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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m against proselytizing. But you have to admit, DCUM’s hateful anti-religion proselytizers are just as bad. [/quote]

What? Proselytization by Christian missionaries has resulted in the death of millions over the course of the past few centuries. That is not an exaggeration. It has also resulted in laws which punish homosexuality by death. It has torn apart communities, separated families, imposed foreign rule and white dominance.

DCUM meanwhile is typing feverishly on a website. Hurting your feelings, I guess?

Yup, just as bad. [/quote]

Atheists in Cambodia and China and elsewhere have killed many more millions. Your point? [/quote]

If you want to compare the death tolls from colonialism vs. communism, colonialism will win. British imposed famines alone might get you there [/quote]

The Cultural Revolution in China (talk about eradicating a local culture) led to at least 30 million deaths, some say as many as 80 million.

The potato famine caused 1 million deaths. I’m not aware of other “colonialist imposed” (as opposed to happened-during) famines, but I’m happy to be shown others. Colonialism led to many more deaths by straight-up war and oppression.

The point, though, is that many here are confusing colonialism with missionaries when they talk about millions of deaths. And none seems as bad as something like the atheist-led Cultural Revolution. [/quote]

You might want to research Indian history before making those pronouncements [/quote]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943[/quote]

You just don’t get it, do you?

From the link: British "denial policies" for rice and boats (a "scorched earth" response to the occupation). The Bengal Chamber of Commerce (composed mainly of British-owned firms),[16] with the approval of the Government of Bengal, devised a Foodstuffs Scheme to provide preferential distribution of goods and services to workers in high-priority roles such as armed forces, war industries, civil servants and other "priority classes", to prevent them from leaving their positions.[17] These factors were compounded by restricted access to grain: domestic sources were constrained by emergency inter-provincial trade barriers, while aid from Churchill's War Cabinet was limited, ostensibly due to a wartime shortage of shipping.[18]

Yes, that was terrible. But tell us how missionaries were responsible. 
[/quote]

I'm a DP, and I don't know anything about that particular incident. However, when it comes to European colonizers, you have to ask why they felt entitled to enter other countries, decimate their economies, forbid cultural practices, etc. The reasons are complex, but the British empire *always* entwined their colonialism with christianity. I didn't know anything about this, but I just googled "Winston Churchill colonialism christianity" and found this:

"Churchill's detractors point to his well-documented bigotry, articulated often with shocking callousness and contempt. "I hate Indians," he once trumpeted. "They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.""  Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/03/the-dark-side-of-winston-churchills-legacy-no-one-should-forget/

And there is so much more about it.

You can argue that I'm just looking for sources to support my point instead of trying to get an accurate picture of what is going on. But the thing is that when Europeans do this, it's so predictable. There is an almost banal pattern of Europeans destroying non-christian cultures in the name of christianity (yes it satisfied their greed too, but based on writings of christian colonizers they did have sincere beliefs and were doing what they thought was best).

I'm not particularly interested in the debate about what has done more damage: religion or atheist governments. Whatever, they have both done horrible things. But you cannot say that European colonizers did something for greed or political gain and not for religion.  it's just impossible to separate European colonialism from christianity.

What does that have to do with missionaries? Missionaries usually paved the way for colonists. Missionaries acted as a conduit between colonialists and indigenous cultures. Missionaries told colonists about these indigenous cultures, their practices, their resources, etc. Also many explorers, like Vasco da Gama himself, sought to spread christianity the same way a missionary would. And I think you can argue the same about Churchill. the Bible basically says that every good Christian should spread the good word and encourage others to get baptized, and that's basically missionary work.

So yeah, you can split hairs, but I can't buy that European colonialism was ever not about christianity.[/quote]

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