[FoRK] " Atheists behind the greatest cruelty, says Pope"

[Luis Villa]

On Dec 4, 2007 12:47 PM, Tom Higgins <tomhiggins at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 4, 2007 9:34 AM, Luis Villa <luis at tieguy.org> wrote:
> > Sources which blame it on politics or wealth-seeking; of course, the
> > politicians and wealth-seekers all told themselves and their publics
> > that it was in the name of God. Convenient circularity there that lets
> > you blame it on whoever you like.
>
> It is sort of a stretch to call Crucifix waving priests cleansing the
> unbelieving natives as something other than a religious act. Did it
> make it easier to get the gold? Yep. Did it pave he way for other
> things? Yep. Was it done in the name of an invisible sky god? Yep.

Columbus wasn't sent West to kill the heathens, he was sent West to
get the gold. Ditto Cortes. Ditto all of them. The priests were sent,
in large part, to turn the natives into willing slave labor for the
mines, not because of any silly 'god' bullshit. And this despite Spain
having just fought the closest thing to a purely religious war that
the West has ever fought. Just like the modern 'war against Islam',
there was a heck of a lot of power and wealth thrown in there as
motivation.

> Yes it should horrify current day true believers, thats a good
> indication they are still more human than drone. The next step would
> be to not do the defensive blame shift game and own up to it such that
> you make sure NEVER AGAIN IN YOUR NAME.

Of course the problem (as Jeff has tried to point out) is that it can
always be done again in your name.

Luis