GOODBYE, COLUMBUS

To fully understand the deep roots of the toxic blend of ethno-religious identity politics known today as white Christian nationalism, we need to go back at least to 1493not the year Christopher Columbus "sailed the ocean blue," but the year he returned to a hero's welcome in Spain, bringing with him gold, brightly colored parrots, and nearly a dozen captive Indigenous people.

- ROBERT P. JONES

The return of Columbus also precipitated one of the most fateful theological developments in the history of the western Christian church: the creation of what has come to be known as the Doctrine of Discovery. Established in a series of 15th-century papal bulls, the doctrine claims that European civilization and western Christianity are superior to all other cultures, races, and religions.

The Doctrine of Discovery merged the interests of European imperialism, including the African slave trade, with Christian missionary zeal. While the doctrine has escaped scrutiny by most white scholars and theologians, Indigenous people and scholars of color have long been testifying to these Christian roots of white supremacy, while dying from and living with their damaging effects.