Evangelism and Foreign Policy

On this day, December 9, in 1822, President James Monroe sent the following message

To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 22d of February last, "requesting the President of the United States to cause to be collected and communicated to the Senate at the commencement of the next session of Congress the best information which he may be able to obtain relative to certain Christian Indians and the lands intended for their benefit on the Muskingum, in the State of Ohio, granted under an act of Congress of June 1, 1796, to the Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, showing as correctly as possible the advance or decline of said Indians in numbers, morals, and intellectual endowments; whether the lands have inured to their sole benefit, and, if not, to whom, in whole or in part, have such benefits accrued," I transmit a report from the Secretary of War with the accompanying documents.
JAMES MONROE.

One can learn more about this act at the Library of Congress:

An ordinance of Congress of Sept. 3, 1788, set apart three tracts of 4,000 acres each at Shoenbrun, Gnadenhutten, and Salem, on Muskingum river, for the Society of United Brethren, to be used in propagating the gospel among the heathen. By act of Congress approved June 1, 1796, provision was made for surveying and patenting these tracts to the society in question, in trust for the benefit of the Christian Indians.

Justice Rehnquist, dissenting in Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 103-104 (1985), wrote:

As the United States moved from the 18th into the 19th century, Congress appropriated time and again public moneys in support of sectarian Indian education carried on by religious organizations. Typical of these was Jefferson's treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians, which provided annual cash support for the Tribe's Roman Catholic priest and church. It was not until 1897, when aid to sectarian education [472 U.S. 38, 104] for Indians had reached $500,000 annually, that Congress decided thereafter to cease appropriating money for education in sectarian schools. See Act of June 7, 1897, 30 Stat. 62, 79; cf. Quick Bear v. Leupp, 210 U.S. 50, 77-79 (1908); J. O'Neill, Religion and Education Under the Constitution 118-119 (1949). See generally R. Cord, Separation of Church and State 61-82 (1982). This history shows the fallacy of the notion found in Everson that "no tax in any amount" may be levied for religious activities in any form. 330 U.S., at 15-16.

I oppose all "faith-based initiatives." Congress should not tax people to send missionaries.

However, I support the Christian worldview evident here.

The Indians were often terrorists. Instead of bombing them "back to the stone age," the U.S. Federal Government felt their terrorist activities should be replaced by Christian civilization.

The current anti-Christian regime in Washington D.C. has dedicated $3 trillion to replace a secular/pagan regime in Iraq (which allowed freedom for Christians to propagate the Gospel) with an Islamic theocracy under Sharia Law (where Christian churches are burned with impunity).

A true leader in a Christian nation would inspire voluntary contributions to missionary efforts to civilize the Muslim world, teaching Christianity and capitalism and forging bonds of commerce. Not only does our government prohibit commerce with nations which need to be evangelized, like Cuba, it goes well beyond this isolationism to engage in un-Christian acts of war.

Iraq should have been a mission field, not a battle ground.