Quite a reply! It all comes back to Religion being the Opiate of the
Masses.
______________________
Miguel Ordorica
Washington State Univ.
Dept. of Sociology
Wilson 206
(509) 335-4595 (msg.)
(509) 332-4442 (hme)
______________________
On Tue, 9 Mar 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> In a message dated 3/8/1999 11:47:21 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
> << I mean the point of colonization was to take over the land and cultures of
> indiginous populations, but I dont think missionaries are out to do that.
> Foreign policy may have something to do with the 'neocolonial' conquering of
> third world nations far more detrimentally than any religious missionary (and
> this is coming from an atheist who doesnt believe in any form of religious
> practice!) could possibly assert. >>
>
> Missionaries were often sent in to advance colonial (government) pursuits and
> were seen as part and parcel of colonial activities in most cases.
> Missionaries most certainly had the ability to subvert the cultures of the
> people by impressing upon them that no only were they worshipping the wrong
> "God" but that they were worshipping in the wrong way - and they therefore
> needed to follow the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white skinned Jesus Christ
> image - which coincidently looked like the missionaries and the colonizers.
> Vary rarely did the missionaries ever provide any difficulty for the colonial
> governments - most often they were extremely helpful.
>
> When you convince a people that God's son is a white man, and by linkage that
> God must be white (or prefer white) then of course people who are white are
> then seen as closest to God, therefore better - pure and white as snow......
> This is mental preparation for the acceptance of colonialism. The height of
> implanting white supremacy and darker subservience.
>
> Missionaries did not just preach religion, but they linked "God wants you to"
> with the manner of dress, the way of marriage, the manifestation of art and
> music, the language spoken, the naming of children, etc. They focused strongly
> on removing the "pagan" culture and remaking the people into "good christians"
> who dutifully worshipped both the missionaries and the colonizers - the same
> people - thus fully integrated in the goals of colonialism. People were told
> to stop worshipping their ancestors, to ignore the traditions of their elders
> and follow "God's way", to sever all ties with their pasts and accept the way
> of the missionaries (and the colonizers) to become civilized and holy.
>
> Later archaeologists and anthropologists would later go to these places and
> bemoan how much the people had forgotten of their original languages,
> cultures, art, etc!
>
> Missionaries were massive culture destroyers. Seen around the world today are
> vestiges of communities that were wiped mentally clean of their culture by
> missionaries.
>
> Land was often "seized" by missionaries, in the name of God of course, as well
> as again the encouragement for the population to submit to colonial control of
> land while being "good christians" to colonial authorities.
>
> Sexual abuse of males and females, boys and girls was fairly common, as was
> requiring financial or property "offerings" from the indigenous people to the
> missionaries.
>
> In the United States, missionary pursuits among the slaves taught that that to
> be a good and obedient slave was what God wanted from black people - and those
> who fought against slavery fought against God. They taught that to get into
> heaven you had to be a pleasant and hardworking slave - basically that life
> was to be spent in service to whites, and your reward would come in heaven.
>
> Bob Marley addressed this "teaching" often in his music, especially in "Get
> up, Stand" - where he sang "If you know what life is worth, you would look
> for yours on earth" - he stressed to black people not remain locked in that
> teaching - which contributed to passivity and acceptance, rather than fighting
> for "your rights".
>
> As to manifest destiny in modern times, I strongly know it exists, because I
> see it in the field of international affairs on a consistent basis - the idea
> that the west is the natural leader of the world. Perhaps they don't say (at
> least out loud) that God has ordained that Euro people lead the world, but for
> many it remains in their hearts that their civilizations are just naturally
> superior and have proven that by how they have conquered - which some feel
> would not have happened had (1) God not willed it or (2) God not willed them
> with superior culture/attributes
> - and many are unwilling to give up this belief which pervades NGO and
> government activity - donor attitudes, peace corp work, feminist
> outpourings,etc.
>
> Divide and conquer was (and is) a well-used colonial and neo-colonial tactic -
> from the way slave ships often made sure to mix ethnic groups feeling that if
> you put one ethnic group together they could organize to fight back, but if
> you mixed the groups up, then they would focus on fighting among themselves
> AND be limited by language barriers which would keep them from uniting against
> their slavers. The partition of Africa was a good example of how europe while
> refusing to divide itself to fight over Africa - instead sought to divide up
> Africa and conquer it for themselves. France currently is extremely good at
> promoting francophone unity to prevent coalition in Africa with anglophone
> countries. They have put up over the years numerous obstacles to make sure
> francophone african countries remain focused only on France.
>
> Nicole
>
