(Part 11 is here.)
The scriptures of the Abrahamic religions were completely unaware of the history of the New World until believers had already settled there in large numbers, and this gap in supposedly divinely revealed knowledge was evidently so bothersome that numerous religious movements sprang up just to explain it. The most successful of these, the Latter Day Saints (popularly called the Mormons), incorporated Native Americans into the Biblical family tree with a new set of scriptures. But in doing so, the new religion also crystallised into doctrine certain aspects of the cultural landscape of 19th century America which are already antiquated, such as the belief in the inferiority of people with non-white skin… » [Expand post] [Permalink]
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