“We know what our race does to strangers. Man destroys or enslaves every species he can. Civilized man murders, enslaves, cheats, and corrupts savage man. Even inanimate nature he turns into dust bowls and slag-heaps. . . . Of course, after the first debauch of exploitation we shall make some belated attempt to do better. We shall perhaps send missionaries. But can even missionaries be trusted? ‘Gun and gospel’ have been horribly combined in the past. The missionary’s holy zeal to save souls has not always been kept distinct from the arrogant desire, the busybody’s itch, to (as he calls it) civilize the (as he calls them) ‘native.'”
C. S. Lewis, “Religion and Rocketry” in The World’s Last Night and Other Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1960, pages 89 & 90.
Related posts:
Bible Note #62: Compassion & the Anger of Jesus–Mark 3:1-6
Pastor Note #98: Hearing Our Neighbors’ Cry of Distress: A White Pastor Talks to his White Congregation about Race
Bible Note #35: Compassion for the Weak — Job 29:14-17
Pastor Note #141: Getting My Bearing for These Times (Cont.): Rejecting Coercion
Pastor Note #138: The Way of Jesus: Selfless Service OR Coercion and Domination?
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