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Missionar-rogrance!
by Dr. David Eller
| American missionaries abroad have been much in the news recently, as they return home alive-or sometimes not-from various war-torn parts of the world. Some of Colorado's own recently escaped from the Ivory Coast, thanks to human effort and modern technology. But this reminder of the never-ending Christian mission to spread the faith raises an old question: what do they think they are doing there in the first place? |
Of course, the short answer is simple-bringing the benefits of their true religion to the poor ignorant natives. But this answer suggests other less pretty questions, such as why they think the natives are poor and ignorant, or why they think only their own religion is true, or what other effects their presence and activities have in those far-off societies. |
The first two questions demonstrate the arrogance of missionization: it says my religion is true, and yours is false. Naturally, if you have not heard of Christianity, you are an uninformed heathen, and if you have heard and not believed, then you deliberately wallow in ignorance. No doubt the locals already had their own religion, whether it was Islam or a traditional animist belief. But missionaries and all Christians are not content to leave that alone. If you do not believe what I believe, you are inferior, even doomed. I wonder how the local Christians would feel if someone of another religion set up a mission in their neighborhood and tried to convert them-no, compelled them to convert in order to receive basic resources. |
Highly unlikely, they might say. There is no reason why we would convert, they might say. It's a free country, they might say. All true. The fact that America is free means that religion is not a life-and-death matter, at least politically. In other places, that is not so. Not only do missionaries endanger themselves but also their converts in some countries. Do they have such a right? And missionaries usually fail to perceive one key aspect of their presence and activities-power. Traditional folks are often powerless to resist the incursion of missionaries, are often attracted by the wonders of our technology as much as or more than of our religion, and are often too impoverished to refuse what little help might come their way. Missionaries, consciously or unconsciously, sometimes control the resources of food, water, education, and medicine that give locals no choice but to become dependent on them. Of course, if some convert in the process, what's the problem? |
The problem is that missionization is arrogant, unfair, imbalanced, impolite, and ultimately destructive. Missionaries have plenty of money, plenty of food, plenty of power, and plenty of soldiers to evacuate them when things get rough. Missionaries throughout history have not been reluctant to use force and virtual captivity on their "converts," for example the Native Americans. Their "schools" are as often deculturation and acculturation institutions. They are always uninvited guests in their adopted lands, often breaking laws, breaking up families, and ruining traditional cultures. And they can always walk away. |
Maybe those missionaries who ran home rather than stand with their Christian brothers and sisters in their time of need should ask themselves whether their flocks really want them back, and if they do, do they want their God or their goods? |
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