In a rather one-sided take on how if the Native Americans would have just assimilated into Christianity they wouldn't have gotten themselves killed, he begins:
"The Powhatans, along with many of the indigenous peoples, seemed to have little respect for private property, including boundaries, and little regard for obedience to the eighth commandment and its prohibition against stealing. (On the Oregon Trail, the primary problems travelers suffered from the indigenous peoples were not massacres but thievery.)"
And that's said with no irony at all.
He continues, by blaming Native Americans for the violence Christians perpetrated upon them:
"[Pocohontas] became a follower of Christ, was baptized, and took the Christian name 'Rebecca'....
It’s arresting to think of how different the history of the American settlement and expansion could have been if the other indigenous peoples had followed Pocahontas’s example. She not only recognized the superiority of the God whom the colonists worshipped over the gods of her native people, she recognized the superiority (not the perfection) of their culture and adopted its patterns and language as her own.
In other words, she both converted and assimilated. She became both a Christian and an American (technically, of course, an Englishman [sic]). She melded into European and Christian civilization and made her identity as a Christian and an Englishman [sic] her primary identity. She was the first manifestation of what became our national slogan, 'E Pluribus Unum,' 'Out of many, one.'
Had the other indigenous people followed her example, their assimilation into what became America could have been seamless and bloodless. Sadly, it was not to be.”
I mean, at this point can't you just kind of picture the other AFA staff members reading this and being all "Um, that was an [looks around at others]....interesting... [slowly backs up toward door] article....Bryan....[runs out the AFA building spraying self with Febreeze]."
But, of course, you can't actually imagine that because Fischer's allies who likewise believe that this brand of Christianity is the One True Religion so often let racist, bigoted, revisionist, and violent speech like this go unchallenged. Several commenters after the piece, indeed, lauded Fischer for having the "courage" to speak the truth and counter what they undoubtedly see as the overly-Politically-Correct account of history where Christians weren't the Big Saviors, but actually committed quite a few sins of their own including the rape, murder, and displacement of Native Americans.
It's funny. In a sad way. Only because straight, conservative Christian male leaders can't tell everyone enough how fucking courageous and awesome they are for opposing LGBT rights and abortion, two issues that uniquely affect same-sex couples and women, but their silence is deafening when it comes to breaking ranks with each other to counter one of their brother's suggestions that Native Americans were at fault for their own mass murder for not sufficiently complying with Christianity.
Let's also note Fischer's allusion to E Pluribus Unum. He says that he knows it means, "Out of many, one." But then, why does he pretend it really means, "Out of many, Christian"? The concept of a "melting pot" implies a fusion of many cultures and traditions, not using a strainer to get rid "inferior" ones so that everybody becomes Bryan Fischer's dominionist brand of Christian.
Goddess. The arrogance of some of the people we're stuck with on Earth.
Speaking of, when the Oankali land here in the near future, I'm sure Bryan Fischer will be first in line to assimilate. Since he's such a fan of the concept.
No comments:
Post a Comment