SOURCE: Rivera, Luis N. “Rational Creatures or Bruta Animalia?” In A Violent Evangelism: The Political and Religious Conquest of the Americas, pp. 132-53. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992.

In the following essay, which originally appeared in Spanish in 1990, Rivera discusses the debate in Spanish America concerning whether American Indians were best categorized as brutes or humans, either position having important implications for how natives would be governed, whether they would be compelled to work or worship, and what educational opportunities they would have.

[They] are like asses … are beastly in their vices … are not capable of doctrine … are traitors, cruel and vengeful, who never forgive; highly inimical toward religion, lazy, thieves … and of low judgment and spirit; do not keep faith or order … are as cowardly as hares, dirty as pigs; eat lice, spiders, and raw worms … do not have any human artistry or skills … they turn...