Christianity and colonialism

Christianity and colonialism are often closely associated because Catholicism and Protestantism were the religions of the European colonial powers and acted in many ways as the "religious arm" of those powers. According to Edward Andrews, Christian missionaries were initially portrayed as "visible saints, exemplars of ideal piety in a sea of persistent savagery". However, by the time the colonial era drew to a close in the last half of the twentieth century, missionaries became viewed as "ideological shock troops for colonial invasion whose zealotry blinded them", colonialism's "agent, scribe and moral alibi." Quotes Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the solaces of religion, We disclaim alike the right and the desire to impose Our convictions on any of Our subjects. Royal proclamation (January 29, 1859) which replaced the East India Company with direct British rule in India, as quoted in Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity (Touchstone, 2014); see Government of India Act 1858 The religions whose theology is least preoccupied with events in time and most concerned with eternity, have been consistently less violent and more humane in political practice. Unlike early Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism (all obsessed with time) Hinduism and Buddhism have never been persecuting faiths, have preached almost no holy wars and have refrained from that proselytizing religious imperialism which has gone hand in hand with political and economic oppression of colored people. Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy (1945) With the Portuguese, Christianization was a state enterprise. K. M. Panikkar, Asia and Western Dominance (London, 1953), p. 380 The white man is very clever. He came quietly with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958), ch. 20 European Imperialism and European Christianity were twins. It is difficult to say whether the flag followed the cross or the cross followed the flag. Ram Swarup, Meditations: Yogas, Gods, Religions (2000) See also Colonialism External links Category:Colonialism Category:Christianity