Therefore the sermon given by John Winthrop is very powerful in the creation of the Massachusetts colony and provides the determination needed for it to succeed along with details on how to live and serve god the right way. The sermon helps establish the foundation for which the society should be build up on and how to make sure the society doesn’t walk away from the same beliefs and thereby ensuring its
Unlike today, there was no official separation between the church and state, “and politics and religion were very much mixed. When Columbus came to the Americas in search of land for his king, he also came to claim land for God” (Spreading Religion in the Age of Exploration). The Europeans spread Christianity, and it became very popular among the colonies of the New World. “Roman Catholicism was the official religion of Spain, so the Spanish conquistadors sought to spread Catholicism throughout their colonies, in addition to accumulating wealth and power” (Spreading Religion in the Age of Exploration). The Spanish missionaries worked very hard throughout the Americas and attempted to evangelize Native American groups.
Puritans, Quakers, and Catholics were coming in droves to America searching for an opportunity to have religious freedom. The New Englanders took religion seriously, making unitary laws according to Puritan standards. John Winthrop, later chosen as the first Massachusetts Bay Colony governor, was seeking religious freedom. Wishing to inspire the colonists to dwell in brotherly unity, he summoned them together to remind them “that if we [colonists] shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.” On the other hand, those in the Chesapeake region came for the wealth that America promised. They were there to become prosperous or die trying.
But, something made him raise his voice against the terrors the Spanish colonizers did to the Native Americans. Exactly in the year of 1515 he changed his mind about the colonization subject and persecutions of the Native Americans. He changed his mind in the way that he gave up his Native American slaves and the Ecomienda dependency relation system. Bartolomé de Las Casas was, besides being a social reformer, a Dominican monk and historian. Because he fought for the rights of the Native Americans, they entitled him as „Protector of the Indians“.
In the feudalism, the ceremony of homage and fealty, a vassal swore on holy relics to be loyal to his lord. This pledge of loyalty often occurred within the context the acceptance of a fief, for instance, land or some other source of revenue in return for military service. Meanwhile, the main part of the medieval knight’s service was due to the Church. He was brought up in the use of her sacraments, and in obedience to her precepts and reverence for her ministers. The knight’s consecration to Chivalry was after the form of a sacrament, and to defend the Holy Church was part of his vow of initiation.
As Spanish colonialism differentiates between monks, the crown and the conquistadors, occurrence of controversial order leads to arguments of three sides. For example, monks considered Indians as highly suitable humans to become Christians. Writing of Bartotole de las Casas further supports this, “When they start to learn of the Christian confidence they turn out to be so quick to know more, to get the Ceremonies, and to love God, that the evangelists who educate them do really need to be men of remarkable tolerance and self control; and throughout the years I have on numerous occasions met Spanish laymen who have been so struck by the normal goodness that radiates through these individuals that they every now and again can be heard to shout: 'These eventual the most honored individuals on earth if just they were allowed to change over to Christianity.” Not only they would be blessed Christian, they are the most
In Chinua Achebe’s book we see the significance of their ancestors pre-colonial times. As the missionaries arrived in their villages they believed they were better fit to rule the Umuofian people because they were better educated. This was an impudence against the village and their ancestors because the people of Umuofia have been following the path of their ancestors. In the Igbo religion, ancestors not only play a central role in their lives but are listened to and followed with respect. The Igbo culture was at a risk of declining when the missionaries began to introduce their ideology and Christianity into their village.
To start, Native American spirituality followers don’t take their practices as a religion like other religions, but their beliefs play an important role of themselves. Native American beliefs are deeply rooted in their culture. They believe everything surrounding them is holy, from the largest mountain, to the smallest organism. Also, Native Americans believe that a lesson can be found in all things and everything has a purpose. To sum up the main focus of their Spirituality, it is all about honor, true love, and respect.
The British never reached this point in their relationship with the Natives. After the French and Indian war the British did not approach the Indians correctly, they struggled with Indian relations. The Indians were treated as inferiors, this led to discontent as the Indians had adapted to the French policy, where they were treated as friends and equals. Historian Richard White termed this as a “middle ground” where the two sides had found means to not only coexist but also cooperate. French and Indian War The French and the British both competed with each other for control over land in North America.
The Natives are proud of their culture and would practise rituals to appease Mother Nature. Their rituals or dances were seen as uncivilized, and in some cases, scared the white settlers living on Indian lands. Soon, the government “…made it a crime for American Indians to practice tribal rituals within their borders. Chiefs who led such religious ceremonies would be fined and jailed” (Dudley 66). The Americans used fear to try to “civilise” the Indians because if they were going to be near the American society they had to blend in.