Quakers Renounce Doctrine

The Quakers join the Episcopalians in renouncing the Doctrine of Discovery, the 16th century principle of international law that sanctioned genocide of indigenous peoples. As the legal tool that justified European colonialism, the doctrine underlies present day state boundaries, as well as most claims and counterclaims to land and resources in much of the world.

In essence, it was the precursor to state terrorism and free markets, uniting corporations and governments in unbridled theft worldwide. Only in the last half century, under the rubric of the UN human rights regime, has this divine notion of Christian white supremacy begun to lose ground.

Ramifications of the doctrine still reverberate in instruments like Free Trade, carbon markets, and patents that expropriate indigenous intellectual property.