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| Bartolome' de las Casas (1474-1546) |
The concept of human rights is something most of us take for
granted in western culture today but this idea is a relatively new one in human
history and is surprisingly connected with Christopher Columbus and the Spanish
colonization of the New World through the Catholic bishop Bartolome’ de las
Casas. The story begins King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella of Spain. Both of
them ardently desired to unify Spain and make it a thoroughly Roman Catholic
kingdom. For years they had been engaged
in an effort known as the Reconquista
which sought through military, legal, and religious means to take back the
parts of Spain that were controlled primarily by Muslims who had fought their
way across North Africa and the Strait of Gibraltar to become established there
centuries before. It just so happened
that in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella were at last successful in their
enterprise and decided to give this Italian explorer that had already approached
them several times already another opportunity to make his case for their
support of his venture to find a faster western passage to the far east.
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| Columbus and Ferdinand and Isabella |
Columbus was an expert navigator and business man, but he
also knew a bit about promotion. Knowing Spain had been exhausted financially in its
successful re-conquest of its lands from Islam, Columbus presented his case that Spain could
rebuild its wealth if his voyage was successful. Like Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus was
very religious and saw a spiritual dimension to his voyage as well. Not only would there be an opportunity to
share Christianity with any of the new peoples he discovered, but if gold and
precious stones could be found perhaps a new crusade could be financed and
Jerusalem could one again be taken from Muslim control and be put back under
Christian control. In both of these
aspects Columbus thought it possible that they would usher in the return of
Jesus Christ.
As we know from the perspective of history, Columbus never
made it to Asia but discovered the New World.
He did discover new peoples as well, but his idea of Christianizing them
was largely a form of subjugation and mistreatment not directly but through the
institutions they imported. And gold was
also discovered and this seemed to blunt the consciences of most people
involved in this enterprise. But it is
often surprising who God places with whom.
On Columbus’ second voyage a merchant from Seville named
Pedro de las Casas accompanied the explorer and 5 years later returned to Spain
a very rich man. His young son Bartolome’
was a university student at the time and was given a gift from his newly
returned father: an Amerindian slave from the New World. This proved to be the beginning of Bartolome’s
calling to serve God.
At age 19, Bartolome’ travels with his father to Santo
Domingo, Hispaniola (modern day Dominican Republic) and is so moved by the
plight of the Indians there that he returns to Spain, enters the Dominican
order and prepares to return for the purpose of missionary work. In 1535 he returns to live in Santo Domingo and to enter a career
of preaching to the Native population of Hispaniola. Bartolome’ de las Casas was actually the
first Catholic priest to be ordained in the New World and later one of its
first Bishops. As a member of the
clergy, las Casas was part of the ruling class in Spanish society and as such
was given by the administration of the colonies a land grant or what was known
then as an encomienda.
The Encomienda
system was basically the old Medieval Feudal system with a special built-in
capacity for abuse of those under the lord.
In this system, a Spanish lord (member of the upper class) would be
assigned land and a group of native peoples.
The people were to work the land and pay a tribute to their lord. The lord was responsible for their protection
and religious instruction. No doubt Bartolome’ as a priest dedicated to
reaching the Amerindians would have been a benevolent lord, but unfortunately
in most of the other encomiendas,
little effort or consideration was ever given to the well-being of the people,
spiritual or otherwise. There was a lot
of taking and very little giving.
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| Atrocities towards the Natives Changed Everything |
There are two stories told about what formed the turning
point in Bartolome’s career. Neither
contradict one another and so I will assume they are both true. The first was his witnessing the cruel
treatment of an Amerindian leader who was buried alive for not cooperating with
the Spanish authorities. This was not
the only atrocity he witnessed, for Las Casas wrote an entire book about them
late in life, but it is a focal event that illustrates what was happening
around him. The second story speaks of
Bartolome’ preparing a sermon for Pentecost Sunday. He reads a verse in the Bible that says to
the effect that any offering made to God at the expense of injustice to another
is a tainted offering. Regardless of
whether both or only one of them happened, Las Casas decides to renounce his encomienda and devotes the rest of his
life advocating for the spiritual welfare and human rights of the Amerindians.
In 1535 and again in 1539 de las Casas returns to Europe and
enlists the help of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (the very same one that
wanted to have Martin Luther killed) and secures orders from him to restrict
some of their powers and activities towards the native population. He returns both to Spain and the New World
several times as the newly appointed “Protector of the Indians” informing government
officials of the new laws enacted to curb abuses.
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| las Casas and Charles V |
1544 he returns to Seville for his consecration as Bishop
and returns with a team of missionaries to the Americas for evangelizing and
defending their human rights. Eventually
de las Casas returns to Spain but labors the remainder of his life on behalf of
Indian rights until his death in 1566.
So how does this relate to human rights? In las Casa’s day there was a prevalent view
which in part hearkens back to ancient times that conquered peoples are subject
to their conquerers. This primarily
meant slavery, but also within the church since the Crusades, there was the
idea that since Christianity is the true religion, those conquered who refuse
to convert may be subjected to the sword. A contemporary investigation of this period
revealed (although possibly exaggerated) that at least 15 million natives were
exterminated during the first 10 years of the Spanish presence in the New
World. This was in part due to
atrocities inflicted by the Spaniards but it mustn’t be forgotten that the
encounter between Europe and the New World was biologically catastrophic as
neither group had the natural antibodies to fight the viruses to which each
group was exposed.
But the work of las Casas and others had the effect of
creating a crisis of conscience amongst those in academia, the clergy, and the
ruling elite. The old assumptions seemed
wrong as did the perpetration of genocide against the Amerindians in
Mesoamerica. This eventually led to the
1550 debates in Valladolid which should probably be considered the first human
rights conference in western history.
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| Sepulveda |
The principle debaters were Juan Sepulveda and Bartolome’ de
las Casas. Sepulveda took the position
that subjugation to slavery was justified in the New World because the natives
were less than people. Coercion to
Christianity was justified because they were evil idolaters (which in some
cases is hard to argue against as they did practice human sacrifice). De Las Casas took the position that the
natives of the New World were human beings descended as the Europeans were from
Adam and Eve. If this be true, they are
not less than human, but rather humans with the capacity to know God and in
need of gentle instruction and persuasion but certainly not coercion. This is what de las Casas called “evangelical
conquest” meaning persuasion of the heart by testimony and example, not at the
end of a sword. This debate transformed
the laws of Europe to recognize that as they colonized, there was an obligation
to recognize people of different cultures and religions are entitled to be
treated with dignity and by the golden rule of Christ just because they are
fellow human beings.
De Las Casas also changed the notion of barbarian vs.
civilized society. Barbarism, which
originally was associated with inferiority (since Roman times), now had the
connotation of inhumanity and cruelty.
By this standard both Europeans and Indigenous peoples were capable of
being civilized and barbarous.
There is a persistent idea today that most of the atrocities
that happened in the New World had behind them Christian missionaries. It is true that some of them did evil, but
most were people of good will. Modern
secularists fail to be nuanced enough in their thinking to separate the process
of civilization from Christianization.
The record points squarely in the direction of government and commercial
interests exploiting native populations far more than the church ever did. Oftentimes the church was a force of
ameliorating or completely stopping the abuses altogether as this story
illustrates.
It seems that Las Casas does get credited (or rather blamed)
for the idea of bringing Africans to the Caribbean. However, his motives and idea have been
greatly twisted. Las Casas was
acknowledging a reality that so many Amerindians had died off that there was no
real population left to work the lands.
He wanted to do what he could to protect the remaining population from
servitude and abuse. Secondly, he did
not look at Africans as racially inferior but rather more better suited for the
climate and labors of the region. Third,
Las Casas did not envision the Africans as being slaves but paid employees.
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| Gentle persuasion not coercion |
It is unfortunate that trust had been so broken by the
colonizers that many of the Amerindians wanted nothing to do with
Christianity. Still, the witness of the
many priests and monks was seen and admired.
Throughout Latin America, de las Casas is considered a saint and
national hero and has been called the Apostle
to the Indies.
Sources:
“Bartolome’ de las Casas” Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical
Literature. McClintock and Strong
Eds. (Grand Rapids : Baker Books, 1981)
Chidester, David. Christianity: A Global History. (New York : Harper San Francisco, 2000)
Hill, Jonathan. What Has Christianity Ever Done For Us? :
How It Shaped The Modern World.
(Downers Grove : Intervarsity Press, 2005)
Kane, J. Herbert A Concise History of the Christian World
Mission : A Panoramic View of Missions from Pentecost to the Present. (Grand Rapids : Baker Book House, 1978)
Noll, Mark A. A History of Christianity in the United
States and Canada. (Grand Rapids :
Ederdmann’s, 1992)
Church History : From
Pre-Reformation to the Present Day. John Woodbridge and Frank A. James III Eds.
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013)
Sampson, Philip J. 6 Modern Myths About Christianity and
Western Civilization. (Downers Grove
: Intervarsity Press, 2001)
Williams, Eric. From Columbus to Castro : The History of the
Caribbean. (New York : Vintage Books, 1984)
Woods Jr., Thomas E. How the Catholic Church Built Western
Civilization. (Washington DC : Regnery Publishing, 2005)
Yates, Timothy. The Expansion of Christianity. (Downers
Grove : Intervarsity, 2004)
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