I’m not a Christian, but unlike many people I’m patient with the religion. I feel the same way about Islam, Judaism and Scientology. Most of their followers mean well and don’t want to harm others. Let it be, do unto others and all that charismatic jazz. It’s the minority who are the PR disaster.
But what I’ve never understood is that greatest of ironies — how sub-Saharan Africa asserted its independence from everything colonial except a white religion.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (irony overdose) said: “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray’. We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”
Patronising whites will argue that Christianity brought education and literacy to a “dark and savage” continent. Yeah, well, it also annihilated ancient cultures and was used to rationalise apartheid.
In the 19th century proselytising was all the rage and the greatest achievement for a Christian was to convert as many people as possible. It was like tweeting to get into heaven — the more followers you got, the better your ranking.
Even though missionaries taught the “natives” how to read and opposed the cruelty of slavery, they never regarded black Africans as equal to the “cultured” white man. It was always a relationship where the children of God were literally regarded as children.
Certain missionaries even managed to convert locals and help colonial governments steal their land at the same time.
A certain Reverend Helm helped Cecil John Rhodes take all of Ndebele King Lobengula’s land by deliberately mistranslating a concession document. The king trusted Helm but refused to convert, so Helm made sure Lobengula’s people wouldn’t have any choice but to. Now that’s multitasking for God.
Yet, despite it being a tool of European colonialism and special interests, most black Africans are still Christians. Of course, many East Africans are Muslim despite being traded as slaves for centuries by Muslim merchants. What if all the colonial administrators had been priests and reverends? Liberation might have taken a lot longer.
Perhaps one day this last remnant of old-school oppression will be thrown off. Until then, we can be grateful we live in a country that permits both catholic and Catholic tastes.
*Apologies and thanks to Khaya Dlanga for the headline.
The Brr
Just because you are an atheist or agnostic does not mean you have to be ignorant.
Have you ever been to Africa?
If so to which countries?
Well done. We need more challenge to the unchallenged: the view that Christianity is of unquestionable benefit to our society – a society that is violent and turbulent despite being one of the most Christian in the world – with a spectacular rate of regular church attendance.
Why is the religion of these oppressors the one part of their culture that gets a free ride? Why is it considered good for Africans when even Europeans are shaking off this mind-virus like they’re awakening from a nightmare? This was the justification for you enslavement. They’d wave this book and tell you that they had the truth.
Christianity was always a trick.
Just because it feels good, doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Just because you wish it were true, doesn’t make it true.
Faith isn’t how you see truth beyond the doubt. It’s how you make yourself believe that nonsense is sense. If it wasn’t rubbish, you wouldn’t need faith to believe it.
Time to grow up and leave the fairy tales behind.
@ panchetta:
Your quote, reminded me of a related quote I read recently…
“Religion, opium for the people! To those suffering pain, humiliation, illness, and serfdom, it promised a reward in afterlife. And now we are witnessing a transformation. A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged. The Marxist creed has now been inverted. The true opium of modernity is the belief that there is no God, so that humans are free to do precisely as they please.”
Czeslaw Milosz, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature, from an essay called “The Discreet Charm of Nihilism.”
Lyndall
Why do you call me ignorant?
You were referring to Southern Africa one second, then your using the example of Tahiti as an example of good Christians.
OH
-Nigeria
-Zimbabwe
-South Africa
-Namibia
-Swaziland
-Mozambique
-Kenya
-Egypt
-Botswana
I live in SA and am not ignorant, just because I do not wish to go to church, I assume you were referring to that? I have been to church far more than I ever planned to. Its not something I wish to do again, I have lived under a christian god for too long. I do not believe in that or any god and that does not make me ignorant.
I think those who live without a god are those who are enlightened. We have unshackled our minds of superstitions and fallacies, fictions mixed with non-fictions and outrageous evils.
Do not call me ignorant, I never got nasty, but you did and being provoked cause my nasty reaction. I suggest you follow most of the peoples lead here and keep it civil.
Just a thought on the “Christianity isn’t a white religion thing”.
Judaism isn’t a white religion as its from the Middle east, Catholicism which is a derived from Judaism is arguably not a white religion either. But, Christianity as we know it in SA, and most of Western Europe can Arguably be traced back to Martin Lutter and his protestant reformation in Germany. Thus making “Christianity” very white indeed.
Also it depends on where you draw the line, If you go back far enough you can trace Catholicism’s New testament origins to Egypt 3000BC with Horus sharing many of Jesus’ traits and personal history.
All you need to do to send your google analytics curve rocketing up to heaven is write about baby J…