[FoRK] " Atheists behind the greatest cruelty, says Pope"

[Ian Andrew Bell]

On 3-Dec-07, at 7:01 PM, Tom Higgins wrote:

> 'One source estimates that as many as 60 million Native Americans were
> killed during the Spanish Inquisition.'
> D.Stannard, American Holocaust, Oxford University Press 1992, p. 95

Not that this detracts from your point substantially, but I believe  
you're referring to the Conquest of New Spain, not the Spanish  
Inquisition.  The Spanish Inquisition was not particularly focused on  
the Americas, it was more of an internal European purge of Jews,  
Muslims, and Protestants spawned by two rival ruling families who  
united in Spain.

What does detract from your argument substantially is History.

And if you are referring to the Conquest of New Spain, your numbers  
are a tad high.  The entire population of Europe in 1500 was about 60  
Million, this after a substantial collapse in the 14th century due to  
the Plague and overpopulation.  It's doubtful that the Americas had  
many more than 20-30 million people at first contact, though we'll  
never really know due to the rapid rate (90% in less than 100 years)  
at which they collapsed when confronted with Europeans and their  
African slaves.

I don't really think that Religion can account for the Conquest of the  
Americas so much as economic expansion.  Columbus was promised 10% of  
the wealth he returned to Spain from Hispanola.  The islands he  
discovered were granted to Spain by the Pope and on his second voyage  
he returned with 1500 men accompanied by horses and armour on 17  
ships.  Spreading Catholicism was a benefit, not a feature, of the  
Conquest and was a critical tool in the pacification of the peoples  
they encountered.

To suggest that religion was solely responsible for the deaths of the  
Natives of America is intellectually irresponsible.

-Ian.