An alphabet, or writing of some kind, is necessary for traditions to be passed on faithfully. It is writing that allows a culture to transcend time and not be lost in the dust.
Bringing new and beneficial knowledge to people is good. Helping people be able to learn to read and write their own language is good.
I have absolutely no idea where you’re coming from that you could see such a thing as destructive.
Vietnam was hardly “alone among the Asian nations” in having a written system to communicate their language only because of Jesuits
The Chinese had a complete writing system as early as the Shang dynasty 3200 years ago, which was adopted by the Japanese by the 4th century CE. The Chinese writing system was used by Vietnam until its independence from China, Vietnam developed its own writing system that was used for 1000 years
“After Vietnamese independence from China in 939 CE, scholars began their creation of Chữ nôm, a logographic script that represents Vietnamese speech. For nearly the next 1,000 years – from the 10th century and into the 20th – much of Vietnamese literature, philosophy, history, law, medicine, religion, and government policy was written in Nom script. During the 14 years of the Tây Sơn (西山) emperors (1788–1802), all administrative documents were written in Chữ nôm. In the 18th century, many notable Vietnamese writers and poets composed their works in Chữ nôm, among them Nguyễn Du (阮攸) and Hồ Xuân Hương (胡春香). With the 17th century advent of Quốc ngữ(國語) – the modern roman-style script – Chữ nôm literacy gradually died out. In 1920, the colonial government decreed against its use. Today, fewer than 100 scholars world-wide can read Chữ nôm effectively. Much of Vietnam’s written history is inaccessible to the 80 million speakers of the language. A few Buddhist monks and the Jing (京), the Vietnamese living in China, can read Chữ nôm to some extent. (Original text provided by the Nom Preservation Foundation, with permission granted to publish this text under the GNU Free Documentation License.)”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_Nom
The modern roman-style script has actually separated the people from their history. Children of Native Americans were sent forcibly to English language-only boarding schools and cut off from their families and their culture, including their religion and language, to “civilize” them.
Was this the intent of the Jesuits actively evil? No, but when one is convinced that one’s own way is not only the best, but really the only, way, one can do immeasurable damage to something that is already thriving and valuable, but different.
Everyman, I think you might find the book by John Michael Greer, “A World Full of Gods: an inquiry into polytheism,” interesting. It looks at the classic logical proof for monotheism and applies them to polytheism. Interesting food for thought.
