 Moving on, we come to the last of our four issues—i.e., scope. In Grotius’ day, this issue was made urgent by European encounters with indigenous peoples in the Americas and elsewhere (for discussion, see Tierney 1997: Chapter XI). Some theorists tried to place epistemic or doxastic restrictions on the scope of the laws, arguing that they enjoined and protected only those who held certain beliefs. Since the beliefs which determined the applicability of the laws were usually religious in nature, it was commonly argued that natural laws were pertinent only to Christians and did not cover non-Christians. Given that natural laws form the basis for morality, then since they do not cover non-Christians, it follows that Christians were under no obligations to treat non-Christians morally. Like many others, Grotius strongly disagreed with such arguments. For him, natural laws apply to all rational and social beings as such. It doesn’t matter what they think or believe; if they are rational and social, they are bound by the law of nature (see, e.g., DIB II.20.44).