If the pioneers came to America for religious freedom, why did they make the Indians give up their beliefs?

Question

History says that we came here to escape being torchered and killed for what we believe in. But in the same instance we forced the Indians to become christain. To me that's like slapping a child and telling them it's not nice to hit. The same thing happened to the so called 'witches'. Can a whole country be so lost in it's own lies that every person living in it can't see the truth?

Answer 1

Not to mention their land, their buffalo and their beads...

"Excuse me...I want your land...if you want to stay here, believe in our god...maybe if we are in a good mood, we'll let you stay some place we wouldn't be caught dead in...."

Answer 2

You know this is a good question. My husband is of American Indian decent and he chooses to follow their teachings. I am Pagan and I follow, of coarse a Pagan path guided by my divinity. I think that the reason that Indians were persecuted was more to end their claim to lands rich in minerals and other items that the greedy English wanted. When the Indians fought back they decided to try to kill them and when that did not work they tried to kill their way of life. So it was more of a greed thing. The same I have found is actually partly true about the "witches" they were midwives and responsible for most of the births in the area. So when Doctors started to become a more popular practice these doctors were angry that these women were taking away from their practice. So your answer would be GREED. Even then people were greedy and wanted everything for themselves.

Answer 3

the founding fathers of this country made it on religious freedom. many of them did come here to escape the Church of England.

however the original constitution says "right to worship God in your own way" it was later ammended to grant freedom of religion.

the Native Americans were attacked long before the actual founding of this country. durring the french/indian war with England. and many of the Puritans came here with the intent of setting up a new church. and they actively tried to convert the Natives. if they could not convert them. they killed them as Hethans. it was a lawless time for most of the country.

after the government was set up. the Native Spirituality threatened the rule of the White man. at which point it was made illegal. the White man had feared the Natives from the beginning. to this day the Ghost dance is Illegal to preform. even though it is a religious ceramony. (that is the reason for the massacre at wounded knee) History says that the indians were revolting.

history is a fickle thing. always written by the winner of the wars, and designed to apint them in a favorable light.

in short yes a country can be so caught up in it's own lies that nobody knows the truth.

take some more recent history for example. the American Civil war. we are taught in school. and even our forign citiznship test says that the reason for the War was to free the Slaves.

but Lincon only freed the slaves when the South asked England for help. and the English Armada was parked off of our coast. changeing the war from the north trying to make the south become more industrial. and trying to gain higher tax percentages from the southern states. to a war of freedom, that would hit the hearts of every english pesant. was a great political move. that kept the English army out of the war. they culd not afford to enter the war when it would cause a pesant revolt in england. with their army acrost an ocean.

and Lincon only freed the slaves in the south at first. and later the slaves in the north (including the ones that HE owned) only to avoid looking like a hypocrite.

yet to this day. we are taught that the war was to free the slaves.

Answer 4

they had to change their languages and religion and cultures and be taken off their land. The trail of tears. Once waring tribes was put together. Most by this time had died out by diseases from the Europeans.
It was more a genocide or extermination of the native people.
Just like what the Islamic forces are doing in Africa right now.
Yes it was hyprocritical. We only want freedom of religion for our religion. Our religion is the only right one.
so the others are all cults and need to be stamped out.
That is the way man thinks. Talk to a hundue or a muslim?
they are all that way. I am right and the others are infidels.

Answer 5

To whatever extent that may have happened, there's a one-word definition for it: Hypocrisy.

And thinking about the Puritans: Consider the repressive agendas they foisted upon an emerging American society, some of which live on today in our loathsome RRR Cult, censorship on TV and some print, etc., etc.

It would have been WONDROUS if their ship had only sunk in the mid-Atlantc. Then maybe we would be as liberal-minded, as a nation, as most of northern and western Europe is today.

Just our rotten luck that that collection of repressive and narrow-minded loons made it here, instead! We've paid for that ever since!

Answer 6

I think the pioneers made the Indians give up their beliefs because the Indians believed in many gods and the pioneers only believed in one god.Not a great way to think but people have always been hypocrites.

Answer 7

How many times do you have to have your scalp lifted off your skull, your family murdered before your eyes, your livestock killed, your house burned to the ground, and your community become a ghost town before you start to realise there is a problem to be addressed? Grave errors were made by all parties involved, but of course only the most logical side is to blame. That logic always points to those who claim Christ. How soon and conveniently we put aside the charity of the first thanksgiving feast. That was most certainly not the only instance of peacefulness that occured. I suppose it was only the goodness of one side that allowed that event to even come about, right? When the aggression stopped, so did the senseless killing. But let's not pay any attention to such small details.
Today there are riots in Italy being brought about by lawless gangs who demonstrate against things being done by Christians and Muslims in other parts of the world. They tear apart their own communities and damage property and lives that are far removed from the fact. History will most likely point a finger at Christians there as well.

Answer 8

Our ancestors that came here did not see Indians as fully human but not as low as animals either - they saw them as in between and thus called them savages. Many used their religion as justification for exterminating them or forcibly removing them off tribal lands to other areas - ie: Trail of Tears.

Basically it boiled down to greed - land was the most valuable asset of the time period - the Natives had it, the settlers wanted it. We basically destroyed their civilizations with no remorse and it was wrong.

Answer 9

I like how you said so called "witches". Witches do exist, just not like in the movies, but the fact of the matter is that the 'witches' that were murdered were usually just a christian or puritan as the next person. They'd just ticked someone off, so that person accused them. Christians, as anybody, are reluctant to admitt the flaws in their own doctrine.

Answer 10

The early settlers came to America to avoid religious persecution in their home countries, not for the religious freedom of others. That is a big difference.

Answer 11

Propaganda. Christians who settled early America created one of the most oppressive theocracies ever. We still refer to the system of justice when we use the expression witch-hunts. What I don't understand is why the seeking religious freedom lie persists. The there is the fleeing to escape persecution lie. The didn't flee. They were put on ships and told to leave because they couldn't obey the laws of the age and were threatening people of the state religion. They weren't persecuted. They were the persecutors.