Senator Edwards had an interview with BeliefNet concerning his views on religion apparently. According to the article, he stated the following:
"I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," Edwards told the site. "I think he would be appalled, actually."
Quite frankly, I don't think it could have been said any better. I can't stand the way that Christianity, for all of its traditions and purity of intent, has been twisted and used in such way that cause such suffering in the world. Last year when a new leader went to Haggert's old post in a conservative Christian organization and decided that the direction that they should be taking was to help the poor and the sick, they told him quite frankly, that they did not think that that was what their organization should be doing. They instead wanted to focus on politics...
This news item was interesting to me only because Zaroastrianism is an extremely old religion, which actually claims to be the first monotheistic one. It has dwindled in numbers greatly in the recent past, and when the article describes it as fragile, they're not joking. What is also interesting is that this article comes to us from Colorado, which is the very last place I would have gone looking for followers of Zaroastrianism. Just thought it was an interesting tidbit, and rather beautiful that there are people willing to dedicate themselves to make sure that their old traditions stay intact.
This particular story is very interesting because it is a perfect example of why I don't care for missionaries in foreign countries. For one, Western missionaries often know nothing, and care nothing, for the preservation of traditional cultures. For two, they often are not interested with helping native people maintain their land rights, or fighting discrimination or persecution. One member of the Huichol in the article had this to say:
''The government follows a strategy by which it divides the pueblos. The government wants their land, ultimately. And the evangelists are in inroad into community control.''
When you look at missionaries who go all over the world, you often find that this is the outcome of their work. Whether or not they intend for this to happen as a result of their efforts to convert people, it is clear by their continued efforts that they simply don't care. What's more is that I am a supporter for the free exchange of ideas, but when the people as a community ask the people from the outside to leave, they should leave. Instead the missionaries in this scenario dropped radios by plane which were already tuned to an evangelist sermon. To be quite honest, it's a rather disgusting course of action. If the Huichol had gone to a private evangelist school to disseminate their religion, they most likely would have been asked to leave. They probably would've left and most likely would not have decided to sneak things in. Why? Because it's disrespectful of the wishes of the people. If only the missionaries would grant this same amount of courtesy...
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