Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #DoctrineofDiscovery

Most recents (7)

«The “doctrine of discovery” is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church».
True, it isn't today.
«Historical research clearly demonstrates that the papal documents in question..have NEVER been considered expressions of the Catholic faith».
Well.. 1/
press.vatican.va/content/salast…
The tricky point is precisely the focus on the "Catholic faith". Historians have never claimed that those Bulls had a dogmatic value: they didn't teach doctrines one had to believe so as to obtain salvation. Their value was legal: sources of international law for Christianity. 2/
There is a vast historiography on how the Holy See justified the Iberian colonial empires. For the Portuguese case, see Giuseppe Marcocci, A consciência de um Império: Portugal e o seu mundo (Sécs. XV - XVIII), (Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 2012). 3/
books.google.com/books?id=hTi5C…
Read 16 tweets
The Story of Race is a Story of Labor. In fact, most Europeans colonized North America for land and economic opportunities, not for religious freedom. There was no concept of race at that time. People identified by country of origin not by skin color. #WhiteSavior doc thread 🧵:
In 1676, enslaved Africans joined with European indentured servants in a large rebellion against the colonial government in Virginia. #WhiteSavior
Alarmed by the natural alliance between the indentured and enslaved, the ruling class passed a series of laws that segregated and permanently enslaved those of African descent, while also giving their European counterparts new rights and status. #WhiteSavior
Read 58 tweets
I've read the stories describing the apology tour of Pope Francis. On Monday after his first visit near Edmonton I decided to comment after the saga had unfolded. It was an emotional week for so many!
1/ #PopeFrancis #Canada #residentialschools #truthandreconciliation
We heard apologies, pleading forgiveness, more apologies, recognition of "cultural destruction" and finally on the flight home #PopeFrancis said "yes, it was a genocide, yes, yes, clearly. You can say that I said it was a genocide."
2/ #residentialschools
theglobeandmail.com/world/article-…
The genocide was justified by the #DoctrineOfDiscovery & while #PopeFrancis, #CatholicChurch, & Crown gov'ts are reluctant to rescind it, the actions I witnessed against the #Wetsuweten in their own territory are empowered by the Doctrine.
3/ #bcpoli #cdnpoli @bcndp @BCNDPCaucus
Read 10 tweets
Two papal bulls, one in 1455 and another in 1493 shortly after Columbus "discovered" the Americas, granted explorers the right to claim the entire continents of Africa and the Americas. Rescind #DoctrineofDiscovery
Children were forced into Catholic-run schools, regardless if their parents had converted to Catholicism or not. Popes have apologized for African slavery, sexual abuse for "sins" against Jews, women and European Roma. But always to God, not to the people.
We must continue to focus on the bedrock issue of racism and colonialism, and that is the Doctrine of Discovery that allowed for the wholesale colonization of the non-European, non-Christian world.
Read 7 tweets
I'm not a lawyer. I didn't attend law school. I'm the biggest skeptic of the #RuleOfLaw that I know.

Here's my thread of highlights (excerpts & passages) from #SupremeMyths: Why The Supreme Court Is Not A Court & Its Justices Are Not Judges by @espinsegall + my comments.
Preface | “It’s no great secret that the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Law decisions reflect the personal values of the Justices…that politics & personality affect the Court’s decisions is only the beginning of the story.”

#SCOTUS produces case law, hence, it's a legislature.
Prologue xiii | “If changing judges changes law, it is not even clear what law is.” ~ Judge Richard Posner

A law means whatever the hell the writers say it means or doesn't mean, based on definition of words & syntax. Writing laws is an art form, it's not mathematics.
Read 27 tweets
A very IMP video that #IndianXtians MUST WATCH. @WinonaLaduke, US VP candidate tells us how Xtianity uproots the indigenous religions and separates the converts from the land and her history, makes em assume someone else's history & gives em false promise of salvation elsewhere.
The treatment of disconnecting ppl. from their lands & ancestors is not unique to N.America. The same applies to every place Xtianity colonized based on the #DoctrineOfDiscovery adopted by both Catholics and Protestants. See the state of despair of the Australian Aboriginals.
Mt Rushmore, a permanent scar on the native spirit
1. Built on land the US Govt took from the natives.
2. The Black Hills are considered sacred ground.
3. Celebrates the European settlers who killed so many Native Americans & appropriated their land.
pbs.org/wgbh/americane…
Read 3 tweets
1. The Church provided the moral/theological grounds for the dispossession of natives and “discovery” of the New World. It did so by issuing papal bulls such as Inter Caetera (1493), written by Pope Alexander VI the year after Columbus’ voyage. #ColumbusDay #IndigenousPeoplesDay
2. This bull established that any land not inhabited by Christians was available to be “discovered,” claimed by rulers in the name of Christ. It granted Spain by divine authority “full and free power, authority, and jurisdiction of every kind” to conquer most of the Americas.
3. Inter Caetera didn’t stand alone. In fact, it was a reiteration of, and elaboration upon, the moral reasoning of prior papal bulls. For example, the bull Dum Diversas, issued by Pope Nicholas V in 1452, appealed to “Apostolic Authority” and granted the Portuguese crown:
Read 6 tweets

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