Tuesday, July 16, 2013

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.

27 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:32 AM

    I seem to remember a story a few years ago about some native people in rural villages who were in dire straits when someone brought them plates of cookies and boxes of food packed with religious pamphlets.

    You can eat but only if you accept the l'il Baby Jeebus. Otherwise, you'll just have to starve because Jeebus would want it that way. He told me so His Own Self.

    Now, WHERE did I hear that story...???

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  2. Anonymous6:40 AM

    The two percent who are "saved" are badges of honour for the missionary; the 98% are collateral damage.

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    1. Anonymous10:10 AM

      Very much like the women who will die from illegal abortions as the radical restrictions begin to close down women's health clinics.

      'Oh well, we got what we wanted and too bad for anyone we killed or condemned to everlasting hell in the process.'

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  3. "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.

    That’s a new twist, or maybe it’s just her denomination. I was taught that everyone went to eternal hell if they weren’t baptized, even babies. It was done with a shrug of the shoulders as if that was no big deal. They weren’t like us. It started the cracks in my belief system. “I think my people are crazy!” I was in elementary school.

    And they’re cold about it; a cousin flew the F-15s for years and then died of a rare cancer. I know he’d fallen away from organized religion at about the same time as me. When his sister died, he wasn’t even mentioned in her Memorial, and he was the finest person that family produced. As far as they were concerned, he was erased from the record.

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  4. Randall7:07 AM

    I, too, talked with a missionary.
    She said that they took their mission to China,years ago.
    She said the Chinese government asked them if their purpose was to bring Christianity and The Bible into the country and this missionary proudly told me that she lied to them and that they smuggled Bibles in.

    So I asked her if the FIRST thing she, as a Christian taught the Chinese was to LIE ...what does that say about her religion?

    She hasn't talked to me since.

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    1. Anonymous10:15 AM

      As a child in Catholic school, I remember the common wisdom was that, if you wanted to steal something from a classmate's desk, you did it at the end of the day on Thursdays.

      That was the day Those Public School Kids came for religious education after school. They ALWAYS got blamed for everything bad that happened in the classrooms.

      We were also told that anyone who was not Roman Catholic was going straight to hell, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. It was hard to reconcile those lessons with the fact that my best friend was *gasp!* Jewish!!!

      Stealing and lying...great lessons we learned at 8 years old!

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  5. Anonymous7:08 AM

    Uganda is another casualty of the Bush administration. Prior to W. taking office, the rate of AIDS in Uganda had been declining because of information programs and distribution of condoms, giving hope to aid workers that stopping the spread of the disease could be a reality. When Bush took office he made it a requirement that in order to continue to receive U.S. financial aid, these sinful practices must stop and the morally superior and historically effective "abstinence programs" will now be instituted and administered via faith-based organizations.

    The result is in the video above.

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  6. Anonymous7:19 AM

    Man - I just LOVE your reasoning, Gryphen! I wish more people would get this concept across to those 'missionaries', that they are condemning 98% or whatever of the people they reach to hell! Maybe THAT would FINALLY give some of them reason to pause and think about their arrogance of trying to convert others!

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  7. There are so many things that don't ring true about Christianity. You pointed out a very serious flaw in their thinking, and yes, I know there are many. I wish they would just leave others alone and practice their religion quietly and in peace.

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    1. Anonymous11:22 AM

      Amen to your last sentence.

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  8. Leland7:48 AM

    Garbage like these people refuse to accept the truth that HISTORY teaches them - that it is the advent of trash like these missionaries which causes the destruction of these peoples.

    It has been going on for centuries and the number of once happy, peaceful civilizations that have been destroyed is extreme. I always laugh at these fools when they tell me they are going on a missionary trip. ONCE in a while one will ask why I am laughing. When I tell them the history of their type of work (and its aftermath), they usually strike out at me - sometimes verbally, sometimes not.

    The ones who attack verbally? I laugh even harder and walk away. The ones who try to get violent? Let's just say that while I never lay a finger on them, they usually end up on the ground through a few simple avoidance techniques - usually with my hands in my pockets - I prefer to use from my karate' days. That REALLY pisses them off!

    And I have NEVER met a missionary who comes to my door who accepts I am not interested unless I threaten to call the police. I remember one who was amazed that I was angry enough to call the cops and press trespassing charges. (My place completely fenced and gated and is posted and even specifies no proselytizers.)

    BTW, no one from his church EVER showed up at my place again. I wonder why that is?

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  9. Anonymous8:13 AM

    Please see broadways Book of Mormon for missionary impact in Uganda. You will Not be disappointed

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  10. Anonymous8:14 AM

    My gay nephew is getting married this month, but the evangelical members of the clan are not attending - and that includes his parents, his sisters and their families, two sets of uncles/aunts, and some cousins. Such a sad commentary that a dead person is more important than their "loved" family member all because of their religion. It angers me deeply! However, he will have a cheering family section at his most important day and we will be seen and heard as supporters of him and his partner.

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    1. Anonymous10:22 AM

      Sometimes those with radical religious (or political) views can be changed when whatever they are railing against occurs in their own family.

      Unfortunately, some people are so deeply embedded in their own beliefs that they refuse to even consider the perspective of anyone else and reject what goes against their small, ugly view of the world.

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    2. Leland10:45 AM

      Good for you, 1smartamerican! Good for you.

      My girlfriend and I have a fair number of gay friends (more gay than straight, actually) and two of them were getting married years ago in a UU church. It wasn't a legally binding thing since in Georgia they are still ass backwards in their thinking, but they were having the ceremony anyway. My girlfriend and I were among only a few heterosexuals in the crowd that attended.

      We happened to mention to my stepmother that we were going to a gay wedding and she threw us out. I laughed all the way out the door.

      But then again, she did the same to her granddaughter for marrying a black man. (Yes, we went to THAT as well. They are still married [after twenty years] and he treats her like a queen.) To this day she has never met her great-grandchildren and refuses to. (They are fabulous people whom I am proud to call family!)

      It may take a while, 1smartamerican, but you WILL reap the rewards of loving them! Then you can rub it into the other family members faces! Enjoy it!

      And again, GOOD FOR YOU!

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  11. Anonymous8:39 AM

    take over the world... I think that sums up their only goal.
    Religion lies at the center of most atrocities committed in the world.

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    1. Leland10:47 AM

      That's true of EVERY organized religion. And you can change "most" to "almost all", in my opinion.

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    2. Anonymous2:23 PM

      "Religion lies at the center of most atrocities committed in the world."
      Respectfully, too broad a brush, there 8:39.

      Many atrocities, agreed, but Most?
      There are plenty of atrocious political parties, plenty of xenophobes and hate groups, plenty of corporate/business citizens united, plenty of atrocious industrial threats to our environment and health and well-being...

      There are, also, too, plenty of congregations of many faiths who work together for social justice and to lift up their communities.

      *stepping off soap box*
      thatcrowwoman

      (full disclosure, I am a Jewess happily married to an atheist, with family and friends of many faiths and ethnic backgrounds.)








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    3. Leland5:33 PM

      @2:23

      Is it really too broad a stroke? What you describe as those also capable of mass destruction do exist. Unfortunately, I can't disagree with you.

      BUT...!

      The existence of those groups as units powerful enough to have worldwide reach is only a relatively recent occurrence - mostly within the last hundred years. The scope and reach of organized religion has been extant for THOUSANDS of years and can be shown as being at the heart of a tremendous amount of destruction.

      Numbers, crowwoman, Numbers!

      While it may be true that the DIRECT guilt cannot necessarily be laid at organized religion's feet, the INDIRECT responsibility is there. Organized religion is grossly responsible for the deaths of many many many millions of people!

      It may not be a direct order of the church or the synagogue or the mosque, but the underlying MESSAGE of those religions are still to blame. Take a look at all the hate preached as the word of god in the Old testament of the bible, as one example. (Actually, perhaps I should say as two examples since a good chunk of the OT comes from jewish laws and teachings and "history".)

      In the worst example the world has seen of religion being responsible for huge losses, look no further than the holocaust. Jews were slaughtered by the millions MERELY BECAUSE THEY WERE JEWISH!

      And before you dispute that as counter to my argument, remember, I (and 8:39 as well) merely said religion was the at the CENTER of the tragedies.

      Face it. Organized religion is deadly. It is deadly to the minorities in countries controlled by a single religion. It causes wars because of disputes over territory - mostly because two books claim that territory and neither side will accept FACT. It ordered the murder of the losers - ALL the losers! - in warfare in a lot of cases.

      The islamic growth in Africa was mainly one of conquest by the sword. They charged across north Africa killing ANYONE who got in their way and those that did not die in actual battles were beheaded when they refused to accept islam!

      There are literally thousands of examples of this type of thing - and it continues today!

      Are there good people who believe? Certainly. The trouble is there aren't enough of them or they simply refuse to see the problem and stand against it.

      Which STILL is the fault of religion.

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    4. Anonymous8:58 PM

      Yes, because it's not like people of the same religion fight over things like nationality, ethnicity, land, money, politics, or anything of that sort. *eyeroll*

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    5. Leland2:48 AM

      The word was MOST, not all.

      Besides, they DO. How about Sunni and Shia? A lot of the Syrian war is based on freedom of religion - without suppression. And a lot of the death and destruction going on in Iraq now is Sunni/Shia hatred. Or the Taliban attempting to take political control of Pakistan - and any other country they can conquer to turn into a theocracy.

      And look at the current batch of repubes. We haven't gotten to actual warfare yet, but if these assholes keep invoking god (THEIR version!) there COULD be - and THAT one would be the fundies against almost everyone!

      And there are very few things as vicious or total as a religious fight. People are seemingly willing to do ANYTHING to those who disagree with them - ESPECIALLY in the name of their god!

      And that includes bashing the heads of infants against walls and raping the women and genocide and... It almost always helps the "cause" of violence to invoke the name of a god - and rarely to help the cause of peace or at least, not as effectively.

      And again, that is STILL the fault of religion!

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  12. Anonymous11:39 AM

    Children Perfectly Sum Up Why Haters Of The Mixed-Race Cheerios Ad Are 'Evil, Mean, Stinky Bullies'

    http://www.businessinsider.com/kids-react-to-cherrios-mixed-race-ad-2013-7

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    1. Anonymous4:48 PM

      Thanks for that link. It's great. The kids give me hope for the future.

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    2. Anita Winecooler7:06 PM

      Thanks! Remember when Art Linkletter was "reality tv"? We could use more of that!

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  13. Aahhhhhhh, Uganda... Home of James Inhofe (US SENATOR) and the rest of the 'C' street gang along with the Brotherhood... Uganda is a place they can go to preach their message of hate, intolerance and anti-freedom agendas with no fear of interruption...

    Fruitful territory when you run the govt. by proxy !! Ahh, the Mountain Inhofe... What a classic douchebag

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  14. Anita Winecooler7:22 PM

    Oh well, the 98 percent they don't reach are doomed to hell. How do they keep up morale with those numbers?
    The thing about missionaries who voluntarily put themselves in danger by going places they don't belong selling what others aren't buying is they rely on our government to get them out. Shouldn't other Missionaries or the Churches foot the bill?

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  15. Anonymous8:59 PM

    Actually, African medicine in 1879 Uganda:
    http://diasporicroots.tumblr.com/post/55175106341/diasporicroots-an-example-of-african-medical

    "Africans were performing many advanced medical procedures long before they had been conceived in Europe this is just one of many examples."

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