God Loves Uganda. Christianity's impact on Africa.

This film seems to focus mostly on how missionaries have brought a dangerous type of homophobia to Africa which has resulted in the deaths and persecution of many its citizens.

However that is only ONE negative aspect of evangelism within the "dark continent."

Courtesy of the Guardian:

Children accused of witchcraft number in the thousands in the DR Congo, the Central African Republic, southern Nigeria, and parts of Angola. Anthropologists have identified the combination of crises as the underlying cause for the epidemics of witchcraft accusations against children. Economic hardship, conflict, urbanization, displacement, family breakdown and HIV/AIDS have spread insecurity in large parts of Central Africa and have profoundly undermined many communities. In parallel, revivalist and Pentecostal churches have proliferated in many parts of Africa, offering spiritual stability in times of uncertainty. 

Some of these churches, run by unscrupulous preachers and self-appointed prophets, have seized upon the fears of the population and are offering exorcism services at exorbitant costs. These rituals subject children to further violence and abuse and have become a lucrative business for some pastors. In Nigeria's Akwa Ibom State in the Niger delta, the explosion of witchcraft accusations against children have been traced back to a film produced by a prominent priestess, which has fuelled popular beliefs in child witchcraft. 

At the dawn of African independence it was widely assumed by modern elites and by development agencies that formal education, media, monotheistic religions, economic development and democratic political systems would sweep away traditional African beliefs. Instead, as the case of witchcraft accusations against children shows, traditions are being reinvented and adapted to the challenges and insecurities of a globalised world. 

Since the phenomenon of accusing children of witchcraft emerged only within the last 10-20 years (and in Nigeria more recently), there is hope that it has not yet become deeply entrenched.

Essentially in replacing the "pagan" beliefs of the African people with Christianity, the missionaries believed they would immediately transport them to the 21st century and transform their culture overnight into one that closely reflected the one these Americans enjoyed back home.

However they forget, or choose to ignore, the fact that Christianity has a long and bloody history of  oppression, genocide, and intolerance. Modern western Christians are viewing their religion from the coziness of their two story homes while sitting in front of their big screen televisions, and receiving religious instruction while sitting in a warm church on padded pews.

The African tribal people on the other hand are coming to Christianity in its infancy, and attempting to rationalize it along with their other superstitious belief systems. The moral framework from the Bible is one that teaches aggression against those who are labeled heretics, witches, or infidels. And without a strong set of laws to govern the people, there will be murder, torture, and harassment of those deemed different.

African Christianity may someday more closely reflect Western Christianity, but not at first. At first it will more closely reflect the older version of Christianity that burned witches at the stake, punished non-believers as Satan worshipers, and wiped out whole civilizations deemed primitive or pagan.

You know I once spoke to a missionary about her work.

She started off telling me of all the good she and her husband had done in Africa, China, and India, such as bringing in medical supplies, building schools, and of course "saving souls."

I asked what happened to those who did not accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior and she casually explained that they would burn for all eternity in the fiery pit of hell.

"What happens to all of the people that you don't reach, and who DON'T even know about Jesus?"

"Oh well God will not abandon them, they will not be forced to suffer if they were never given the opportunity to accept the Lord." she explained.

"So let me get this straight. If you leave these people alone, and never tell them about Jesus they are assured some type of afterlife, and are spared the punishment of hell. But once you tell them there is a choice to make and they choose incorrectly they doom themselves to eternal torment?"

"Well sort of I guess." She replied.

"So what do you think your success rate is?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know. About two out of every hundred probably."

"Okay so to be clear, by reaching out to these people you have doomed roughly 98% of the innocent people who come into contact with you? I'm sorry WHO are you working for again? Because from my perspective it appears that you are sending the devil souls faster than he can think up new methods of torturing them."

As you can imagine that was the end of the conversation. And of the friendship.

You know sometimes we westerners simply assume that our way is the best way, and that every culture will be improved by our "correcting" them in how they live, how they raise their children, and how they believe.

That type of arrogance has done immeasurable harm in the world.

While I admit that our technological and medical breakthroughs have undoubtedly provided valuable assistance to many people around the globe, the fact that it often comes gift wrapped in religious doctrine and culturally insensitive attitudes poisons our contribution. And in some cases leave a people in worse shape than their "white saviors" found them.