Doctrine of Discovery
Since Jan. 6 attacks, spiritual leaders unify to combat Christian nationalism
By Alejandra Molina — January 7, 2022
(RNS) — The Jan. 6 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol drew recent attention to the phenomenon of Christian nationalism, but religious and spiritual leaders acknowledge its existence long before that.
Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day? Getting to the heart of the American identity crisis
By Robert P. Jones — October 8, 2021
(RNS) — This belief in America as a divinely ordained white Christian nation — which has blessed so much brutality in our history — remains linked to denials of our past and support for political violence and anti-democratic sentiment in the present.
Let’s celebrate this Fourth of July without the myth of white Christian innocence
By Robert P. Jones — July 2, 2021
(RNS) — Which will we honor — the Doctrine of Discovery or the Declaration of Independence?
RNS News Quiz: Same-sex marriage and the Doctrine of Discovery
By Emily Churchill — July 2, 2021
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Catholic bishop of Syracuse decries Doctrine of Discovery, suggests pope do the same
By Jack Jenkins — July 1, 2021
(RNS) — Bishop Douglas J. Lucia said he hopes to meet with the Vatican to discuss a series of 15th-century papal proclamations used by European Christians to rationalize the subjugation of Indigenous peoples.
Evangelical Covenant Church joins list of Protestant denominations rebuking Doctrine of Discovery
By Emily McFarlan Miller — June 29, 2021
(RNS) — While the Evangelical Covenant Church has been working on its resolution for the past five years, its action came the day after the Cowessess First Nation announced it had found indications of at least 751 unmarked graves near the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.
Churches return land to Indigenous groups as part of #LandBack movement
By Emily McFarlan Miller — November 26, 2020
KITCHENER, Ontario (RNS) — The returns come as some mainline Protestant Christian denominations have learned about and repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, the justification for European Christians to seize lands already inhabited by Indigenous peoples.
How Trump’s Republican National Convention speech wove faith into the ‘great American story’
By Emily McFarlan Miller and Jack Jenkins — August 28, 2020
(RNS) — Accepting the Republican nomination for a second term, President Donald Trump said, 'Our country is blessed by God and has a special purpose in this world.'
Khyati Y. Joshi argues equal religious freedom in America is an optical illusion
By Yonat Shimron — July 16, 2020
(RNS) — In her new book, she argues Christianity, especially of the white Protestant variety, undergirds the nation’s institutions and practices and establishes a normative baseline from which all other faiths are seen as abnormal.
To fight racism, we need to confront religion’s racist past
By Simran Jeet Singh — July 9, 2020
(RNS) — There’s nothing ‘past’ about American racism — it is our present, and will be our future unless we abandon the triumphalism of the country's founding faith.
Breaking down Trump’s religion-heavy State of the Union
By Jack Jenkins — February 5, 2020
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The president made several appeals to faith throughout his annual speech to the nation and the U.S. Congress, some of which appear to be targeted at certain demographics.
Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah share ‘Unsettling Truths’ in new book
By Emily McFarlan Miller — November 26, 2019
CHICAGO (RNS) — Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah talked to RNS about the Doctrine of Discovery, its ongoing impact on the U.S. and why Christians especially need to tell the truth about it.
Mark Charles and the need for ‘creating common memory’
By Jack Jenkins — September 11, 2019
WASHINGTON (RNS) — 'The difference is between explicit versus implicit: ‘Make America Great Again,’ or ‘America is already great.’ They both agree the past, the history, was great. It wasn't. It sucked,' Mark Charles said.
The spiritual legacy of Doom
By Kaitlin Curtice — December 11, 2018
(RNS) — I experienced a combination of terror and awe: gun in hand, destroying demonic monsters and those who guarded them anytime they came into our path.
Denominations repent for Native American land grabs
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 22, 2018
(RNS) — Several Protestant denominations have repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, the idea laid out in a series of 15th-century papal bulls that justified appropriating native land. But what are they doing now to act on that?
