The Americas and Religion Essay

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Catholicism and the Catholic Church played a significant and major role in the colonization of the New World and subsequent colonization of South America. Although people imagine the Church and State to have worked hand-in-hand in order to meet the goals of colonization and resource collection, the Church and State often were at odds with the Church facing resistance in the Americas from the native populations as seen in 'Letter to Charles V'. Aside from the constant struggle, Catholicism and the Catholic Church helped fund the voyages to the Americas as well as inspire conversion efforts by the Europeans. Europeans that converted local native populations in the Americas would later help colonizers gain control of the native population and assert their own culture and traditions on the people.

Taking it back to the beginning, Christopher Columbus first set off on his voyage because he believed he had been ordained by God in his purpose to propagate His Gospel and holy name throughout the world. With material conquest fueling spiritual expansion, Columbus soon eventually discovered the Americas and met a new race of people that both intrigued him and motivated him. When Christopher Columbus discovered the Native Americans, he described them as having dark, straight, course hair and well-built bodies.

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He also noticed that they could easily be Christianized as they did not have an established religion similar to the Europeans. Without an established religion, they could easily be manipulated into converting to another faith. "They have no religion and I think that they would be very quickly Christianized, for they have a very ready understanding ... "[footnoteRef:1] [1: Garofalo, Leo J. and Erin E. O'Connor. 2011. Documenting Latin America. Boston: Prentice Hall. P. 13.]

The lack of armor, weapons, and religion, made the native peoples of the America easy targets for conquest and conversion. Because religion played such an important role in Europe and Catholicism played an important role in Spain, it was easy to see why religious figures and religion began to exert its influence even in a new land like the Americas. Religion in the mind of the Europeans was not just a way to keep the native populations under control, but as seen in South America, help 'civilize' the native populations and keep them from committing barbaric acts. A line from the Franciscan Reply shows how the people of the Americas were often perceived as savage and….....

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