Episode 86: 1493: When the Church Gave Permission for Conquest and Slavery

What if the church didn't just fail to stop white supremacy,  it helped build it?

In part one of this two-part series, Rachael takes you back to the very beginning. Not the Civil War. Not Jim Crow. 1493. The year the church wrote the theological permission slip for conquest, colonization, and the dehumanization of entire peoples.

This episode breaks down three things most Christians were never taught.

The Doctrine of Discovery. The papal bulls that gave European Christian nations divine permission to claim any land inhabited by non-Christians. This wasn't fringe theology. It shaped everything that came after.

The Curse of Ham. One misread passage in Genesis became the theological engine for chattel slavery. What the text actually says required ignoring the Bible entirely to make the distortion work.

The Pro-Slavery Church. Respected, credentialed, mainstream pastors and entire denominations built a sophisticated Bible-based case for slavery. One denomination was founded in 1845 specifically to protect the right of slaveholders. It is still one of the largest in America today.

This is not a story about bad people doing bad things. This is about a theological system that was carefully constructed, widely taught, and built into the institutions many of us grew up in.

If you enjoyed this episode be sure to watch: 

Episode 66: Feeling it All: Faith, Fury & The Call to Love

 Episode 55: Decolonizing the Church w/ Joash Thomas

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