Church Activities to Repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery

(Originally published in April, 2019, as "News From St. John's" in the Madeline Island Gazette.)

Delegates from the 218 congregations of the Wisconsin Conference of the
 United Church of Christ (UCC) met in Wisconsin Dells on April 5-6, 2019.

Rev. Rachel Bauman and Joe Scarry recently attended the 57th Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ. On April 6, 2019, the Conference voted overwhelmingly in favor of "A Resolution of Witness: Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery."

The Doctrine of Discovery and its impact on Native Americans has been a central theme of this winter’s Soup Suppers at St. John’s. Many Christian denominations and faith organizations across the country have also been examining the Doctrine of Discovery and exploring the injustices and negative impact it continues to have on Native American lives.

What is the Doctrine of Discovery?

Pope Nicolas V issued several Papal Bulldums (Bulls) in the 1400’s authorizing and justifying the destruction, killing, and appropriation of lands of Native Americans. These Bulls served as the theological foundation for what became the tragic genocide of American Indians and were regarded as legal rationalization for invading America and debasing American Indians.

From the Resolution of Witness:

"In June of 2013, the 29th General Synod, supported and passed the resolution to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery. This Doctrine authorized the genocide of Native Peoples and the theft of Native Lands. The Indigenous Peoples were told that God has declared that the Pope rules all people, regardless of their law, sect or belief. This includes Christians, Moors, Jews, Gentiles, or any other sect. The Native Americans were to come forward of their own free will to convert to Catholicism or ... “with the help of God we shall use force against you, declaring war upon you from all sides and with all possible means, and we shall bind you to the yoke of the Church and Their Highnesses; we shall enslave your persons, wives, and sons, sell you or dispose of you as the King sees fit; we shall seize your possessions and harm you as much as we can as disobedient and resisting vassals."

The principle provisions of the resolution are that Wisconsin Conference of the UCC "upholds and affirms the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery" and "declares and confesses that the doctrine has been and continues to be a shameful part of the United States and our Church's history."

What happened at the Wisconsin Conference Annual Meeting?

First, it was reported that 91 out of 218 congregations in the Wisconsin Conference had, over the previous 12 months, engaged in exploration and discussion of the Doctrine of Discovery. This surpassed the required 30% threshold that had been established to bring the resolution before the Annual Meeting. [View UCC Wisconsin Conference Doctrine of Discovery study resources.]

Second, we watched a video from the previous annual meeting, in which a member of the sole Native American congregation in the Wisconsin Conference, Larry Littlegeorge of Hocak UCC, introduced the resolution.

Third, there was general discussion on the Resolution. Numerous people spoke out strongly in favor of the Resolution. There were several notable threads of concern voiced:

* that passing the Resolution might require the Wisconsin Conference to "give back" property -- e.g. congregational real estate and/or church camps

*that the Conference should only pass the Resolution if it takes seriously the significant work, over a long period of time, that will be required to honor it

Fourth, general discussion was followed by a vote overwhelmingly in favor of the Resolution.

What Comes Next?

The Resolution of Witness calls for the Wisconsin Conference to:

* "join with ecumenical partners to explore ways to compensate American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians for the lands and resources that were stolen and are still being stolen and which are now the United States of America"

* seek educational materials from UCC entities (Justice and Witness Ministries (JWM) and Council of American Indian Ministry (CAIM))

* encourage member congregation to use such materials and "to pursue actions that may arise from their studies"

* call upon the United States government to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery.

What is St. John’s Doing?

St. John's is working to get connected with others in the Conference who will be carrying forward the work mandated in the resolution.

There will be a two-day immersion experience with the Ho-Chunk congregation (Hocak UCC) on June 7 and 8, 2019.

St. John’s continues conversations about ways to increase awareness about the ways the Doctrine of Discovery negatively impacts all indigenous people and encourage local, state and federal governments to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery.

If you want more information and want to become involved in taking action, contact St. John's UCC on Madeline Island.

(Supplemental to the article above, the following information was published in May, 2019, as "Understanding History" in the newsletter of St. John's UCC on Madeline Island, The Lighthouse.)

The Resolution of Witness states that “the 29th General Synod, supported and passed the resolution to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery.  This Doctrine authorized the genocide of Native Peoples and the theft of Native Lands. The Indigenous Peoples were told that God has declared that the Pope rules all people, regardless of their law, sect or belief. This includes Christians, Moors, Jews, Gentiles, or any other sect. The Native Americans were to come forward of their own free will to convert to Catholicism or ... with the help of God we shall use force against you, declaring war upon you from all sides and with all possible means, and we shall bind you to the yoke of the Church and Their Highnesses; we shall enslave your persons, wives, and sons, sell you or dispose of you as the King sees fit; we shall seize your possessions and harm you as much as we can as disobedient and resisting vassals."

The principle provisions of the resolution are that Wisconsin Conference of the UCC "upholds and affirms the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery" and "declares and confesses that the doctrine has been and continues to be a shameful part of the United States and our Church's history."

If you would like to learn more about the Doctrine of Discovery, we warmly welcome you to join us  on the last three Tuesday mornings in June (June 11, 18, 25, 2019). Each session will include a short video followed by conversation about the Doctrine, its continuing impact for Native Americans and African Americans, and how we, at St. John's, might respond to what we are learning. All are welcome!

Resource list for  Doctrine of Discovery learning sessions held at St. John's UCC on Madeline Island.

Day by day, visitors to the Wisconsin Conference booth added the names
of their congregations to the poster sharing the news of the resolution
repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery.

(Supplemental to the article above, the following information was published in July, 2019, as "An Update from Milwaukee" in the newsletter of St. John's UCC on Madeline Island, The Lighthouse.)

The UCC General Synod 2019 was a great experience, and particularly fulfilling for me because of progress made on projects to which I am deeply committed.

I had the opportunity to work together with Larry Littlegeorge (Hocak UCC, Black River Falls) on follow-up to the resolution repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery passed recently by the Wisconsin Conference.

Larry and his colleagues have plans to launch an entity to work on legal issues that stem from the Doctrine of Discovery, working in covenant with a range of UCC bodies.

A fascinating profile of Larry Littlegeorge and his work on the Doctrine of Discovery was published during the synod.

SDG 15 and Peace: "We are but one thread ... "

The connection of peace/war and SDG 15 (Life on Land)? Think US history -- especially the decimation of the buffalo and the Native American genocide.

The UN International Day for Peace 2016 has been tied to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Life on Land is goal #15.

You can certainly see the truth about a country's attitude toward people by watching how it treats other forms of life on the land.


National mammal

Just weeks ago, the American Bison was named the US "national mammal" -- a reminder of the inexplicable slaughter of that animal in the American West at the end of the 19th century, and of that slaughter to genocide carried out on Native Americans.  It took me less than a minute to reference this quote from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown:

Of the 3,700,000 buffalo destroyed from 1872 through 1874, only 150,000 were killed by Indians. When a group of concerned Texans asked General Sheridan  if something should not be done to stop the white hunters' wholesale slaughter, he replied: "Let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffalo is exterminated, as it is the only way to bring lasting peace and allow civilization to advance." (p, 254, in Chapter 11, "The War to Save the Buffalo")

The decimation of the buffalo, like the decimation of the native people, was a decades-long process. More information is in the Wikipedia article on bison hunting.

"Slaughtered for a Pastime"
"Shall the Buffalo Go? Reminiscences of an Old Buffalo Hunter"
Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, Vol. XV, May 1883, New York,
Original vintage wood engraving, 1883. 11.1 x 15.9 cm
(Source: thegallerii.com )

I have always carried with me the memory of a painting of the hunters shooting buffalo from a passing train. Searching for it led me to the image above. Please take a moment to look at the many beautiful images of buffalo on the website of thegallerii.com. )


If looks could kill . . . 

When I was a teenager, back in the 1970s, I was a huge Beatles fan and would spend hours at the piano and guitar playing through all of their songs -- often just starting at the front of the book ("Act Naturally") and going straight through to the end ("You've Really Got a Hold on Me"). So, of course, when I got to the C's I would play "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill." Even as I was playing, I would be thinking, "What kind of a song is this? It's not a love song . . . it's not a rock 'n' roll song . . . it's not psychedelic . . . I think it's a satire but . . . what's the point?"

The children asked him if to kill was not a sin
"Not when he looked so fierce", his mummy butted in
If looks could kill it would have been us instead of him
All the children sing . . .

I didn't quite know what it was saying at the time, but it has stayed with me.

Over the years I've realized that the most perceptive observers of a culture tend to be outsiders, and sometimes the only way insiders can hear the truth is to sit with it for a few years -- or decades. The Beatles were perfectly positioned to help with that. "If looks could kill it would have been us instead of him" is sort of the US explanation for everything it does in the world.


The last word . . .

"Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it . . . . "
(Please share this message.)

More and more, people are looking to the wisdom of indigenous people to give us strength as we confront the climate crisis and other problems. Apt words come from Chief Seattle:

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.

I guess this is another of those truths that is hard to hear, and takes years to sink in.


Where else in the world do we see this connection between the presence or lack of respect for other forms of life in the land, and justice and peace for people?


Related posts

It will benefit us antiwar activists in the US to attend to and reflect upon the importance of these Sustainable Development Goals to achieving the goal of ending war.

(See PEACE DAY 2016: What comes first? Demilitarization? or Development?)












"We need to first acknowledge the genocidal origins of OUR nation’s history of ethnic cleansing and occupation."

(See Native American Rights: Acknowledge the Occupation)














In much of the 20th century, conflict and war centered on oil resources and the Middle East. Will the 21st century see conflict and war center on fisheries, particularly in the Pacific?

(See Pacific Fisheries' Futile Conflict: How about sharing?)

Native American Rights: Acknowledge the Occupation

Emblem of Ohlone Costanoan-Rumsen-Carmel tribe native
to the land that is now the Monterey/Carmel area of California.

A growing trend is that people in the US who work for the rights of occupied people elsewhere in the world first acknowledge the American occupation.

As we work to #decolonizelutheranism, we need to be explicit about how concrete the colonialism is.

Maybe the "kairos moment" lies in recognizing that we took this land at the point of a gun . . . and nothing will change until we meaningfully repent of that original sin.

Map of Native American tribes in what is now California.
(Source: Costanoan Rumsen Carmel tribe website)

This sank in recently when I attended the Friends of Sabeel NA (FOSNA) conference on the occupation of Palestine, held in Santa Cruz. The proceedings began with a statement recognizing that the very spot we were sitting in had been taken by force from Native American people:

While we are gathered here today to raise awareness about the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine, we need to first acknowledge the genocidal origins of OUR nation’s history of ethnic cleansing and occupation. The very ground that we are now standing on was once the homeland of the Awaswas and Ohlone people, which was ripped away from them by the Spanish conquistadors and used for building missions and settlements. Our nation as a whole however, took part in and was founded upon the ethnic cleansing of countless Native American peoples. To focus solely on Israel as a war criminal complicit in ethnic cleansing would be hypocritical, as we continue to reap material benefits from the slaughter and marginalization of the Awaswas and Ohlone.

This land was not left to us peacefully. It was stolen. It was expropriated. As we are clearly not the rightful inhabitants of this land, it would do us well to shed our sense of entitlement. We need to realize that we are an intrinsic part of this process of genocide and until we act to concretely and directly abolish it here, our actions to bring justice in occupied Palestine are hypocritical and reflective of our underlying white supremacist attitudes.

This wasn't the first time I had attended an event that began with this recognition -- for instance, I remember similar statements at an anti-drones conference, a conference on police crimes, and the installation of a UCC leader -- but perhaps because I am new to this place, I paid close attention.

I would encourage everyone who welcomes this recognition to go the next step: take a minute now to go online and learn about the people who lived in the place you now occupy, back before someone came and took over. Do you know the names of the original occupants of the land you now claim as "your" home?


Related posts

How do you observe Indigenous Peoples Day?

(See Reflections on Indigenous Peoples Day 2015)











"Missa dos Quilombos" asked for forgiveness and sought healing for the legacy of slavery in Brazil. Dom Helder celebrated the Quilombo Mass. He said: "Mariama [Mother Mary], we aren't here to ask that today's slaves be tomorrow's slave masters. Enough of slaves! Enough of masters! We want liberty!" The beating of the drums was overpowering, they exploded like the screams of our souls!

(See Hélder Câmara and Liberation Theology 101: Where? When? Why? Who? )


Sun Raid is a searing reminder that people in the US have always been happy to welcome immigrants to help make their businesses profitable and make sure they had cheap stuff and cheap labor . . . . but how dare they expect to be treated like people!

(See WELCOME MAT USA: Come in! Come in! (Get out! Get out!))











Can there be any more clear illustration than the one at left to remind us that the work of the Church is liberation?

(See Christian "Church"? How about Christian "Liberation Organization"? )