Ethnicities Abused in the Name of Christianity: A Global Reckoning
Christianity is a faith embraced by billions for its messages of love, grace, and redemption. But across centuries, it has also been wielded as a tool of conquest, cultural erasure, and oppression. Behind many stained-glass windows lies a legacy of forced conversions, burned languages, destroyed traditions, and brutal colonization.
This post is not about attacking faith, but about facing the historical misuse of religion in order to restore dignity, truth, and healing.
🌎 1. Indigenous Peoples — “Convert or Perish”
From the Americas to Australia, Indigenous peoples were subjected to Christian missions backed by state violence. Colonizers justified dispossession and genocide as acts of “salvation.”
🇺🇸 Native Americans – Forced into boarding schools where “Christianization” meant beatings for speaking native tongues.
🇨🇦 First Nations, Inuit, Métis – Stripped of family, land, and identity by Christian-run residential schools.
🇲🇽 Indigenous Mexicans – Aztec temples razed, replaced with cathedrals by Spanish conquistadors.
🇧🇷 Amazonian tribes – Pressured by missionaries in tandem with economic exploitation.
🇦🇺 Aboriginal Australians – Children stolen from families under “Christian assimilation” laws.
🇳🇿 Māori (New Zealand) – Christianity mixed with land theft through the Treaty of Waitangi’s misuse.
📝 Christianity came not just with the Bible—but with shackles and bulldozers.
🌍 2. African Peoples — Gospel Under the Gun
Christianity followed European colonialism across Africa, often backed by violence, racial hierarchy, and slavery.
🇳🇬 Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa (Nigeria) – Missionaries undermined indigenous religions and deemed traditional worship “satanic.”
🇨🇩 Kongo, Luba, Mongo (DR Congo) – King Leopold’s Belgian regime paired brutal extraction with forced Catholic indoctrination.
🇿🇦 Zulu, Xhosa (South Africa) – Churches often aligned with apartheid policy, labeling resistance as “ungodly.”
🇳🇦 Herero & Nama (Namibia) – German colonizers committed genocide while invoking Christian “duty.”
🇪🇹 Ethiopians – Ironically persecuted despite being one of the world’s oldest Christian civilizations.
📝 The faith used to “save” was also used to enslave.
🌏 3. Asian Peoples — Baptism by Empire
In Asia, Christianity arrived via colonial ships, often linked to military invasions and cultural erasure.
🇵🇭 Filipinos – The Spanish conquest used Catholic missions to dismantle native spirituality.
🇯🇵 Japanese Christians – Early converts were massacred under Shogunate suspicion; survivors became Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians).
🇨🇳 Han & minorities – Christianity faced both adoption and violent resistance; missionaries were often seen as foreign invaders.
🇰🇷 Korean converts – Christianity arrived via foreign missionaries during a period of upheaval, influencing politics and modern development.
📝 Spiritual conversion was too often a byproduct of imperial conquest.
🕌 4. Middle East & North Africa — From Birthplace to Battlefield
Ironically, Christianity’s homeland became one of its most contested battlegrounds.
🇮🇱 Jews – Across Christian Europe, Jews faced forced conversions, Crusades, ghettos, and the Inquisition.
🇪🇬 🇲🇦 🇩🇿 Muslims & Berbers (North Africa) – Indigenous practices were displaced during colonization by Christian France, Italy, and Spain.
🇸🇾 🇱🇧 🇵🇸 Christians in the Middle East – Faced persecution from both colonial regimes and extremist backlash.
📝 The region that birthed Christianity has been repeatedly crucified in its name.
🧭 5. European Ethnic Minorities — The First Victims?
Even Europe’s own ethnic and tribal groups were forcibly Christianized in early centuries.
🇳🇴 Norse (Vikings) – Their gods were replaced by Christ through war and cultural mandates.
🇮🇪 Celts (Ireland) – Druidic beliefs and festivals were overwritten by Christian observances.
🇱🇻 🇱🇹 🇪🇪 Balts (Baltic states) – Pagan tribes fell to Christian crusades under the Teutonic Knights.
🇷🇺 Slavs (Russia, Ukraine) – Converted under imperial expansion and suppression of older faiths.
🇷🇴 Roma (Romani people) – Continuously marginalized, with Christian churches often complicit in their persecution.
🇸🇪 Sami (Scandinavia) – Indigenous spiritual practices were outlawed by Christian monarchs.
📝 Christianization often required a sword—not a sermon.
🌴 6. Latin America & the Caribbean — Faith Over Freedom
From Tenochtitlán to the Andes, colonial empires used Christianity to destroy indigenous civilizations and rewrite history.
🇲🇽 Aztecs, Maya – Ancient temples destroyed, knowledge systems banned.
🇵🇪 Inca – Religious leaders executed, forced to convert at gunpoint.
🇧🇷 Tupi, Guarani – Colonized by Portugal, missions were tied to enslavement.
🇭🇹 🇯🇲 Afro-Caribbeans – Enslaved Africans were baptized into a religion used to justify their bondage.
🇨🇺 Enslaved Cubans – Christianity and Santería blended under oppression.
📝 The cross replaced the codex—and altars replaced observatories.
⛓️ 7. African Diaspora — Slavery’s Spiritual Weapon
The Atlantic slave trade was not just economic—it was justified morally through Christian doctrine.
🇳🇬 🇬🇭 🇦🇴 🇸🇳 West Africa – Source of millions of enslaved people forcibly baptized before boarding slave ships.
🇺🇸 African Americans – Slavery in the U.S. was defended by Christian preachers quoting scripture.
🇧🇷 Brazil – The largest enslaved African population; missionaries helped legitimize racial caste systems.
🇭🇹 Haitians – Reclaimed Christianity by fusing it with Vodou and leading the only successful slave revolt in history.
📝 The Bible was given. The land was taken. And the chains remained.
⚖️ 8. Nuance Matters – Christianity as Resistance Too
To be clear: Not all Christians were colonizers or oppressors. The same faith used to justify empire was also used to resist it.
✊ Liberation Theologians
Priests and nuns who sided with Indigenous and poor communities across Latin America.
✊ Abolitionists
Quakers, Methodists, and Black clergy who fought slavery.
✊ Civil Rights Leaders
🇺🇸 Martin Luther King Jr.
🇿🇦 Desmond Tutu
✊ Indigenous Christians
🇨🇦 First Nations elders, decolonizing faith within their communities.
🇧🇷 Afro-Brazilian churches preserving dignity in worship.
📝 Faith doesn’t oppress people. Empires do.
🔍 9. Final Reflection: Truth Over Comfort
Christianity, like all religions, holds the power to liberate or dominate. This history is not written to shame—but to illuminate.
Understanding the misuse of Christianity helps us build a more compassionate and honest future, where faith is not a weapon, but a wellspring of justice.
“History is not hate. It is the beginning of healing.”
📚 Recommended Reading & Resources:
“God’s Will and the Indian Removal” by Grant Foreman
“The Cross and the Lynching Tree” by James Cone
“Christian Missions and Colonial Empires” by C. Peter Williams
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports (Canada, South Africa)