Evangelizing remote tribes

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Here’s a fuller version of the history of outside contact with North Sentinel Island. It seems there’s been a bit more inadvertent technology transfer than I knew, as well as brief instances of peaceful contact and gift exchange (though always ended by armed dudes strongly hinting that it was time for the strangers to leave now).

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@RespectableLaw: There's been a lot of talk about the missionary killed by the natives of North Sentinel Island. They're probably so aggressive because of this weirdo, Maurice Vidal Portman. So here's a big thread a...…
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It’s possible that further slow contact like that, conducted at the locals’ pace (and with precautions for not making them sick) could allow everyone to learn about each other safely and eventually pave the way for more regular peaceful interaction. But “one idiot insisting on going there repeatedly when he’s clearly not wanted” is not how we will accomplish that.
 
Yes, reinforces that evangelization is carried out in a virtuous way, with prudence and wisdom, patience, etc…Not with force and disregard for one’s self or others.
 
Agreed, this is just an occupational hazard of being a missionary: you may be mistaken for a threat by people who don’t know that you come in peace, or even actually pose a threat without realizing it.
 
Usagi said:
However good our intentions, you can’t just integrate Stone Age people into the modern world by fiat. Even if they were more amenable to discussion, they have no context for understanding the outside world. I don’t think they’re intellectually incapable or anything, but at least at first it would be like aliens abducting them or sticking them with needles or whatever. I understand that you’re okay with forcing ourselves on them, but I am not, and neither is the government of India.
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Well said.
 
Yeah, it did. Forcing your presence on a population that doesn’t want it for the purpose of proselytizing them is exactly that.
 
First I don’t have a 3 mile exclusionary zone extending from my home like they do. Secondly I’d ignore him after I told him I wasn’t interested.
 
Leave it to the Jesuits, they are the “warrior monks” are they not?

Another day, another dead zealot. Wouldn’t it be a warning sign that the government kept trying to keep people off the island?
 
Somebody upthread mentioned securing the island with military force so the missionaries could then safely evangelize.

I want to say “no” to this for two reasons.

First, you’ll frighten and anger the natives, and they will learn to hate Jesus before you even get one word out of your mouth.

Second, churches enter into alliances with government very much at their own risk.
Secular governments only keep religion around when it serves their purpose (like providing law abiding citizens). But as soon as the government wants one ideology and the church opposes it, the government has to power to take things away from the church and to punish it and its members.
 
If they are at a Neolithic stage and obviously do not want to be disturbed,that should be respected.
Needless to say,that behind any evangelizer,there will be the happy crowd to open a five star hotel in the " Neolithic Island". And they will suffer.
They are defending their means to life,and God is with them anyway,He is patient. We aren’ t.
There are about 100 remote tribes ,I would leave them in peace and pray for them.
 
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This is an interesting article about the effects of contacting and attempting to integrate similar tribes in the same region.

www.nytimes.com

A Season of Regret for an Aging Tribal Expert in India (Published 2017)

T.N. Pandit, 82, an anthropologist who studied indigenous groups and coaxed them into contact with outsiders, now agrees that the Jarawa people have been damaged by such exposure.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

It is not in anyone’s best interest to suddenly spring a life that is incomprehensible on others and yet expect them to behave as if it is better for them. They don’t have anyway of understanding the modern world or how to fit into it. It causes great harm to them and those around them.
 
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Except for the fact that (name removed by moderator) is NOT saying that the Sentinelese people should be forcibly converted.
 
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There are some Christian nuts out there, and he was one of them !He didn’t respect their tradition,culture ,belief etc. As someone said in the past, " We have your bible,but we dont have our land anymore!"
 
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