Many religions embrace the missionary spirit. The imperative to go out and evangelize is deep-rooted among those who want to share their beliefs with as many people as possible. Yet it can also be amongst the most controversial religious activity—both in past times and today. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, tensions between Christian and Muslim communities have been exacerbated by efforts on both sides to win—or sometimes force—conversions.
The Bible’s instruction “go ye therefore and teach all nations” has been fundamental to Christianity from its inception. Islam too was spread rapidly across north Africa and into Spain in the years immediately after Muhammad’s death, while the traveling monks of Buddhism carried their beliefs into China, Tibet and Japan.
All embraced peaceful means and eschewed forced conversion. Yet when religion was inextricably linked with political power—in Christian Europe, in the Islamic caliphate and in China when Confucianism and Taoism were both taken up by the ruling dynasties—the choice of whether or not to convert, or embrace as Islam prefers to put it, carried with it consequences for daily life.
For those who rejected Islam in the territories of the caliphate, there were taxes to be paid, but broadly tolerance. For the pagans and Jews who remained outside Christianity as the alliance of Holy Roman Emperor and Pope swept across Europe, there was in medieval times persecution and the Inquisition. And in China, if the Emperor favored Taoism, Confucians would be targeted, and, on occasion, vice versa.
New World The Spanish Catholic priests and nuns who accompanied the Conquistadors into the “New World” following the arrival there of Christopher Columbus in 1492 confronted a problem that has dogged missionaries ever since. They were with evident sincerity bringing God to indigenous peoples, often sweeping away existing belief patterns as a result, but for the conquered peoples they were also part of the subjugation. Some—like Bartoleme de las Casas, the Spanish priest known as the “Defender of the Indians” because he objected to the way the early Spanish colonial authorities treated native peoples as slaves—insisted that religion could not have two standards, one for the conquerors and one for the conquered, but many were not so scrupulous. Conversion to Christianity was used as a tool for making the local population—and the slaves imported from Africa—more submissive.
“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”
David Livingstone, 1813–73
Catholicism, nevertheless, took firm hold in the Spanish Empire, now Latin and Central America, though it did not entirely displace existing religions. The result was syncretism—the mixing of two different beliefs—which continues to dog missionary efforts in many areas of the world to this day. In Brazil, for instance—colonized by the Portuguese on much the same principles as those employed by the Spanish—Candomble thrives alongside Catholicism, sharing the same followers.
A mixture of ancient African rites and rituals brought over by slaves, and elements of Catholicism, it counts around two million adherents and is centered on the northeastern city of Salvador da Bahia.
Most modern societies respect as a fundamental human right the freedom of individuals to choose what to believe, but that has not put an end to missionary work. The mainstream religions today work in public and in private to promote mutual understanding and respect, yet they still seek to make converts.
Santaria
Santaria is another of the syncretic religions that developed at the time of the European colonization of the Americas. Its strongest base today is Cuba, but it has a substantial number of followers in the United States. A mixture of Catholic, African and Native American beliefs, Santaria teaches of a single god, Obatala, above all the other deities, or orishas. Its rituals include exorcism and animal sacrifice, and it has been linked to voodoo. In the past, the Catholic Church and the colonial authorities attempted to stamp it out, so Santaria developed a system of naming its orishas after Christian saints so as to keep their real identities secret. The Santaria god of the sick, Babalu-Aye, for instance, is also known as St. Lazarus.
Peaceful co-existence Not all religions follow this pattern. Judaism does have a formal process for conversion but recoils from the zeal for mass evangelization of some branches of the other two monotheistic faiths, Christianity and Islam. This is the result of a history of attempts by other faiths to forcibly convert Jews.
Meanwhile some religions do not demand exclusivity from their followers and can cope with adherents having other allegiances simultaneously. Within Christianity, the Baptists accept that those attending their services may retain links to other denominations. The Baha’i, among the most successful missionaries of recent times, recognize as part of the absolute respect they show to all religions that converts will often keep a foot in more than one camp. And Shinto in Japan co-exists peacefully in many lives with Buddhism, with some Japanese choosing, for example, a Shinto ceremony for baptism and a Buddhist one for funerals.
Whatever the ethics of their desire to make converts, the missionaries who accompanied European colonizers undoubtedly had courage and a willingness to die for their faith. Some would carry their personal belongings and quantities of Bibles and hymn books in coffin-shaped suitcases. They anticipated dying on the job, and many did so, either through disease, or—for an unfortunate few—as martyrs at the hands of those they had gone to save. Such a fate, however, was seen in the militant missionary mindset as “God working out his purpose,” in the title of the classic 1894 missionary hymn.
Flashpoints The missionary impulse, however, continues to cause conflict. In India, the activity of Christian missionaries is deeply resented by many Hindus, who believe that their efforts to attract converts are destroying the national fabric of India. In recent times this resentment has erupted into violence, with Hindu leaders accusing Christian missionaries of denigrating their gods. In one well-publicized incident in January 1999, an Australian Christian missionary, Graham Staines, and his two young sons were burned alive in the state of Orissa while they slept in their camper van. He had been accused of proselytizing.
A source of particular disquiet has been the activity of new churches and groups on the fundamentalist fringes of the mainstream faiths—again, notably Christianity and Islam—which have worked openly to encourage mass conversion. Some Islamic groups in European countries, for instance, have the stated purpose of boosting the Muslim populations there to enable the creation of Islamic states, run on the principles of Shar’iah law. Mainstream Muslims reject such an approach, and seek instead to promote tolerance and understanding between faith groups.
the condensed idea
I want all to believe the same as me
| timeline | |
|---|---|
| 1st century CE | Christ’s apostles spread “Good News” |
| 5th century CE | Buddhist monks go on mission to China |
| 7th century CE | Muhammad’s disciples export Islam |
| 1492 | “Discovery” of the Americas |
| 19th century | High point of European missionary activity |