The dark side of "Christianity" -- Part I

Disclaimer: I've decided to no longer avoid writing about sensitive issues... I'll have more to write about!

Every religion has its dark side.

For the second reading in morning prayer, we've been reading from a book titled Of Earth and Elders. It contains writings by First Nations people of America. Currently we're on an essay written by Floyd Red Crow Westerman. He's most famous and recognizable due to the role he played in "Dances With Wolves." He writes:

"I am a Dakota and my people have been living in the lower Minnesota area for centuries. ...Every state had a militia and the...order was to find and kill Indians who would not accept confinement on the concentration camp reservations...They confined all the people involved [in an uprising] in a stockade at Fort Snelling in the middle of winter... they marched them in freezing temperatures to Mankato and there are accounts of how white women poured boiling water on Dakota women and children as they went by and grabbed hold of babies and smashed them to death against walls. [does this remind you of a particular psalm?] ... It is interesting to note that it was church people who ordered a lot of this treachery, supposedly people of God. People of the church lead [sic] this type of assault on Indian people and that is one of the ironies that has been hidden in history. Today those people claim their righteous place with God when in a sense they were the early day facists. And, of course, concentration camp life has continued for us."

When I read or hear such stories, I flinch. It is a Christian heritage I am ashamed of. I've never been comfortable with the fact that my ancestors came to this land and claimed it as their own with little regard for the people who already lived here. Who did we think we were? Who do we continue to think we are? It's a sickness, a disease that has been passed down generation after generation. It's called ENTITLEMENT.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't one of the reasons the founders of this nation sought independence was so they could gain religious freedom? What about the native peoples' religious freedom? Oh...I get it. It was religious freedom for Christians only, not for other forms of spirituality.

Sigh. It's much easier and less painful to keep certain aspects of history a secret. Denial means not having to do something to correct the wrong done. And even though it wasn't done by my generation, I don't feel exonerated from the "war crimes" committed against the indiginous peoples of this land. I'm just as guilty when I continue to look the other way, ignore the conditions that persist this day for those living on reservations, and do nothing.