Let’s start by remembering who are part of Turning Point:
JD Vance is now claiming that when settlers arrived in the New World, they “found widespread child sacrifice” and that “Christian civilization ended the practice.” Archaeologists and historians, including experts in North American Indigenous history, say this is a complete fabrication. There is zero evidence of widespread child sacrifice among First Nations. This isn’t a slip. It’s racist revisionism dressed up as patriotism. And it tells you exactly how far they’ll go to rewrite history to justify oppression. (Brian Allen).
🚨 JD Vance is now claiming that when settlers arrived in the New World, they “found widespread child sacrifice” and that “Christian civilization ended the practice.”
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) November 26, 2025
Archaeologists and historians, including experts in North American Indigenous history, say this is a complete… pic.twitter.com/KM6qtdLwJJ
Dear Mr. Vance: How Christianity Contributed to the Decimation of Native American Peoples During Colonisation
The encounter between European colonisers and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas was one of the most transformative—and devastating—episodes in world history. While numerous forces contributed to the destruction of Native American societies, Christianity played a significant ideological, cultural, and political role in the process. For many European powers, religion was not merely a personal faith but a justification for expansion, domination, and cultural re-engineering.
A Divine Mandate for Expansion
From the late fifteenth century onwards, European monarchies framed colonial expansion as a sacred mission. Papal decrees such as the Doctrine of Discovery authorised Christian nations to seize lands inhabited by non-Christians, reducing Indigenous sovereignty and humanity in the eyes of European law. Colonisers often believed they were fulfilling God’s will by claiming the “New World” and converting its inhabitants.
This ideology helped rationalise conquest, enslavement, and cultural destruction. Native Americans were portrayed as “heathens” in need of salvation, and this framing made violent subjugation appear morally justified to European settlers.
Missionary Activities and Cultural Erasure
Missionaries arrived alongside soldiers and traders, frequently positioning themselves as agents of “civilisation”. Their efforts had several profound impacts:
- Suppression of Indigenous religions: Traditional spiritual practices were the foundation of many Native American societies. Missionaries systematically dismantled sacred rituals, outlawed ceremonies, destroyed religious objects, and targeted spiritual leaders.
- Imposition of European cultural norms: Conversion programmes often required Indigenous people to abandon their languages, social structures, and identities. In many areas, Christian mission schools became tools of forced assimilation.
- Disruption of social cohesion: Missionaries sometimes exploited tribal divisions or encouraged Indigenous converts to separate themselves from traditional community structures, weakening resistance to colonial control.
While a minority of missionaries attempted to shield Indigenous groups from settler violence, the broader missionary enterprise functioned as an arm of the colonial system.
Violence Under the Banner of Faith
Christian imagery and rhetoric were frequently deployed to justify military campaigns against Native Americans. Colonists framed conflicts as battles between Christianity and “savagery”, casting Indigenous resistance as rebellion against divine order. As a result:
- Entire communities were massacred or forcibly removed in the name of religious and civilisational progress.
- Settlers often believed they had a God-given right to occupy lands long inhabited by Native peoples.
- Leaders used biblical narratives—particularly that of the “Promised Land”—to legitimise territorial expansion.
In practice, faith served as both a motivator and a moral shield for violent acts.
Disease, Conversion, and Dependency
While Christianity did not directly cause the spread of European diseases, missionary settlements and forced congregation of Indigenous peoples intensified the impact of epidemics. Conversion programmes often relocated Native Americans into compact communities where smallpox, measles, and influenza spread with catastrophic efficiency.
Moreover, as colonial rule expanded, mission stations sometimes became centres of economic reliance. Indigenous groups, stripped of their lands and political autonomy, were pushed into systems that increased dependence on colonial administrators and undermined traditional survival strategies.
Long-Term Consequences
By the nineteenth century, Christian ideology was woven deeply into policies of removal and assimilation. In the United States and Canada, Christian-run boarding schools aimed to “kill the Indian in him and save the man”, a policy that inflicted intergenerational trauma and cultural loss.
The cumulative effects of warfare, disease, displacement, and systematic cultural destruction resulted in a staggering decline in Native American populations and the erosion of countless traditions, languages, and belief systems.
In summary, Christianity’s role in the decimation of Native American peoples cannot be isolated from the wider machinery of colonialism. While not all Christians endorsed violence, the institutional forces of the Church—and the theological justifications it provided—offered moral cover for conquest and assimilation. Religion functioned as both a banner and a weapon, used to legitimise dispossession and reshape entire societies.
Understanding this history remains essential today, not only to acknowledge past injustices but also to support ongoing Indigenous efforts toward cultural revitalisation, land rights, and historical truth.
