According to Wynter, the treatment of ‘pagan polytheistic peoples’ as ‘idolators’ by Columbus was traceable to the Judeo-Christian perception of the world’s population being divided into: 1. Christians (who had heard and accepted the new Word of the gospel), 2. infidels like the Muslims and Jews, who, although they were monotheists, had refused the Word, and 3. those pagan polytheistic peoples who had either ignored or had not yet been preached the Word.
