Many years ago, while working on my masters degree, I began researching a story at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia that I had been told about Rev. Robert Hunt and the beginnings of the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. As the story goes, Rev. Robert Hunt planted a cross at Cape Henry, Virginia and dedicated the land for the glory of God and the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, little did I realize that my findings would lead me to a different conclusion from this Christian myth. In fact, there could be no greater falsehood than what has been written, filmed, and told by Christian story-tellers. Rev. Robert Hunt was an Anglican minister who was solicited by the Virginia Company Of London to assist them in claiming the land, now known as Virginia, under a charter granted from England's newly crowned king King James I. Robert Hunt had only joined this expedition after accusing his wife of adultery and abandoning her and his new born son. So, our nation was neither founded as a Christian endeavor nor was it the mission of the Virginia company to make a covenant with God or bring the Gospel to the shores of America for the purpose of establishing a Christian nation. One only has to read the Charter given by King James I to gain insight to the purpose and mission of this endeavor. But what gave the right of the King to give a charter to anyone in the first place? He didn't own the land. There were over 17 million inhabitants of the land already here. Who gave him permission to just issue a charted to a group of venture capitalist and say," Here, by my authority I grant you real estate in America!" ?
So, Rev. Robert Hunt left England along with Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers, Knightes; Richarde Hackluit, Clarke, Prebendarie of Westminster; and Edwarde Maria Winghfeilde, Thomas Hannam and Raleighe Gilberde, Esquiers; William Parker and George Popham, Gentlemen; and divers others after being given a charter to make habitation, or plantation into that part of America commonly which are not now actually possessed by an Christian prince or people. So, according to the charter itself The King Of England and it's government knew that the land was possessed by inhabitants who did not share their religious views and because they were not Christian believed they had the right to take away their land because they were not Christians. A modern way of thinking about this is to say, because I am a Christian and my neighbors aren't I am entitled to take their land, houses, and property because I'm entitled to it for being a Christian. Where did these notions come from?
Amazingly, The Papal Bull, known as "The Doctrine Of Discovery." issued by Pope Alexander on May 4, 1493 played a central role and provided foundation for the charter issued to The Virginia Company by King James I. This papal decree basically said, "Go to heathen, pagan, and unchristian lands, dispossess the inhabitants and bring them into perpetual slavery." Sounds exactly what the disciples were charged by Jesus to do - right? This "Doctrine Of Discovery became the basis of all European claims in the Americas as well as the foundation for the United States' western expansion that led to the "Trail Of Tears" and the genocide of the indigenous people of the land on the American continent. So, the purpose of the planting of the English Cross at the shores of Cape Henry was to let the Portuguese and Spanish know that this land was being claimed by the English. Rev. Robert Hunt's role was to Christianize the people of the land so that they would become the free slave labor of the plantation owners. When the native populations on the Chespaeake Bay began to fight back, eventually the governor of Virginia said, "Forget the native, bring in the African." This is how slavery in America began!
So the intent of the founding fathers of what is currently The United States was to disposses the land and make it's inhabitants slaves in the name of their king, their European capitalistic ventures, and their church. Land-grabbing and free slave labor was the foundation of a country supposedly that held Christian values. No where can we find any justification for this kind of behavior. The problem with most Christians today is that they do not recognize that all their affluence, opportunities, and positions of power today - were provided to them by the ancestors who stole the land and held people in slavery as a cheap labor force. To make matters worse, our entire legal system is embedded with outdated laws which only reinforce the dehumanization, dispossession, and apartheid system our euro-centric forefathers passed on to us. Now, after many years of ignoring this past, America is at a crossroad. We are in a time of re-defining who we are as a people, fighting for an understanding of what we are called to do, and how do we redress a governmental system built on the principles of land grabbing and slave trading. The importance of how the American church responds will determine how God responds towards us.
We cannot invoke the prayer of II Chronicles 7:14 and ask God to forgive us and heal our land because the land was stolen from the native people. As a nation, our founding fathers never made a national covenant with God, nor were they ever given a promise of a land of opportunity. Only Israel can make that claim. This was not a continent of free land and labor. It was land that was stolen after dispossessing its inhabitants and using Africans and their descendants to cultivate it. The American Church as an institution was used to solidify these racist positions and needs to repent. We were called to "preach" the Gospel - not steal land, dispossess it owners, and create an apartheid system of Indian Reservations or build beltways around inner cities to keep African American's contained in hopeless situations. If we live in a land of opportunity then why are those trapped by the "legal systems of the past" not given the same benefits and opportunities afforded to the descendants of the European "Doctrine Of Discovery"? American Christians need to learn the truth of the our national history. It is not a pretty one either. America is not a Christian nation nor has it ever been. The best thing American Christian's can do today is to get on the right side of history and do the work of Justice. Micah 6:8 says "What does the Lord require of you? To do Justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." America has dirty laundry in the closet! God is exposing these hidden works of darkness so that we can take responsibility for our national sins, get right with God as his people, and come alongside of those who are oppressed and find ways for healing and reconciliation!
