Religions That Shaped America

 

When Europeans invaded the Americas, religion was weaponized as both justification and method for conquest. Under the banner of Christianity, explorers, conquistadors, and colonizers declared the lands "discovered" and their inhabitants heathens in need of salvation. The Doctrine of Discovery, backed by papal bulls, gave European powers the so-called divine right to claim lands occupied by non-Christians, paving the way for genocide, land theft, and forced conversions. Indigenous spiritual systems—many of which paralleled ancient Moorish cosmology—were demonized and outlawed. Missionary schools and churches became tools of cultural erasure, aiming to replace traditional ways of life with European Christian norms. In truth, religion did not merely influence early U.S. society—it was foundational in constructing the very systems of law, land ownership, and identity that justified the dispossession and dehumanization of the original peoples of the land.