Bernardino de Sahaguin Quotes
[W]e can be certain that, though preached to more than fifty years, if they [the Aztecs] were now left alone, if the Spanish nation were not to intercede, I am certain that in less than fifty years there would be no trace of the preaching which has been done for them.
Bernardino de Sahaguin, 1499–1590, Franciscan Spanish friar, missionary priest & pioneering ethnographer, Observation of the effect of the Spanish attempt to convert General History of the Things of New Spain
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This church which was so active later in sending missionaries throughout the world, at first thought the idea absurd.
This was a large part of the “moral” justification of conquering the New World peoples.
Christian Neophytes were Indians who claimed that they had converted to Christianity. The French initially banned giving or selling firearms to the Indians of North America. However in 1640, they made an exception to provide arms to the Huron Indians who they thought had converted to Christianity. Four years later the Jesuits were using guns as the major motivation for conversion of Indians. The hypocrisy of using weapons of war to attract converts to a religion of peace gave way to the incredible success that the trading of guns for souls had achieved. The French military also thought that the armed Indians could be used as allies in the coming battle with England for control of North America. The English then armed their Indian allies, and the French and Indian Wars saw armed Indians on both sides.
He had concluded that Spain, who then ruled the Philippines, was incompetent, cruel and immoral in its rule, but that the Filipinos were not educated or sophisticated enough to rule themselves. However, he felt that he had to protect our commercial interests in the islands and the region, and was worried that commercial interests of other countries would take over and control the area. Another reason that this is a very important quotation is that it indicates the anti-Catholic bias in America at the time. Note that the President stated that one objective was to “Christianize” them. However, Spain had been in the islands for over 300 years and most Filipinos were already Roman Catholic. However, Roman Catholics were then a much smaller proportion of the American population and many Protestants didn’t think Catholicism was a legitimate Christian Religion. When the majority of Americans thought of Christianizing other people, they thought of Protestant missionaries much like England. At the time there was very little criticism of the President for the “error” of stating that Filipinos should be Christianized when they were so already Spanish Colonial Policy and Practice was generally terrible and particularly so in the Philippines, See {629450}.
This bull, divided up the lands being “discovered” between Spain and Portugal and left Spain to conquer and colonize the New World.
this is a joke Tutu has used, but variants of it exist which are not original to him.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910. This viewpoint of Twain’s was just too jarring for an English newspaper to publish as England had been the leading Christian missionary nation in the 19th century. In the 20th century United States parents had a taste of Twain’s description with the Krishna’s, Scientologists, and other religions or cults doing what Christian missionaries had done elsewhere.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910. Twain was one of the few whites who realized that success in assimilating American Indians would destroy their culture and identity. Even today, whites and Indians alike constantly debate the desirability of assimilation policies and supporting independent reservations.
