tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post8724219973794724265..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: Public History and the Pueblo Revolt of 1680Paul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-72834029941850296022009-02-14T07:18:00.000-07:002009-02-14T07:18:00.000-07:00Is "religious tolerance" a relevant category for a...Is "religious tolerance" a relevant category for analyzing the Pueblo Revolt itself or how it is presented in a public forum? I have strong doubts.<BR/><BR/>The Pueblo Revolt was a response to Spanish imperialism, a process in which, whatever the intentions of the order or individual friars, the missionaries played a role. It was not a failure on the part of the Pueblo to engage in religious dialogue.<BR/><BR/>Should the Pueblo people have "tolerated" imperialism?<BR/><BR/>Having said that, the issue of "tolerance" might be a worthwhile secondary category, but one more appropriate to apply to the Spanish than the Pueblo ( even there, somewhat anachronistically, I suppose). I don't think you can discuss tolerance, as an empirical issue or a moral-interpretative category, without some attention to power.<BR/><BR/>In this instance, it seems to me, as the invaders, the Spanish had moral obligations (and complicity) that the Pueblo did not. They were invaders suppressing the way of life and freedom, including the religious lives, of the Pueblo.<BR/><BR/>If notions of "just war" have any legitimacy, there was (arguably) moral legitimacy in the Pueblo revolt. As to the question of whether the Franciscans were legitimate targets in such a conflict, again, to the degree that their work as missionaries was tied to the suppression of Pueblo, it seems to me that they were.<BR/><BR/>Does that exonerate all Pueblo actions in the revolt? Of course not. But, from the viewpoint of power, and the question of the relative moral positions of the invader versus the victim of invasion, it makes a significant difference.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15979639457587707546noreply@blogger.com