"Spiritual terrorism" against Indians

‘Spiritual terrorism’ against indigenous people still occurs, Lutheran pastor saysA Lutheran pastor shocked some non-Indian members of a multicultural conference in Michigan when he said some Christians still commit “spiritual terrorism” against indigenous peoples and many don’t understand that the land called the United States was stolen from American Indians.

The Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths have changed little since the days of conquering indigenous peoples around the world, said the Rev. Lynn Hubbard, executive director and co-founder of the nonprofit Turtle Island Project in Munising.

These “Abrahamic religions,” whose faiths can be traced to the book of Genesis and the biblical story of Abraham, “have had a historical tendency towards religious colonialism.”

Citing the “doctrine of discovery” and Manifest Destiny, he said that explorers of the New World had church backing to take land and subjugate American Indians.

“That ‘chosen people’ and their ‘promised land’ model was transposed into the doctrine of discovery,” Hubbard said during two presentations Sept. 24 during the annual Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity conference at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

“This ‘chosen people’ and ‘promised land’ model is not just something from our shared past, but it is still evoked as the justification for the perpetual genocide of indigenous peoples throughout the world.”Comment:  It's not exactly terrorism, but for an example of spiritual absolutism, see Native Religions Dead and Gone? For more on the subject, see Hercules vs. Coyote:  Euro-American and Native Values.