I was reading a post on Facebook recently about a Native American tribe called the Panare, and the deceptive way in which Christian missionaries converted them. Is there any truth to this?

by CarlosWeiner

Here is the photo in question.

This is the comment attached to the photo.

Christian missionaries, unable to convince the Panare Indians of the Colorado valley to accept faith in Jesus Christ took to compiling books for the natives to read in their mother tongue, this was accomplished during 1975 and 1976. The compiling of the books presented certain linguistic problems, solved in the end in a very cunning fashion. The problems arose because there are no equivalents in Panare for many words held as basic to the concept of the Christian religion. There are none, for example, for sin, guilt, punishment and redemption.

Since Panare tribe lived as an isolated society in the forests for thousands of years, it is impossible to have famines, plagues were unrecorded and the wars that shaped our history were reduced to a ceremonial skirmish. The biblical dramas, therefore, were hardly more than shadow plays.

It was soon realized, however, that before the Indians could be made to accept repentance and salvation - both equally obscure concepts to the Panare - one had to give them something to feel guilty about. The missionaries came up with an ingenious, yet underhand, solution - translate and re-edit the New Testament in such a way so as to implicate the Panare Indians in Jesus' death! Gone from the Bible were Judas's betrayal, the Romans, the trial, and Pontius Pilate. The text now read at the appropriate places:

  1. The Panare killed Jesus Christ because they were wicked.
  2. Let's kill Jesus Christ, said the Panare.
  3. The Panare seized Jesus Christ.
  4. The Panare killed in this way.
  5. The laid a cross on the ground.
  6. They fastened his hands and his feet against the wooden beams, with nails.
  7. They raised him straight up, nailed.
  8. The man died like that, nailed.
  9. Thus the Panare killed Jesus Christ.

Once THE STORY HAD BEEN CHANGED to make the Panare people feel GUILT and SHAME; then they were converted to Christianity and lost their culture, land, God, etc. Sound a lil familiar? More importantly tho - if the White man would completely rewrite and rearrange the Bible JUST TO DECEIVE a single tribe of "Indians" - what are the chances they didn't do it for Africans; Who have been a European bread basket for 600 years??!

If this is true, it's an incredibly fascinating story about linguistics and religious indoctrination. But I can find zero info about any Native American people called the Panare, only a remote Amazonian tribe. So it sorta reeks of bullshit.

Romiress

This is the biggest load of bollocks I've ever seen. Even the dating sounds goddamn bizarre. There are supposedly 'Panare Indians' in the 'Colorado Valley' that lived in the 'forests' for thousands of years, but had never experienced plague, famine, or war?

The Panare natives are from Venezuela. There's no 'Colorado Valley' in Venezuela, and the only 'Colorado Valley' is Grand Valley in Colorado.

The idea of there being an entire tribe of native americans living in the Grand Valley in Colorado who were just completely unbothered by the last few hundred years is downright impossible.

If there's even a nugget of truth to it, it's been buried under a wave of nonsense and misinformation. This is /r/forwardsfromgrandma territory.

Reedstilt

While the version you quoted definitely employs the Noble Savage Fallacy rather egregiously and exaggerates other aspects of the incident, it is talking about an even that appears to have happened. This volume of Survival International* Review, published in 1982, alludes to it - though its brief article is primarily concerned with how the New Tribes Missions' Gospel tract impacts the Panare perception of the military. Anthropologist Henry Corradini found the missionary tract (not a formal translations of the Bible) among the Panare and brought it to the attention of Survival International. In the passages quoted, it does portray the Panare as having been participants in the crucifixion, merging them with the Romans: "There were many Panare / There were also many guards" and later "Why don't you take out those nails / Asked the Panare / Why don't you come down from the cross? / They asked, mocking Jesus."

A few points go beyond mere exaggeration and are just plain false. Judas, for example, does appear in the version of the tract cited by Survival International, and as mentioned these are missionary tracts rather than actual Bible translations.

*An indigenous rights' group.