Arguments over Genocide

"""This compelling study unravels how nearly two centuries ago, the Supreme Court developed doctrines of Christian discovery that superseded the laws of the time, including existing American law, and laid the foundation for genocidal crimes and what is now considered the legal basis for administering the Indigenous peoples who remain."" - Noam Chomsky ""I am surprised as I write this: the most compelling new work of theology I have read in years is embedded in a historian's exploration of 19th century legal debates. Worthy of its alarming title, Arguments Over Genocide is an urgent book that every clergyperson and seminarian should read. In it, Schwartzberg grabs hold of Christian arguments for genocide and drawing from 19th century counter arguments, beautifully refutes them, on Christian terms. In so doing, he indicts every American Christian, pulls Christian thought out of its pious cul-de-sac, suggests a new way to write history, and places the Christian origins of the genocide of Native Americans under the withering light of truth. The remarkable thing is that his argument is on fire with hope. Such hope does not come cheaply. Centuries of violence against Native Americans can be traced directly to Christian convictions. Schwartzberg shows that Christian legal arguments for genocide have never lost the ascendancy they gained in the 1830s, and continue to kill today. Are there 'sufficient intellectual and moral resources within the Christian tradition to do successful battle with its capacity to believe that one is being benevolent while committing genocide?' The story Schwartzberg has unearthed throws this question down with force. It cannot be ignored. The integrity of American Christianity rides on the answer. More importantly, so do human lives."" - Matt Fitzgerald, Senior Pastor, St. Pauls, United Church of Christ, Chicago. ""The unique contribution of Arguments Over Genocide is its interweaving of spiritual and constitutional discourses to help us see the deep dynamic of the debate over 'Indian Removal'. Removal was about land, no doubt; but it was also about a claimed 'right of domination' of Christians over 'heathens and pagans'. On one side, it was a brutal brew of racism and religion in service of economic 'development' (read, imperial expansion). On the other side, it was a blend of pity and religion in aid of a campaign for co-existence of peoples. Schwartzberg demonstrates that these competing perspectives fought within the frameworks of the US Constitution and the Christian religion. For their most virulent enemies, the goal was 'removal' of Indigenous peoples from the 'path of civilization, ' whether accomplished by extermination or wagons. For their most sympathetic friends, the goal was 'civilization' of Indigenous peoples, accomplished in situ with the aid of missionaries. Both sides of the debate claimed Christian right; both claimed Constitutional authority."" - Peter d'Errico, Professor Emeritus of Legal Studies, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, from the Afterword. ""This is a bracing, learned, and eloquent study of words and actions that mattered -- that still matter -- and the relationship between them. I learned much. Steven Schwartzberg has taken the trouble to be scholastically, morally, and politically rigorous, and he has produced a book that will have lasting value."" - David Waldstreicher, Professor of History, The Graduate Center, City University of New York"