Religion

Campus Reform Media Director Explains The Irony Of Notre Dame Coming Out Against Columbus

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Campus Reform media director Cabot Phillips said it’s ironic for The University of Notre Dame to come out against Christopher Columbus given his contribution to modern day Catholicism.

“It absolutely does not surprise me. It’s the wrong approach. I think most Americans can understand that history is full of people who were just that. They were people, they were flawed,” Phillips said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.”

The university decided to cover up murals of Columbus on campus Monday as a way of honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

“They did oftentimes horrible things and in this case Christopher Columbus, of course did some reprehensible things but also had an immeasurable impact on mankind. And to ignore that because did he some bad things is counter intuitive,” Philips continued.

“It’s not what history is about. And it’s also ironic to point out that this happened on MLK day, in the name of MLK day. A day when we as Americans look back on the incredible life of a man that changed our country for the better. But also on MLK day we look back on a dark time in our history not to enjoy it, but to learn from it. And to look back on how we can improve as a country.”

Phillips said Columbus received an endorsement from the Pope and was hailed throughout the Catholic church as a hero. He also claimed revisionist history efforts won’t stop with Columbus and predicted that other historical figures will start to be erased.

“Christopher Columbus was a man … who had the endorsement of the pope. This is a catholic university. And Columbus was a guy that for centuries was held up as a hero of the Catholic church because of what he did to spread the religion. Of course again, did bad things but was a hero of the church for centuries. And this is not anything new,” he said.

“We’ve covered at The Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform — How universities at Pepperdine, they removed a statue of Columbus. Countless other universities [are] changing Columbus day and now calling it Indigenous People’s Day. And this goes on to where people are going to start erasing other important figures in our history simply because they did some  horrible things.”

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