Proselytism is the new colonialism

Missionaries have always roamed the earth looking for convicts but I find it a little racist and arrogant to come to a country like Cambodia to 'convert the savage' and 'save the heathens' especially through faith for food programmes.

“People have to be given the opportunity to get to know Jesus so they can go to Heaven. This is the main purpose of our presents [sic] in Cambodia”. (Source)

Examine, if you will, the arrogance. We are right. You are wrong. Our religions is right. Your religion is wrong. It's heaven or hell mateys - eternal bliss or eternal torment take your pick.

Christianity is in focus as well as helping people in need. “Development and Christianity goes hand in hand”, says Annelise. “As Christians we are not only concerned that people get to know Jesus. We also want them to be helped in their everyday problems. Those two things are inseparable for us. But notably this is irrespectively of peoples own religions”.

“We believe that human beings will be saved if they are Christians. We want other people to be saved by believing that Jesus died for our sake. It is very important that we not only help in life on earth, but also give them an opportunity to find an eternity afterwards”. (Source)

Do development and Christianity go hand in hand or is that simply a mantra for proselytisers? Actually such efforts are disruptive and divisive in a society. The majority of people in Cambodia are living on less than a dollar a day and when missionaries offer food for conversions, people convert. I know a woman who converted for the rice to feed her children but in her heart she is Buddhist.

Christianity is of vital cultural significance in the west. Works of art, literature and sculpture by the greats have religious themes. To understand such works, it is necessary to understand the meaning behind them, the religious and cultural. Asia is different. Colonialism aside, the images present in Asia's great works of literature, art and architecture are taken from Buddhism. So why try and force a square peg into a round hole.

Why not work towards development without the repugnant faith for food programmes. Christianity is about forgiveness. Would a declared Christian refuse to feed a starving child because the child is Buddhist or Muslim? If the answer is yes then off to read your Bible again because you fail at Christianity.

”When we came here there were only four per mille [sic] Christians in the country. But now it must be two or three per cent”, she says. “This is because God is alive and he wants people in this country to believe. People cannot believe by themselves. But God can let God into their life and then he create faith. He wants people in Cambodia to belong to him. That is how we think it is”, she finishes. (Source)

Well I was under the impression that the Bible said to love your neighbour and to treat people in the way Jesus taught. That does not mean withholding food or proselytising. Why push the hard sell? Working together for the development of Cambodia without mentioning religion, is demonstrating Christian ethics far more than preaching at the huddled masses. After all, you never know who are are converting. That person might turn out to be a mass murdering war criminal.

It seems to me that proselytising is a new form of colonisation - rich whiteys bringing 'the truth' to poor brown people and disregarding their beliefs. Cambodia has an ancient and high civilisation. Who are you to come and preach here? Do you look upon yourself as civilising the barbarians? Many Cambodians look at the west as decayed, amoral and decadent and do not wish the same fate for Cambodia. They do not need missionaries to preach western morality to them and do not accept it.

Missionaries get over yourselves and your truth. Stop the colonisation through faith based programmes that are present in almost every developing country. Development only - no strings attached.