The next Conversations on Race and Faith is this Sunday, September 10 at 1:00PM on Zoom.
This month we ask the question, What Does We The People Mean?
We The People; three of the most misinterpreted words in American History. Written in the Papal Bulls of the 15th Century, embedded in our founding documents in the 18th Century, codified as legal precedent in the 19th Century and referenced by the Supreme Court in the 20th and 21st Centuries, the Doctrine of Discovery has been used throughout the history of the United States to keep “We the People” from including all the people. In March of this year the Vatican officially repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery. Robert Miller a law Professor at Arizona State University discusses the significance of this action.
Why do you think it took so long for the Vatican to repudiate this doctrine?
How do you think this doctrine was being used even into the 21st century?
The church has a significant role in colonialism. The church was not a bystander; it was an active participant. When European Christians were looking for a justification for genocide and slavery, the church was there to help. The Doctrine of Discovery, laid out over the last half of the 15th Century, was the church’s blessing—a mandate, even—to conquer non-Europeans around the world and exploit their land and their labor. For centuries, the church has blessed Indian removal, slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, racial hierarchy, and racial inequity. There have been prophets along the way who preached the gospel Christ actually taught, but not enough. Mark Charles, a Navajo Christian pastor, explains it in his TED Talk ‘We the People’ – the three most misunderstood words in US history | Mark Charles | TEDxTysons
How does Mark Charles connect “We the People” today with the Doctrine of Discovery in the past?
What is the connection of systemic racism today with 15th century religious doctrine?
What is the relevance of the Doctrine of Discovery with the founding documents of the United States?
How do you think life in the US will change with the repudiation of the Doctrine of discovery?
Please contact Jess Posey at moc.liamg@yesopssejwb for any questions.
For this and future meetings, Zoom meeting link is below and on the church calendar.
Zoom meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82211058510