The Spread Of Christianity To The Amerindians

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Religion is the defining factor of the Europeans. When European conquered land it came with the conversation to Christianity of the native people of this land. This can be seen as an imposition of a foreign, hostile, and to overthrow the culture and society of the Amerindians. With Amerindians, reaction to Christianity can be seen in the three themes throughout the course Dis-integration, Church and State, and the ‘Other’. With ‘religo’ becoming a part of the Europeans nationalism, it is important to them to spread their religion. The Amerindians were seen as barbarians and inferior whereas the European thought of themselves to be refined and superior. With the thought of Christianity as the one true religion, these caused two Protestant …show more content…
They did not want Amerindian to leave their traditional roles of hunting and gathering, by taking up agricultural which the missionaries though to be important aspect to the conversation of the Amerindians. Where a Methodist missionary James Evan had to meet the company governor to convince them that he would not introduced agricultural to the Amerindians during their mission in order to gain the support of the Hudson Bay Company (three). Missionaries hoped that by bringing the religion of Christianity would make trade easier, but were careful not to disrupt trade by introducing agriculture, which would threaten the fur trade and the lifestyle of the Amerindians. The church was though to be second whereas trade was more important in order to control the Amerindians. With the presence of the company it had a affects on their traditional hunting and gather lifestyle. Where the Hudson Bay Company controlled the Amerindians by the means of debt. They made sure that the Amerindians never paid their debt, which was obtained by the Amerindians when buying hunting supplies, pot and guns (there). With this debt of the Amerindians they were attached to a Hudson Bay post, thus a way to control the …show more content…
The religion of the Amerindian is based on nature as well as the natural landscape and how a natural object such as a tree contained supernatural meaning and ‘power’ (two?). For example, the Jesuits have the ‘power’ to cause illness, which gained respect from the Amerindian through the Europeans shamanistic superiority and not from their technology or cultural norms. There was the challenge of language where religious text or rituals would not be translated with the exact meaning of the word, thus the Amerindian would not understand the true meaning of the Christian practice. Where in reality the Amerindian did not see Christianity as a replacement for the naturalistic religion, but an added ‘power’ and where they could obtain materials and food that would benefit them. Due to Amerindian never fully understanding the practice they were labeled as the ‘Other’ of not being a true Christian and for being different compared to the Europeans. Christianity was forced onto the Amerindians due to being the ‘Other’ and the need for Europeans to spread their nationalism of their culture, norms and
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