On co-opting religion, banknotes’ slogan “in God, we trust” shows a preference for a particular ideology edging out others. Why not in Mary we trust? Or in the Holy Spirit, we trust? Or even in Jesus, we trust. In July 1955, Ike, President from 1953 to 1961, signed House Bill H.R. 619, requiring the inscription “In God We Trust” to appear on all paper and coin currency.
The capture of Tenochtitlan marked the beginning of Mexico’s 300-year colonial period. “New Spain,” ruled by a viceroy in the name of the Spanish monarch.
How did the Spanish affect Mexico during colonial times?
“one of the worst in the history of humanity.”
The “encomienda” was a Spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with the labor of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the laborers were to be provided benefits by the conquerors for whom they labored, including military protection and education. However, estimates show the native population imploding from 25.2 million in 1519 to 6.3 million by 1545, 2.5 in 1570, and bottoming out at 1.2 million in 1620.
In Dolores Guanajuato, Mexico, on September 16, 1810, Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (57) used a standard of the Virgin of Guadalupe to spark the eleven-year Mexican independence war.
These first insurgents fell within months. Spanish firing squads shot and decapitated the bodies of Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, and José Mariano Jiménez. On October 14, 1811, The Royalist Spanish military hung the four heads in cages at the street corners of the Grain Exchange, known as La Alhóndiga de Granaditas, to discourage other independence movements. The heads, like crucifixes, remained hanging for ten years until, in 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain. The victors transported the relics to Mexico City and, in 1910 set them to rest under el Ángel de la Independencia on Paseo de la Reforma.
Historians have claimed Pope Leo XIII excommunicated Hidalgo in retaliation for calling for independence from Spain, a Catholic kingdom, but documents show it was for violence against other priests. However, in 2010, Roman Catholic investigators announced that the hero Miguel Hidalgo confessed his sins shortly before being shot by the Spanish firing squad, annulling Leo XIII’s excommunication of priest and independence hero Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.
Religious practices, traditions, and customs are not meaningless but contribute to social cohesion. According to the definition, social cohesion is a state of cohering or uniting people together. Religion allows people to share common values, create a sense of unity, and foster a feeling of community. Through worship, people reaffirm and reinforce the bonds that keep them together. The communal practice of prayer in a house of worship brings people together and allows them to interact and communicate on a deeper level. In this way, ritual helps reinforce social unity and stability. This function of religion was one of Émile Durkheim’s most important insights. Durkheim believed that society exerted a powerful force on individuals. According to Durkheim, people’s norms, beliefs, and values make up a collective consciousness or a shared way of understanding and behaving in the world. The collective consciousness binds individuals together and creates social integration.
Religion unified ancient civilizations—a system of beliefs and behaviors that dealt with the meaning of existence. As more and more people shared the same concepts and practices, people who did not know each other could find common ground and build mutual trust and respect. Organized religious and labor union rituals provide spiritual, social, psychological, and material support for individuals and families. Belief in “ultimate mutual consequences for behavior” helped people make sense of their lives and roles in their households and communities.
WE&P by: EZorrillaM
During the 16th century, Mexico suffered a demographic catastrophe with few parallels in world’s history. In 1519, the year of the arrival of the Spaniards, the population in Mexico was estimated to be between 15 and 30 million inhabitants. Eighty-one years later, in 1600, only two million remained.
Using an estimate of approximately 37 million people in Mexico, Central and South America in 1492 (including 6 million in the Aztec Empire, 5–10 million in the Mayan States, 11 million in what is now Brazil, and 12 million in the Inca Empire),
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