Not just for aid but because of the change that conversion brings:
Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.In this one article an atheist dispels two atheistic talking points: Christians are not freethinkers and Christianity is not a force for good. In the author's experience not only is Christianity helpful, it's essential if Africa is going to compete in the global market. They need to replace their current belief system with one that frees them and Christianity does that. It frees them from the superstitions that bind them and frees them to think for themselves. Take that, Hitchens! Refuted by the experience of a fellow atheist.[...]
I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the "big man" and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.
[...]
Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.
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Since, to white Europeans, African natives were uncivilized so that there was little wrong in treating them as animals. The white man's atrocities in conquering the inlands of Africa far surpass any of the atrocities that have made news in this century.
The best chronicle I've seen of the white man's drive to take over Africa is Thomas Pakenham's The Scramble for Africa. It's a thick book replete with atrocities committed by guns versus spears and arrows.
Your Name,
The Bible has NO historical narratives in it. Narratives with dialog between people, people and angels, people and demons, people and Satan, people and a god are always fictive narratives. There are no and can be no exceptions to this rule. There are still people trying to find Troy and prove Homer is somewhat historical too. There couldn’t be a bigger waste of time. I find it fascinating that the average person cannot figure out that dialog in a narrative is a dead giveaway that the narrative they are reading is fiction.
Like a typical Christian you distort the language to try to give credence to your assertion. Calling Jesus Christ an historical figure will not make him one. I will emphatically state that none of the major figure mentioned in the Bible such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, John, Paul and Jesus never existed. I base this on the fact that there is absolutely not one shred of evidence for the existence of any of these figures. And they all talk to boogymen. Case closed.
A response to Michelle's "take that Hitchens" comment.
Christianity creates otherworld entities and dimensions of alleged reality which are unsupported by scientific and rational evidence. It draws the focus of attention and energy away from the present world of day-to-day existence where we lead our actual lives, to a dimension which may well be pure fantasy, and thus the real world gets neglected, disparaged, distorted; it becomes populated with concepts which can only be detrimental to humanity’s enlightenment. Belief in angels and devils and personal savior gods has never produced one iota of real human progress. Conviction of salvation comes attached to required doctrines of faith, and not all are going to adopt those doctrines; many will have other, rival faiths of their own. Such differences create divisions between people, families, societies, nations; they have formed a long line of unbelievers, heretics, infidels, those in league with evil forces, leading to inquisition, witch hunts, religious wars.
Christianity is a cult based on the worship of living Jews as Gods. It a very dangerous and violent cult that seeks to exterminate all that refuse to worship Jews as living Gods. In its 2,000 years of exixtence The Christian cult has masascred hundreds of millions of innocent men women and children that refuse to worsip the evil Jew as the living God.
The level of ignorance, bias, cultural insensitivity, imbalance and just plain stupidity, not to mention idiocy, in the comments are astounding and very sad. "I will emphatically state that none of the major figure mentioned in the Bible such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, John, Paul and Jesus never existed. I base this on the fact that there is absolutely not one shred of evidence for the existence of any of these figures." That is not only not true, the writer exhibits the determination of a closed mind. Use your own argument. Saying God doesn't exist doesn't make it so. "Christianity is a cult based on the worship of living Jews as Gods." What nonsense. Anthropology saves lives? Is it not slavery to deny people the right to move into the 21st century?
Not only are the arguments presented here without value, they have long ago been discarded by Christian and non-Christian alike. What nonsense parading as wisdom.
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