Peter d'Errico Speaks at Parliament of the World's Religions (video)

'Christian discovery' and the legal entrapment of Indigenous Peoples

On August 17, 2023, I spoke by video to the Parliament of the World’s Religions meeting in Chicago, as part of a panel with Steve Newcomb, Steve Schwartzberg, and Shawna Bluestar.

The Parliament theme was: “A Call To Conscience of the World's Religions: Defending Freedom & Human Rights”.

We were contraries…. Our panel was titled: “Christianity and the Inadequacy of ‘Freedom and Human Rights’”.

Here is a 20-minute video of my presentation, posted on Vimeo.

The video was created by JoDe Goudy on the Redthought.org platform.

We explored the relationship of the doctrine of Christian discovery to the legal entrapment of Indigenous Peoples, including the role of Christian concepts in the 1830’s debates in the United States Congress over what would come to be known as the “Trail of Tears”:

• Christian concepts, even at their best, have failed Indigenous Peoples in their struggles to maintain their original, free, and independent existence.

• At their worst, Christian concepts contributed directly to genocide.