IRB Media Summary of Mark Charles & Soong-Chan Rah's Unsettling Truths

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 You cannot discover lands already inhabited. That process is known as stealing, conquering, or colonizing. The fact that America celebrates Columbus Day reveals the implicit racial bias of the country: Native Americans are not fully human.#2 The Doctrine of Discovery is a set of legal principles that governed the European colonizing powers, particularly regarding the administration of indigenous land. It is the primary legal precedent that still controls native affairs and rights.#3 The Doctrine of Discovery, which was approved by the papal bull Romanus Pontifex, allowed European Catholic nations to expand their dominion over non-Christian land. The church believed that what benefited the European colonial powers would benefit the church.#4 The first slaves from Africa were taken into slavery in 1441 by Portuguese explorers who brought twelve slaves back to Portugal. The timing of these papal bulls corresponded with the emboldening of the Portuguese to expand their initial action of subjugation.