The following is a seriously abridged retelling of a chunk of unthinkable American history. And one major reason that I am a former Christian. Nothing new in this monumentally shameful story. My conscience compelled me to publish it. It’s definitely inaccurate in the details especially with regards to timing. Hey – I’m no historian. Even my own yesterdays are escaping me and at an ever increasing rate.

The Good Stuff:

My Christian European ancestors were outstanding and very brave (or rum – drunken) mariners. I have been at sea in a couple of hard storms – but not in a wooden vessel under sail power.

It was quite an adventure to be bending over the ship’s railing, feeding the fish with my stomach contents, while getting bone-chillingly drenched with seawater. By the way, seawater is downright fucking COLD.

Our navigation was done mostly by electronic means. And even more importantly, many others had gone before us. Not so for my European ancestors. So Kudos to them for accomplishing that great feat.

More of what they actually did:

Eventually, they found dry land, disembarked and claimed a miniscule piece of land for living. Land that was already inhabited by human beings. No big deal – we had them outgunned. In most cases, the natives were cautiously gracious, curious, and willing to trade all sorts of knowledge and items valuable for survival in the new world, in exchange for our sparkly but worthless stuff.

All the while we kept coming. More and more and more. Claiming ownership of everything and anything that we wanted. Demand for resources (primo land, water supply) started causing negative human interactions. Neither the human families that were living here “since the memory of man knows no further” or the better armed interloping criminals (European Christians) wanted to relinquish any dominion of these assets.

My clever Christian ancestors foresaw that a “final solution” would be needed. Nazi gas chambers would have been handy about then.

Old World religions, primarily Christianity, prescribed a completely, and deeply undesirable eternal afterlife for persons who committed the upcoming acts needed for the “final solution”.

But W A I T ! That forever punishment only applied if the object was another living human being. SHAZAM!! a workaround to that pesky “burning in hell forever” issue had just been Heaven-sent. We could and would de-humanize the natives, making them into “Savages”! Problem solved.

That does beg the question: Could a Jewish lawyer been a stowaway on a Pilgrim ship?

The dehumanization concept was relievedly and immediately adopted and implemented by my white Christian ancestors – no questions asked.

That cleared the way for: complete destruction of native cultures including religions and ceremonies, languages, even whole communities. Mass murder, torture, slavery, rape, theft of anything including women, food supplies, and real property. And we did every bit of that, many times over! ALL of it!! Why not? The white men were no longer going to burn in Hell forever. And the more the natives fought back the more they were painted as “Savages”.

My European Christian forebears committed unspeakable crimes against humanity which have gone completely unpunished and mostly without the slightest apology. These facts are barely even mentioned anymore in our “good Christian” schools.

In spite of white man’s treachery, Ira Hayes from the Pima tribe was one of the handful of Marines that raised Old Glory on Mount Suribachi, and members of the Navaho tribe were Marine “Code-talkers” that helped defeat the Japanese.

Sometimes my thoughts are of the never to be known stories about the pre Columbian Natives’ lives, families, love, hate, sex, midnight creepin’, squabbles, pets, and freedoms, that my existence now overlays.