And why should there be
conversions at all? What is the motivation behind most seeking of
conversions that is coming out of the Christian background? It is
their belief that Christianity is the only true religion, Christ is
the only saviour of humanity, Christians gain salvation or heaven
and non-Christians gain damnation or hell. That is not a policy of
harmony and tolerance but a blueprint for disharmony and conflict.
What ultimately happens when
someone who has that attitude comes into a community and converts
people? People are taught to reject their ancestors and their
traditions. Families are broken up. Division and conflict almost
inevitably occur wherever this missionary business goes on.
There
are actually many forms of Christianity and several different kinds
of Christian missionary activity going on.
And there are Christian
groups that are not missionary at all, for example, the old Greek
Orthodox and the Syrian Christians, but which represent old
and tolerant traditions. Then there is the Catholic tradition which
is promoting its missionary activity all over the world but which is
doing it in a more subtle way today. They are no longer using the
force that they once used in the colonial era, but they are still
aiming at global conversion. There are also the old Protestants, the
Anglicans and the Lutherans, who are still promoting various types
of missionary activity. That has gotten reduced to some degree as
well.
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