Well, what you've said is pretty extreme, but I suppose you're doing that just to stimulate discussion. I have a strong, almost religious belief in nonviolence. Am I polluting the minds of my innocent children by encouraging them to be nonviolent? Is it immoral for me to discourage the development of their natural aggressive behavior? If I express my nonviolent ideas in a culture other than my own, and I guilty of detroying somebody else's culture?

Certainly, I think it is wrong to force another to "convert" to a different religious belief - but is there really anything wrong with persuasion? I suppose that coercion was a tactic sometimes used by missionaries in the past, but I really don't think that happens much in the present time. Was it wrong for Mother Teresa to establish convents in poor areas and to feed people and give medical assistance? She won many converts to her conservative view of Catholicism. As a liberal Catholic, I didn't agree with her on many theological issues, but I can't see where she did anything but good for the people she served.

I think it's a gross exaggeration to say that the missionaries to America did nothing but harm. The European conquest of America is what did the damage. The missionaries certainly took part in the bringing of European "civilization" to America, but I think their purpose was essentially well-meaning. I think it's safe to say that in general, the missionaries tended to lessen the harm done by European conquerors. In the process of conquering America, the Europeans brought about an almost total destruction of Native American culture. It is clear that this was a horrible thing, an act of genocide - but that does not mean that everything the Europeans brought to America was bad. The Europeans were both good and bad, and brought both harm and good.

It's also grossly paternalistic to depict the natives of a "missionary" land as innocents who are incapable of defending themselves against new ideas that will pollute and destroy their pristine culture. "The natives" are intelligent adults, not innocent prey.

-Joe Offer-