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As a kid, I loved the idea of the Indians and the Pilgrims having a happy feast together. In my liberal family and small congregation the generosity of the Indian people, and the fact that the starving Pilgrims wouldn’t have survived without them, was a beautiful story with the Indians squarely in the role of heroes. (Go, Squanto!)

I always imagined the Indians during that first Thanksgiving as secure and happy, with plenty to share, as if the genocide which would later pretty much destroy their cultures hadn’t yet begun and the honeymoon was still on.

But here’s something I didn’t know as a kid: In 1452, through a papal decree, Pope Nicholas V declared war against all non-Christians throughout the world, and specifically sanctioned and promoted the conquest, colonization, and exploitation of non-Christian nations and their territories.

Pope Nicholas directed King Alfonso of Portugal to “capture, vanquish, and subdue the … pagans, and other enemies of Christ,” to “put them into perpetual slavery,” and “to take all their possessions and property.”

So when Columbus sailed west in 1492, he was authorized to “take possession” of any lands he “discovered” that were “not under the dominion of any Christian rulers.” There was no honeymoon for those he “discovered.”

I always thought that language about Columbus “discovering” America was just hideously inaccurate. I didn’t know that the word “discovery” was shorthand for saying that Columbus was a general in the religious war on non-Christian people.

Now, the Pilgrims weren’t Catholic, and well over a hundred and fifty years had passed between the decree of Pope Nicholas V and the famous landing at Plymouth Rock. The Pope’s “Doctrine of Christian Discovery” would not matter to me any more than any other papal edict, except that it is also the law of the United States. In 1823 the US Supreme Court used it as justification to strip indigenous people of land and rights, and it is still the basis used by courts today in order to take away Native people’s mineral and water rights, and to violate existing treaties. It’s usually shortened to the “Doctrine of Discovery,” but it’s all about Manifest Destiny and the Christians’ rights to dominate the rest of the world.

I don’t know about you, but I am outraged that blatant religious discrimination is still legally used to oppress indigenous people in this country which celebrates religious freedom. Unitarian Universalists have now and have always had religious freedom as one of our most central tenets. So I feel specifically called as a Unitarian Universalist to demand that the US government quit using a papal edict as a valid source of legal decisions. We are not a Christian nation!

I’ll be working with other Unitarian Universalists to inform more people about this, imagining how we might most meaningfully let our voices be heard.

If you’re not from the US, you can still get involved—this doctrine has been challenged in the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

In this season of Pilgrim hats and Indian headdresses, I just had to say that. You might wonder: how do I manage the Thanksgiving season, when my heart is filled with outrage and grief as well as gratitude for all of the bounty which life has heaped upon me? Same as I manage the rest of the year: imperfectly and awkwardly. As E.B. White says, it makes it “hard to plan the day” when you are torn between the desire to savor the world and the desire to save it.

My own savoring is greatly enhanced when I feel that I am standing on solid ground with other people who share my values, rather than constantly fighting for balance in the quicksand that comes from half truths and denial. That’s why I’ve cast my lot with our quirky bunch. We may not always be the most fun at a party, and this column may not be what you want to read when you are in need of pastoral support, but we do know that our faith means nothing if we don’t live it out.

In the midst of that living, there are still untold ways to find and express gratitude. For instance, here is a poem by our member Nancy Andrews of Golden, Colorado:

In Gratitude
Not for Grantedhow simple this step—each step
my foot on the ground
placed fully down
feeling the earth’s distribution
ratio of weight…
my identity
this ancient relationship
no echo—no drama—no fanfare
such privilege
supremely quiet

As always, I remain grateful to be in this community with you.

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Rev. Meg Riley

Senior Minister at Church of the Larger Fellowship

Meg has been a Unitarian Universalist minister for more than twenty years. As a UU kid in West Virginia, she quickly learned to enjoy being "different," which has served her well in a "different" life. Meg lives in Minneapolis, where she enjoys walking by lakes, gardening, reading and writing. She also lives online, where she enjoys hanging out, keeping up with people, and playing the occasional game of Scrabble. She is the parent of a teenager, and the companion of a number of four legged friends.

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