Doctrine of Discovery: A Review of Its Origins and Implications for Congregations in the PC(USA) and Support for Native American Sovereignty

Report to the 223rd General Assembly (2018)

At the 222nd General Assembly in 2016, the Presbyterian Church (USA) adopted recommendations for action on the Doctrine of Discovery. Recommendation 7 of Item 11-24 calls upon the PCUSA to “confess its complicity and repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, and direct the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Office of the General Assembly, in consultation with ACREC [Advisory Committee on Racial Ethnic Concerns], to initiate a process of review of the Doctrine of Discovery.”1 This process includes the preparation of a report that: (1) describes the Doctrine of Discovery and explains its history; (2) makes recommendations of how congregations in the PCUSA can support Native Americans in their ongoing efforts for sovereignty and fundamental human rights; (3) describes how relationships with specific Native American individuals and tribes can be developed; and (4) suggests specific ways in which congregations may recognize, support, and cooperate with Native American individuals, tribes, and nations who reside within their communities. With this action the PCUSA joins other denominations who have taken actions to repudiate the doctrine of discovery