes it though, given the fact that the idea of "Columbus" does represent an important shift in the history of what would become the Americas. Shouldn't we mark that moment in time somehow? Perhaps, there is a need for different ways of marking this event, something a little deeper than having children recite "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue ..."
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