Religion, by its nature alone, is inherently subjugated to perception. However, when applied to the entirety of a perception of a society its importance magnifies; specifically when concerning the Age of Conquest. During this time of global exploration specific motivation was gold, glory, and God. God being in relation to spreading God's word or the Christian religion. Already their mindsets were faceted on religion, thereby when the conquerors finally encountered the native religion this increase in the importance of perception arises. One case where the idea of perceptions of religion played a significant role is in that of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Through looking at accounts of the conquest by both the Spanish and Nahua people, the perception of the native religion by both the Spanish conquistadors and the native Nahua people themselves, had a negative effect on the position and in the portrayal of the Nahua during the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
Though the primary motivation of the Spanish conquistadors was that of acquiring gold and glory, they did not go without God, religion, even though its primary use was justification. Regardless, the Christian faith and ideals of the Spanish were a tremendous factor in their perception and portrayal of the native religion. When they originally encountered the religion, with its many gods and human sacrificial practices, they were horrified. They saw the native religion as being barbaric and thereby justifying their conquest and strikes against the natives as a way to "punish evildoers - those [natives], unpunished, had committed crimes of idolatry, human sacrifice, cannibalism, sodomy, and all manner of unnatural vices (Brooks 175)." Each of these reasons originates from the practices of the native religion, and the subsequent negative perception of the Spanish due to their Christian influence. Thereby, as conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo states, "[the conquistadors] with blood and steel were delivering heathen souls to the Church (Spanish Sources 17).
