Doctrine of Discovery

The Penn Museum will be hosting a screening of Sheldon Wolfchild and Steven Newcomb's new film: 
"The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code." 

The film tells the story of how little known Vatican documents written during the fifteenth century resulted in a tragic global momentum of domination and dehumanization. This led to law systems in the United States and Canada, and elsewhere in the world, that are still being used against Original Indigenous Nations and Peoples to this day. The film concludes with traditional teachings developed over thousands of years that provide a much needed alternative for humans and the ecological systems of Mother Earth at this time. 

This screening will be followed by a discussion and question and answer session.

Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery
Steven Newcomb is the author of the book upon which the documentary is based. The publisher, Fulcrum, describes this book as "a unique, well-researched challenge to U.S. federal Indian law and policy. It attacks the presumption that American Indian nations are legitimately subject to the plenary power of the United States. Steve Newcomb puts forth a startling theory that U.S. federal Indian law and policy are premised on Old Testament narratives of the chosen people and the promised land, as exemplified in the 1823 Supreme Court ruling Johnson v. McIntosh, that the first "Christian people" to "discover" lands inhabited by "natives, who were heathens," have an ultimate title to and dominion over these lands and peoples. This imporant addition to legal scholarship asserts there is no separation of church and state in the United States, so long as U.S. federal Indian law and policy are premised on the ancient religious distinctions between "Christians" and "heathens."

More details coming soon!