Introduction
According to the Oxford Dictionary, religion is defined as, “The beliefs, values, and practices in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or god.” Although there is some debate as to the origin of religion, it can be traced back to pre-historic times. Religion has been used to establish social stratification to gain power, privilege, and prestige in society. So, What’s the purpose of religion? Some might say it’s to blind, divide, and control the society. Others insist that religion keeps people on the path to moral righteousness promoting love and harmony. For years religion has influenced civic liberties, politics, and issues of morality.
However, religion can be used as a tool to distort
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faith and beliefs. Religious extremist use these tactics to gain followers, preaching intolerance to those who stand against their views. Religious extremist are aggressive and willing to commit violence in the name of religion. Religious wars have been fought throughout history in a struggle for power, wealth, and admiration. Religious violence is motivated by religious perception that, “God is on our side.” It used to justify acts of crime and violence in the name of God. In this paper the two genres analyzed is a paper by Bartolome de las Casas, “The Devastation of the Indies (1565)” and a photograph of burning the World Trade Center in New York. These genres will analyze religion beliefs and laws used as a justification of violence and death. Audience and Purpose Bartolome de las Casas, “The Devastation of the Indies (1565)” intended audience is historians, social activities, and academics.
Bartolome de las Casas wrote, “The Devastation of the Indies” discussing his perspective of the Spanish cruel treatment of the Indians. De las Casas audience would be aware of the largely divers and populated Indian society. During Spain colonization of the New World the Spanish conquistadores committed horrible acts of violence towards Indies; which lead to the writing of The Devastation of the Indies.
In the photograph of the burning World Trade Center is intended to evoke emotion, shock, fear, and disbelief. The purpose of the photograph is to capture an appalling moment in history, while never forgetting the lives lost September 11, 2001. The events that unfolded during September 11, 2001 are still deeply ingrained to American member. The audience will likely remember exactly were they were when they heard the news of the terrorist attack. The will also remember seeing hours of countless news coverage of the terrorist attack. The terrorists carried out an attack against the World Trade Center and the
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Pentagon. These two genres share a significant number of similarities that pertain to religion. In the photograph of the burning World Trade Center, and in The Devastation of the Indies religion was use to justify violence. Islamist Extremist Al-Qaeda declared a holy war against the United States of American. There is still a debate as to the motivation for the events on 9/11; individuals speculate that U.S. foreign policies in the Middle East in support of Israel were the cause. In the case of the Spanish and Indians, the Spanish considered their treatment of the Indians necessary to provide them with liberty and Christian religious beliefs. Ethos Bartolome de las Casa a Dominican priest tried to convince the Spanish court to free the Indies. His writings gave a first hand account of the Spanish injustices toward the Indies. Bartolome de las Casas believe that the Spaniards conducted themselves nothing like Christians. He claims, “The common ways mainly employed by the Spaniards who call themselves Christian and who have gone there to extirpate those pitiful nations and wipe them off the earth is by unjustly waging cruel and bloody wars.” The photograph of the Twin Towers their have been conspiracy theories its collapse. There have been claims that the World Trade Center contained explosive installed in the building prior to the attack. There have been a number of architect’s, software engineers, theologian, and etc. arguing that the impact of the aircraft was not sufficient enough completely collapse the buildings. The 9/11 conspiracy theories also argue that the high racking government officials had advance knowledge of the attack. Pathos In The Devastation of the Indies Bartolome de las Casas states that the Indians were, “By nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable nor quarrelsome.
These people are the most devoid of rancors, hatreds, or desire for vengeance of any people in the world.” However, other Spaniards viewed the Indians as weak and incompetent who believed in “witch doctors.” The Spanish expected the Native American to abandon their religious beliefs and traditions; failure to convert to Catholicism led to violence. According to Bartolome de las Casas illustrates the violent acts of the Spanish, “I seem even to recall that there were two or three pairs of grids where others were burning, and because they uttered such loud screams that they disturbed the Spanish captain's sleep, he ordered them to be strangled.” Bartolome de las Casas refers to the some of the Spanish as cruel and wicked Christians drove by greed and ambition. He notes that Spanish treatment beast with more respect then the Indians. The Native American viewed the Spanish as, “By nature wicked and cruel, and they have a God they greatly worship and they want us to worship that God, and that is why they struggle with us and subject us and kill us.” Although, Bartolome de las Casas was against cruelty of the Spaniards towards the Indies, he believe that Spain had a God given right to rule
America. In the photograph of the burning Twin Towers provoke a multitude of emotions and sensations. This image is an associated with fear, angrier, confusion, pain, lost love ones, panic, and etc. It symbolizes a time when the nation came together to mourn the loss of its citizens. The new coverage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers, seeing people jumping to death, watching the building burn down, the city/nation wide panic, and etc. will be always be associated with this photograph. It represents a time when Americans demonstrate their patriotism, and begin turning to their faith. In contrast, this photo is a symbol of victory and celebration. Logos Bartolome de las Casas writes that the Spanish believed, “Their reason for killing and destroying such an infinite number of souls is that the Christians have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold, and to swell themselves with riches in a very brief time and thus rise to a high estate disproportionate to their merits.” The Spanish thought process and treatment lead to the destruction of any Indians and tribes. On September 11, 2001, an American Airlines flight 11 and United Airline flight 175 strike the north and south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and the streets below. There were 19 Muslim hijackers from the terrorist group Al-Qaeda involved in the attacks. The attack on the World Trade Center killed 2,977 victims, and caused about 10 billion dollars in property damage. Conclusion In both genre’s religion and violence played a significant role in the destruction of human live. Religion is meant to guide mankind to a path of charity, peace, love, harmony, and understand. However, for century its been used to justify violence, war, greed, and murder. Will the correlation between religion and violence ever end?
In An Account, Much Abbreviated, of The Destruction of The Indies, the author is giving an introduction on Bartolome De Las Casas who was a Christian missionary at the time of the Spaniards discovering the New World. He had a rather self-taught oriented theology, philosophy and law. He went to Hispaniola ten years after its discovery in 1502 ; in Santo Domingo he was ordained priest in 1512 and a year later he went as a chaplain in the expedition that conquered Cuba . After going to Hispaniola years after Columbus settled there, he did not support what the Spaniards did to the indigenous people. From 1551 until his death , Las Casas role was to bring the complaints to the authorities of the indigenous population of the Spanish America. Dissatisfied
This assignment examines the document entitled “Bartolomé de las Casas, from Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies.” Bartolomé de las Casas, who spent most of his time in the New World protecting the native people that lived there, authored the document in 1542. In this document Bartolome de Las Casas gives a detailed but horrific account of the atrocious behavior of the spaniards against the native people of the indies.He vividly describes the brutality brought on the natives by europeans all in the name of proclaiming and spreading Christianity.This document was originally intended for Charles I of Spain and one
Native American civilization was not always a pit of terror and agonizing torture for every single being. The Spanish arrived in Hispaniola, during the early 1500, with the seemingly good intention of introducing to the indigenous the Christian faith. Unfortunately, their mission turned into an almost complete annihilation of a culture unlike their own. Bartolome de la Casas, depicts a graphic and ultimately disturbing castings of the happenings during their expedition. The Spanish Christians involved in these happenings can be seen as hypocritical, heartless, and close minded. Although, in the minds of these men, they were completing their God assigned duties, such as
Bartolome de las casas: “In Defense of the Indians”(c.1550). Bartolome de Las Casas describes the treatment of Native Americans during the early settlement of the first thirteen colonies. Bartolome de las casas was a spanish historian, who in the 16th century was given the title of Protector of the Indians and sat at the Council of the Indies.Bartolome de las casas had the “intent to reveal to Spain that...its colonial rule would lead to… punishment at God 's hand” (LUNENFELD 6)This text was created to bring to light the hardship Natives went through during the Age of Exploration. Natives were badly hurt by the inflow of Europeans, and due to this faced many hardships such as disease, war, and disrupt to their way of life.In other words their
The discovery and conquest of American Indians inspired efforts to develop an ideology that could justify why they needed to enslave the Indians. The Spanish monarch wanted an ideal empire. "A universal empire, of which all their subjects were but servants. Charles V remained for them the dominus mundi, the legitimate and God-ordained lord of the world." (Weckmann, The Transit of Civilization, 23) Gold and religious conversion was the two most important inspirations for conquistadors in conquering America. Father Bartolome De Las Casas was a Dominican priest who came to the New World to convert the Indians to become Christians. He spent forty years on Hispanolia and nearby islands, and saw how the Spaniards brutally treated the Indians and sympathized with them. The Devastation of the Indies was an actual eyewitness account of the genocide by Las Casas, and his group of Dominican friars in which he demonizes the Spanish colonists and praises the Indians. Father Las Casas returned to Seville, where he published his book that caused an on going debate on whether the suppression of the Indians corrupted the Spaniards' values. What Las Casas was trying to achieve was the notion of human rights, that human beings are free and cogent by nature without the interference of others.
What he and his men did to the Indigenous people is told in horrifying detail by the Dominican priest Bartolome de Las Casas, “whose writings give the most thorough account of the Spanish-Indian encounter.” Las Casas witnessed firsthand Columbus’ soldiers stabbing Natives for sport, dashing babies’ heads on rocks, and sexually abusing Indigenous women. His testimony was corroborated by other eyewitnesses, such as a group of Dominican friars, who addressed the Spanish monarchy in 1519, hoping to bring an end to the atrocities. At the very least, Columbus was complicit in the actions of his men. He cared so little for the welfare of the Indigenous people that he let his soldiers commit reprehensible acts that would be considered crimes against humanity in the present day. Christopher Columbus’ actions suggest he had no issue with serving as an enabler of the horrifying actions committed by his men against the Indigenous
Bartolomé de Las Casas was born in 1484 AD in Seville and died in 1566 in Madrid. In the ending of the 15th century and the beginning of 16th, he came to America and become a “protector of Indian”. In 1542, most based on his effort, Spain has passed the New Law, which prohibit slaving Indians (Foner, p. 7). In 1552, he published the book A Short Account of the Destruction of The Indies.
In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolomé de Las Casas vividly describes the brutality wrought on the natives in the Americas by the Europeans primarily for the purpose of proclaiming and spreading the Christian faith. Las Casas originally intended this account to reach the royal administration of Spain; however, it soon found its way into the hands of many international readers, especially after translation. Bartolomé de Las Casas illustrates an extremely graphic and grim reality to his readers using literary methods such as characterization, imagery, amplification, authorial intrusion and the invocation of providence while trying to appeal to the sympathies of his audience about such atrocities.
Cabeza de Vaca, like many other Spaniards, wanted to seek fortune in the new world, but things did not go as planned, and he eventually lost everything. Although he came to conquer in the name of Spain, he ended up living amongst the Native Americans in need for survival and became very close to them. Although originally the Spaniards were very narrow minded and believed the Indians were uncivilized and barbaric, Cabeza de Vaca shortly found out that they were not uncivilized, but quite the opposite. He saw that they were just as human as the Spaniards were and were no less than they were. His perception of humanity altered as a result of living with “the others.”
In fact, some Spaniards campaigned for their protection. Works calling for justice though would not be published until several years after there was no longer a population to protect. This included Friar Bartolome de las Casa’s Apologetic History of the Indies that was published in 1566 AD. Recalling his experiences in the New World on attempting to convert the natives, he attempted to persuade readers that Native Americans were naturally good and under God. He highlighted their civilization as well-developed with both political and social lives. By nature, the Taino people were peaceful; they had initially greeted the colonists with friendship and assisted Columbus with his endeavors. Regardless, the Spanish colonists that had been replaced by the Tainos turned a blind eye. Experienced with the circumstances within the mines, they had no qualms with subjecting the Native Americans to the same conditions. When the colonists first began forcing labor and conversion upon the tribes, the tribe chiefs had even allowed it and tried their hand at adjusting to the Spanish lifestyle in search of compromise, only to be ignored with the Spanish preference of complete subjugation. Furthermore, the Tainos were labeled as barbarians due to their lack of faith in the Christian god. Consequently, the Spaniards, also greatly influenced by their desires for gold, lacked the compassion needed to take wholehearted action against the cruelties placed onto the
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, by Bartolomé de las Casas, is an account of the atrocities committed by the Spanish against the indigenous Americans during the 16th century. This is made clear by multiple passages mentioned by the Dominican in his account. For example, towards the beginning of the document we are introduced to the island of Hispaniola (containing the modern countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and the five chiefdoms within it. These chiefdoms are listed as the first areas where the Spanish began to commit heinous crimes, such as slavery and slaughter, against the natives. These five chiefdoms are later incorporated into New Spain. Those sent into the Encomienda, the colonial labour system, are forced
This account is a voice to create awareness for the silent indigenous people. It is a real account of what was happening in the new world real world. It was written by the bishop Don Bartolommeo de las Casas to inform the lord the Emperor. He talks about what is happening to the Indies, “Some of the things that have occurred in the Indies, however, are quite terrible, the slaughter of innocent people, the depopulation of entire villages, provinces, and kingdoms, and many other acts, on less horrifying’ (P:8) He also brings the topic of why, this so called Christians were acting like savagery. Their humanity was degraded by their greed, they were never content with the wickedness they have committed. On page 11 he talks about the some of the possible explanations to why this people committed this horrific acts. “The reason that the Christians have slain an infinite number of souls has been the desire to take the Indians gold, to enrich, themselves quickly, and to raise themselves up to the high social ranks that bears no relation to their humble origins in Spain.”
Throughout the course of history, man has looked to religion for answers. Curiosity as to how we got here and why we are have driven people to seek out answers to these somewhat unanswerable questions. Over the past few thousand years, several varying religions have been established, some more prominent than others. Many of them share a similar story of a divine creator who has always been and will always be. In the case of Christianity, whether true or not, it has proven to be beneficial to society as a whole. The Bible set the standard for the moral compass that humans live their lives by to this day. The key fundamental problem with religion, although not the fault of religion, is that man has often used it as a gateway to power and prominence. In the case of the 18th century Gallican church, the French were abusing their religious powers, thus creating vast inequality throughout France, which eventually led to a rebellion against the church, and the eventual destruction of the church within France.
Religion is the one element of life that has connected the races and societies of the world for hundreds of years. It has given meaning to lives that may seem otherwise hopeless. Religion has provided for a universal language and culture among those who believe in a higher power. The spirit or being receiving the worship and praise may not be the same, but the practices are usually similar and serve the same purpose--to give direction, insight, courage, and a divine connection.
Religion helps establish mankind’s place in the order of the universe. As civilization began to be established through the domestication of animals, the irrigation and cultivation of agricultural crops, and life became more complex (moving from mainly a hunter/gather existence to one that could settle down and have more time to consider advanced ideas) people began to consider questions such as, where life comes from, is there a creator or creators who helped make the world, and what happens after we die. Religion helped answer some of these questions. It gave people purpose, meaning, and perspective. Religion helped establish nations in the case of religious theocratic governments. In many of the ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, the Mayans, and even Mesopotamia, the priests and other religious leaders played prominent roles in help shaping the laws and government of these civilizations. As his...