Afriyie Assamany 

 LS 196 Homework Paper 

Section 32 

Bartolome de las Casas: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies

What God is this?

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers both championed the Humanistic perspective of psychology. The basic idea of this view is that human nature is inherently good. This is in conflict with Freud's psychoanalysis view that human nature is so negative that there seems to be no hope for man's future, according to him. In 'Account', by Bartolome de las Casas, Freud's view on human nature wins hands down- with the subjects analyzed being the Spanish conquistadors.

In the account of the death of Hatuey- a tribal leader from Hispaniola, a Franciscan friar present had wished him to accept the Christian faith in order to be saved, and briefed him on the system of heaven and hell. Since all that these indigenous people had witnessed of the so-called Christians was plain brutalism, Hatuey was not keen on buying the fact that he would go to heaven- or he plain wished not to. For all he knew, he would have been the only one there. He declined on the grounds that he would prefer to go to hell in order not to face the 'cruel brutes', who 'certainly' as he must have thought at the time, were heaven-bound.

Does his refusal to accept the faith destine Hatuey for hell? Not necessarily, for according to the book of Romans in the bible, "Indeed, when gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required of the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness…"(Romans 2:14,15) In other words, even people who have never heard the word of God are not doomed to hell, certain conditions withstanding however. This is prone to argument.

Under the circumstances surrounding Hatuey's end, it can be said that he was not presented with the gospel in the best possible way, and he was right in declining the faith then. Only God knows where to place him in His wisdom. For all one knows, Hatuey may well be in Heaven, declining to throw down a drop of water down in hell to any of the numerous souls of those who destroyed the lives and livelihood of him and his people.