In acknowledgement of Indigenous People’s Day on Oct. 12, we offer the final blog of a three-part series. Mennonite Mission Network participants outline some action steps based on what they learned during
Mother Earth’s Pandemic: The Doctrine of Discovery,
an online conference.
Read the first blog here and the
second blog here.
As women who have committed our lives to following Jesus Christ, we desire to refute the
Doctrine of Christian Discovery as a twisted biblical interpretation that is motivated by greed and lust for power. Some of our ancestors moved onto Indigenous lands after forced removals by the U.S. government. How do we start walking upstream against the current of the long history of our Mennonite denomination’s blind cooperation with the U.S. government?
Learn. By listening to narratives from cultures whose voices have been suppressed, we can gain a broader and truer perspective.
- Listen to presentations from
Mother Earth’s Pandemic: The Doctrine of Discovery available
here. - In
Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery, Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah shed light on how a dysfunctional theology led to an unholy blending of church and state. The result is lying, greed, theft of land, and genocide that results in trauma to Indigenous Peoples, the descendants of enslaved Africans, and White people. Charles and Rah also point the way toward healing. - Anabaptist Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition’s website offers educational resources.
- Read books by Indigenous authors, like
Braiding Sweetgrass and
Pagans in the Promised Land. - Participate in a pilgrimage such as, the
Trail of Death to gain a perspective of the encounters between Indigenous Peoples and White settler colonialism that aren’t covered in most history books.
Acknowledge the truth. Many Mennonite congregations are writing
land acknowledgments, recognizing the people who lived where they now worship, as a starting point for moving toward justice and right relationships with Indigenous brothers and sisters.
Lament. "Our only path to healing is through lament and learning how to accept some very unsettling truths," write the authors of
Unsettling Truths.
- Charles and Rah introduce the concept of White trauma. "White America could not perpetrate five hundred years of dehumanizing injustice without traumatizing itself…we are called to an equality in our mutual brokenness and trauma…Institutions established by [White people] are so ashamed of their own past that they are unable to even publish accurate history."
- Lament resources compiled by Mennonite Church USA.
Connect with the earth and the global community.
In her presentation at the Mother Earth Pandemic conference, Tina Nagata from Te Ika a Maui (New Zealand) said that her ancestors were ocean people, living in harmony with water. "Before there was land, there was water," Nagata said. "Our bodies are made of 60 percent water." She explained that water is intended to be a connector that gives life. People travel from one community to another via water. However, the Doctrine of Christian Discovery has made rivers and oceans into boundary lines that divide people. "Water loves us," Nagata said. "She is waiting for enough of us to recognize her, so we can connect around the world."
Do justice. In James 1:22-24, the Bible tells us to not just hear the truth, but to act on what we hear. "…whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God… and sticks with it, … that person will find delight and affirmation in the action."
- Join a
coalition of Anabaptist people of faith working to dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. - Consider
the theology of land reparation and its
implementation. - Speak out against
unjust laws and practices. - Practice
creation care.
Haudenosaunee tradition factors the cost to our planet for the next seven generations into decision-making. - Play
new games. - Watch a movie about
Iroquois Nations Lacrosse Team and listen to a podcast about the
2022 World Games.
