Requerimiento

The theme of this reading is submission. The requerimiento was written to be read to the natives of the different lands that conquistadores, Spanish adventurers, would find. The requerimiento was a document that laid out Christian principles along with the pronouncement of the pope and king's authority. If the natives did not accept this document and submit to their authority, then the conquistadores were free to declare war on them.
This document mainly served as a reason to make war with natives. More likely than not, when someone comes into your hometown and requests that you change religions or engage in combat, if you believe in something strongly enough, you will choose a war. The text says that on one hand, the Spanish were "sincerely interested in converting the natives to Christianity...on the other, the conquistadores were trying to justify the immorality of their actions by suggesting that the natives had brought the attack on themselves by refusing to obey the Spanish king." (Levak, p. 255)
I think it is interesting that they are giving the people the choice of either accepting Christianity or (basically) dying. The message of Jesus is love, and He accepted people right where they were at - tax collectors, harlots, and thieves. People seem to miss that a lot. 
Which brings me to my modern day example: the Westboro Baptist church. These people want to convert people. They honestly believe that they are loving people when they picket funerals with hate signs. However, they do not realize how awful this is, and they are leaving people with a terribly bad taste in their mouths...much like I am sure the conquistadores were doing for other Christian Spaniards. 
A new idea it generated was the fact that we are so quick to judge people by their stereotype. I know this is an age-old idea, but it really hit home when I realized that the Christian stereotype is what we see in the media. And who is in the media? The Westboro Baptist church. I do not want people to look down on me because of what those people are doing. I want them to see who Christ really is by how I am loving people where they are at.