Pentecostal Christians destroying priceless artifacts in Africa

[WildEyedLiberal]

As a history buff this really burns my ass. :grr:

Christianity vs. the old gods of Nigeria

By DULUE MBACHU, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 4, 1:19 PM ET

ACHINA, Nigeria - Born to a family of traditional priests, Ibe Nwigwe converted to Christianity as a boy. Under the sway of born-again fervor as a man, he gathered the paraphernalia of ancestral worship — a centuries-old stool, a metal staff with a wooden handle and the carved figure of a god — and burned them as his pastor watched.

"I had experienced a series of misfortunes and my pastor told me it was because I had not completely broken the covenant with my ancestral idols," the 52-year-old Nwigwe said of the bonfire three years ago. "Now that I have done that, I hope I will be truly liberated."

Generations ago, European colonists and Christian missionaries looted Africa's ancient treasures. Now, Pentecostal Christian evangelists — most of them Africans — are helping wipe out remaining traces of how Africans once worked, played and prayed.

As poverty deepened in Nigeria from the mid-1980s, Pentecostal Christian church membership surged. The new faithful found comfort in preachers like evangelist Uma Ukpai who promised material success was next to godliness. He has boasted of overseeing the destruction of more than 100 shrines in one district in December 2005 alone.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070904/ap_on_re_af/new_religion_vs_old_gods

This isn't, to my mind, any different than the Taliban blowing up those Buddha statues.

Edit, added link

[valerief]

1. Ah, and who said the Crusades were over? On with Inquisition! nt

[BlooInBloo]

5. Catholic, of course, but that's like the 6'5" guy wondering who's taller...

... the 5'1" or the 5'2"?


EDIT: They're both short.

EDITEDIT: Subject typo.

[valerief]

9. They're all the same ball of Jeezwax to me. nt

[BlooInBloo]

2. christian = muslim. crazy christian = crazy muslim....

... It's laughable watching one or the other point fingers and say what barbarians the others are - :rofl:

Well, except for the lives they take, and the priceless wonders they destroy. It's laughable except for that.

[jaysunb]

3. It's the exact same thing !

DAMN IT ! :evilfrown:

[whistle]

4. Are the Pentecostals getting enough snakes?

[Withywindle]

10. Apparently not.

I root for the snakes every time.

[whistle]

15. Me too

[Heidi]

22. Pretty broad brush there. Of 115 million Pentecostals worldwide, only

only 1,000 to 5,000 (including those who don't actually handle the snakes) still are involved with serpent handling and those are primarily in the US.

I'm no fan of the charismatic movement, as I see many of its practices and positions are wholly unrealistic and unprogressive. At the same time, I don't believe it's fair to depict 25 percent of the world's Christians as snake handlers.

[whistle]

23. You are absolutely correct

[porphyrian]

6. All fundamentalists suck. - n/t

[LanternWaste]

17. Darn.

Darn. I suck? There goes my day. Oh well....

[porphyrian]

20. Yeah, you probably do. The feeling would likely be mutual.

Generalizations are inherently false as there are always exceptions. I speak only from my personal experience, where everyone I've met who is a fundamentalist has sucked. Presumably some of the people I've met who haven't sucked were fundamentalists and I didn't know it. However, my comment was in the context of the original post, which is about Christian fundamentalists destroying religious artifacts of other cultures, which I relate to Muslim fundamentalists who have destroyed religious artifacts in Afghanistan, for example.

[Tesha]

38. If you're a fundamentalist (and not just an evangelical), yes, you do.

Fundamentalists clearly believe stuff that absolutely,
positively isn't true nor even debatable. And they have
this nasty habit of trying to force others to conform to
their whacko belief systems.

Evangelicals? heck, evangelize all you want, as long as
you recognize my right to completely ignore your evangelizing.

Tesha

[aquart]

7. You're right. No difference whatsoever.

Bishop Landa is alive and well, except that he burns forever in Hell.

[Withywindle]

8. It reminds me of the looting of the Iraqi Museum too.

Unbelievable insulting arrogance towards other cultures...and the history not just of one society, but all of humanity.

I HATE THESE PEOPLE.

[Cerridwen]

11. I just yesterday re-read about the destruction of the Ancient

Library of Alexandria.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." That axiom didn't bother to point out that it would be the same players over and over again. *sigh*

[msongs]

12. been doing this kinda of thing for 2000 years nt

[Tyo]

30. Exactly. Nothing new here. Unfortunately. n/t

[papau]

13. While the destruction is regrettable - the article's "ancestral idols" is a bit exaggerated given th

fact the climate destroys all wooden items quickly - with few even lasting 200 years.

Only the bronze items date back 500 to a 1000 years and I do not believe any bronzes were destroyed.

Still the destruction of the old shrines is something one can not condone - and something I do not understand the need for.

[WildEyedLiberal]

14. Yeah the stuff was a couple hundred years old

But still, they shed valuable light on Africa's past and native religions.

Destroyed in the name of cultish superstition. Disgusting.

[spoony]

42. Wait, wait, wait

You condemn one "cultish superstition" and are, we are all to believe, all weepy-eyed at the relics of another "cultish superstition"?

Yeah, right.

[WildEyedLiberal]

50. I don't think those old African relics should be WORSHIPPED, for God's sake

I think they SHOULD be preserved for archaelogical and historical value, as relics of a past time. Nice straw man. I think ancient relics ought to be preserved for posterity's sake and not destroyed on the whim of a newer irrational belief.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

26. That depends a lot on the wood..

Ebony and lignum vitae are both very resistant to rot, as are the rosewoods and ironwood.

[bryant69]

16. It isn't any different.

That's pretty sad.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[paparush]

18. These people are so afraid...afraid of anything that does not fit neatly into

their white, uptight, and in church every night, super simple outlook on life.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

19. That may have applied to those who began this Pentecostal movement there

But now it's no longer the missionaries that are doing these things, but rather their converts. The missionaries work there appears to be done, they've spread their seed of ignorance and cultivated it until it bloomed into flower that mirrored their own selves.

From the article:

"Pentecostal Christian evangelists — most of them Africans— are helping wipe out remaining traces of how Africans once worked, played and prayed."

[Romulox]

27. A picture of Reverend Uma Ukpai...

Not white.

[paparush]

31. Thanks for posting that! I needed some education!

[WildEyedLiberal]

32. Well these are African pentecostals

Not white missionaries. They're convinced that their ancestral relics are bringing bad luck.

Religious stupidity knows no color, I'm afraid...

[yardwork]

21. Same old same old

[progressoid]

24. "I hope I will be truly liberated."

Wow, talk about irony.

[Hydra]

25. K&R

Remind me why the supposed "good" people in these various religions tolerate the ones that burn things(and people) in the name of "purging the evil influence"?

[The Backlash Cometh]

28. If Christianity is the answer, why is the situation in these countries getting worse?

[spoony]

43. Is that post in any way related to the topic?

Thought not. Just more idiotic anti-Christian rubbish for its own sake.

[The Stranger]

44. It is directly related to the topic.

But instead of an answer, we get more claims of "anti-Christian" this or that.

[spoony]

46. Uh huh and how is such a broad, sweeping

statement against an entire religion on an entire continent either relevent or not anti-Christian in the context of an article about a specific phenomenon amongst a specific group?

[The Stranger]

47. To claim that this is a "specific phenomenon amongst a specific group" would be laughable,

if only it rose to such a level.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. For one thing, all of sub-Saharan Africa is doing poorly, whether

the inhabitants are Christian, Muslim, or followers of indigenous religions.

I'd place economic and political and even ethnic factors way above religion in the list of causes of Africa's problems.

[The Backlash Cometh]

48. I'm just saying, if Christianity was actually making things better, and these

countries were showing massive improvement, would we really care that a few artifacts were burned? The point being, that unless you offer a solution that works, it's probably best not to fool with someone's native culture. It's very possible that that's how the problem got started in the first place.

[bamacrat]

29. Never met a normal Pentacostal.

All been weird, like the Mormons. I know some will get offended but its true.

[JVS]

35. Look around more.

My best friend in high-school was pentecostal and he's as normal as they come. His family was all normal too, the mom was a bit eccentric but not in a religious way, she just liked to keep strange hours and stay up late.

[Maddy McCall]

33. Same thing happened during the contact period, North America...

Usually Catholic priests demanding that American Indians denounce their native religion, turn to Christianity, and rid themselves of "idols." Later, Protestant pastors did the same thing.

When the missionaries couldn't convert the children, they took their kids and forced them into Indian schools.

Jesuits weren't as forceful as other sects, and were usually pretty tolerant of native religions, but many Indians experienced cultural dislocation because of Christianity being foisted upon them by hardline Catholics and Protestants.


:(

[Manifestor_of_Light]

34. And that's why the Virgin Mary is a big deal in Latin America.

Goddess worship in their cultures was transferred to Mary when they were forced to become Catholic. Same lady, different dress.

I once made a fundy really mad by telling him that he better not have a Christmas tree, because it was a pagan symbol of eternal life, and that he better not have any Easter Bunnies or Easter Eggs either, because Easter is a pagan holiday!!!!

[OneBlueSky]

36. among the many things that drove me from Roman Catholicism was . . .

that religion's need to proselytize and to send missionaries to "convert the heathens" in Third World countries -- not to mention Native Americans in this country . . .

Pope Bennie's recent re-affirmation that the Catholic Church is "the only true Church" confirmed yet again that the Church's policy and U.S. foreign policy have a lot in common . . . i.e. bringing "The Word" to those unfortunates who have never heard of Christianity or democracy . . .

call it exceptionalism, call it chauvinism, call it delusion, call it whatever you want -- it's just plain wrong . . .

[malaise]

37. They sicken my stomach n/t

[MetaTrope]

39. Been happening for decades among Inuit converts too

And it's not just family heirlooms

[tom_paine]

40. Oh sure, the ChristoTaliban have all the basic drives as their regular Taliban counterparts

Like the Bushies they are, they frequently say they are there to help (and sometime they do in fact give material assistance, with a price tag, of course, that price tag being the acceptance of their religion) when what they are really there to do is destroy.

No, it's not any different than the Taliban blowing up Buddha statues, but since these are CHRISTOTaliban, it's ok. They're Bushies, which means they are automatically above reproach and suspicion, being Morally Superior to the rest of the Imperial Subjects of Amerika.

[WinkyDink]

41. OMG, may I say here how much I hate the destruction of knowledge (in this case, history)?

The Spaniards destroying gold artifacts and calendars in Meso-America and the burning of the Library at Alexandria, which civilization has NEVER recovered from, still enrage me when I think of them.

[NC_Nurse]

45. That sucks.

:-(

[NAO]

51. see Hitchens, Christopher, "god is Not Great: How Religion POISONS Everything" -nt