Ambivalent in Religion/Conquest

In my reading, I would infer that there is ambivalence on both sides, the Spaniards and the native Indians. There was much more ambivalence on the side of the Spaniards because they had more control in the situation and could dictate more of what would be involved with the conquest and then the inquisition. What we read form the passage regarding the twelve priests we know that the Indians had a ambivalence to a new religion and to new inhabitants to their land in regards to the Spanish, they were not sure who to follow and what to do, and what would be the consequences of those actions. We know later that the inquisition would prove the Spanish to be ruthless in their treatment of their newly conquered Indians. By way of the Spanish we see them invested in changing the religious mentalities of the Indians, but to what extent? There is a quote in the book that states “the Yucatan friars showed little enthusiasm for teaching their charges Spanish, for knowledge of Spanish would open the way to corrupting influences by challenging their own role as mediators between Spaniard and Indian” (p.52). This proved that the Spanish were fearful as to how much authority or individuality they were to give the natives for fear of losing the presence of control in the region.

With regards to the inquisition, the Indians became caught in the middle of a fight that had been extended from Europe, the Indians had now blended a religion of their own from what was already known and what was being taught to them by the Spanish. The Spanish would rebel against this and us the inquisition as a excuse the massacre Indians.