Quoted from We Were Not the Savages

The justification for the land grab that would be undertaken by the English and the French in Northeastern North America was primarily the same as that used by all the European powers involved in the invasion of the Americas. Because the Amerindians were not Christian, which made them in the European Christian view "uncivilized," the Europeans deemed that they could not claim to own land. In this regard, European governments all justified their appropriation of Amerindian territories by variations of the philosophy which was articulated by Lescarbot in his explanation of France's right to Acadia in 1618:

"The earth pertaining, then, by divine right to the children of God, there is here no question of applying the law and policy of Nations, by which it would not be permissible to claim the territory of another. This being so, we must possess it and preserve its natural inhabitants, and plant therein with determination the name of Jesus Christ, and of France..."

It boggles the mind when one tries to grapple with the fact that European governments of the day set out to pillage and destroy entire Amerindian civilizations, claiming the barbarism they indulged in was for the cause of God. Surely this was a sign of extraordinary arrogance and of disdain for God Himself.