re who s next mormons and jews this is a stretch in fact a great many of the persecuted indians were christian a great many it would be simpler to state the obvious that white people wanted land the indians dominated or threatened i really don t think the government cared a hill of beans about the indians religion my native american girlfriend asks if the government really doesn t care a hill of beans about our religion how come they re still busting us for it in oregon washington and a few other places you d be a christian too if the u s army marched you into church at gunpoint are you saying that the indians who became christians did so because the us army marched them into church at gunpoint this will be news to the indians of the great lakes and upper mississippi basin of the southwest of mexico and south america who converted even before there was such a thing as the us are you saying that indians are incapable of coming to a decision themselves about their religion without being forced to at gunpoint what about the christian cherokees who were given the boot by the us government after the civil war because the cherokee nation gave mild support to the confederacy since they themselves owned black slaves no reducing it all to a matter of religion is to support a much too narrow view of history i ve never heard of a single treaty whether broken by the us government or not were any not that said if you guys convert to christianity you get to keep all the land you claim no treaties were invariably about land it meant ceding indian claims to the government sometimes in return the us government promised the hunter gatherer tribes and plenty of tribes were already farming for centuries but we don t hear about non plains indians in movies food and training in return for taking up a non nomadic existence promises of course which all to often proved empty
