I tend to fall much into a similar bucket as Joe. More years than I want to admit of being taught by Dominicans (nuns, brothers and priests) with a few Jesuits thrown in so we'd appreciate the Dominicans.

I find myself shaking my head at arguments comparing contemporary missionaries with those of 300 years ago, then saying, "See?! They're ALL evil!" Some probably were and are. Others are (or were) misguided. I have great fun pointing out to people that applying today's standard's to anything from more than a few years ago is silly. People have been simply brutal to each other for much longer than folks living in the West want to admit. In some cases, this has included spreading religion by force (eg., convert or else). It matters not if it is pressure from a dominant church or a government - the Prince is a Lutheran, therefore ALL of us MUST become Lutherans.

Sorry - rambling a bit - just got back from a gig and this caught my eye....

What I'm getting at is this - the most effective missionaries I have ever seen, and seen in action, simply live among the people they are witnessing to, helping them when they can and living a righteous life. Eventually, people come to THEM to learn more about this wonderful religion. Those that live a righteous life are far better at winning true converts than those who preach on a street corner ranting an raving about devils and what not. As one fellow I heard on NPR pointed out this weekend, MOST "Christians" are looking for God to get even with those "others" who are clearly going to Hell.

Those are the Christians I find myself shaking my head over - the ones that say I'm not a "good" Christian - which causes me to say prayers of thanks to the God they find to be false.

Pete