Doctrine of Discovery Screening

After our worship service on Sunday, September 14, we will be screening the powerful documentary The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code, directed by Dakota filmmaker Sheldon Wolfchild, produced by Steven Newcomb (Pawnee), and narrated by Buffy Sainte-Marie. This film explores the historical foundations of the political and legal system of the United States and other modern nations in papal proclamations issued in 1452 and 1493. These proclamations insisted that Christians had the right to conquer non-Christian lands they “found” in the Azores, Africa, the New World, and elsewhere, and to subjugate (enslave or kill) their non-Christian inhabitants. Although the Doctrine of Discovery was formally renounced by the Vatican in 2023, the concept continues to shape legal systems in many parts of the world, including the United States, where standing Supreme Court findings still cite it. The documentary leads us to examine the relationship between this church history, with its resulting devaluation of the humanity of non-European and indigenous peoples, and current struggles with DEI and race.