Genuinely, some of the most painful things I’ve ever read were texts written by small evangelical communities about their history and folk heroes who were doing missionary work. The way they write about the subject is just extremely uncomfortable to read. Especially when they complain about the way other christians treat them and then do the same shit to others.
Like, one was about a man who was basically disowned by his family for being in a different denomination from them. But then he fought in WW2, found others like him and built a community that came back home with him to establish their churches. Afterwards, he went to Brazil and “heroically” tried to convert people there and fight against the Catholic majority who didn’t want him there. And the text tries to imply a parallel between the isolation from being disowned, the war, and finding community to the work of a missionary. Like, he’s so isolated here but he’s fighting back against the Catholic oppression to found a new community type stuff.* Meanwhile, the book is mentioning how faithful his wife and kids were for being there to support him while he does this, and I, being someone who moved around a lot as a kid, just feel bad for them.
*(This may be slightly off but it’s how I remember it. It’s been a year since I speed-read it so some parts are a bit hazy and my entry in my reading diary for it was just a simple “fuck missionaries.” It’s safe to say I won’t be rereading it anytime soon)
Genuinely, some of the most painful things I’ve ever read were texts written by small evangelical communities about their history and folk heroes who were doing missionary work. The way they write about the subject is just extremely uncomfortable to read. Especially when they complain about the way other christians treat them and then do the same shit to others.
Like, one was about a man who was basically disowned by his family for being in a different denomination from them. But then he fought in WW2, found others like him and built a community that came back home with him to establish their churches. Afterwards, he went to Brazil and “heroically” tried to convert people there and fight against the Catholic majority who didn’t want him there. And the text tries to imply a parallel between the isolation from being disowned, the war, and finding community to the work of a missionary. Like, he’s so isolated here but he’s fighting back against the Catholic oppression to found a new community type stuff.* Meanwhile, the book is mentioning how faithful his wife and kids were for being there to support him while he does this, and I, being someone who moved around a lot as a kid, just feel bad for them.
*(This may be slightly off but it’s how I remember it. It’s been a year since I speed-read it so some parts are a bit hazy and my entry in my reading diary for it was just a simple “fuck missionaries.” It’s safe to say I won’t be rereading it anytime soon)