Alan is misinformed. The church brought mayhem especially in Africa. Africa had its own way of praying to God and all that was discarded as paganism. And when Europeans conqured Africa they were using the Bible.Because Africa's annihilated culture Africa wishes if Europeans never invaded Africa.
Gadzira
>From: Adavans@aol.com
>Reply-To: EOsubnat@cog.kent.edu
>To: EOsubnat@cog.kent.edu
>Subject: Re: "Civilization"... Was it only a passing thought?
>Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 09:53:12 EDT
>
>What rigamarole, folly and trash is Bill Woollam's rant below.
>
>Canada is not committing genocide.
>
>Your attack on Christianity is very one-sided. Christianity is more than
>Rome. Only after the Roman Church was highjacked by feudalism did it incline
>toward genocide. Constantine can not be blamed for this. And the Eastern
>churches were not dominated by feudalism, and they did not spread their faith by
>means of the sword as Rome did.
>
>Most of the genocide that took place in the last century, the bloodiest on
>record, was not a religious phenomenon. They were mostly a Marxist phenomenon.
>
>
>Have a swell day.
>
>Alan Avans
>Prarie Village
>
>
>
>
>By Bill Woollam
>Sept 24/03
>
>"Civilization"... Was it only a passing thought?
>
>In Kevin Annett's book "Love and Death in the Valley"
>www.1stBooks.com/bookview/11639 , the former 1992 Port Alberni Christian missionary lays out the
>thesis that "genocide as we know it, developed within European Christianity and
>has always been an explicitly religious enterprise, especially once
>'Christianity' merged with the Roman state and shared colonialism's aims of eradicating
>non-Christian cultures". Mr. Annett reasons that to understand the present
>nature of "legal" genocide in Canada, we need to understand where it came from,
>and why. He uses a statement by Christiopher Columbus to his Royal superiors
>(after his first contact with New World aboriginals, 1493)
> "They should make excellent slaves, since it appears that they have no
>religion whatsoever."...revealing the prevailing belief that 'Christian
>civilization is the right and only way...no matter what'.
>
> Present day schooling keeps up the belief that our "civilization" must
>continue onwards...no matter what. It is the 'no matter what' part that is a little
>hard to swallow. Howard Zinn in his (banned-in-America) novel, "The People's
>History of The United States" shows the genocide, the slaughter, the torture,
>and the enslavement of the Black Africans, the Mayans, the American Indians
>and South American Indians ... in a straightforward manner that reveals 'no
>matter what' we established our 'civilization' across this globe...and then we
>make up 'safe' history to glorify colonialism and ignore the collateral damage.
>
>Our school classes offer up this 'safe' story while they ignore the history
>of the oppressed. History is "dressed up" to fit the illusion that suits the
>hierarchy and all its affiliates-- from worker class to the wealthy upper
>classes. We never question the hierarchy itself...we never question
>what 'civilization' really stands for... instead we participate in the destructions which
>our 'civilized organization' ushers forth down through the ages. Grades one
>through twelve promote the belief that we are a 'civilized' society that caters
>to and supports the royalty of our times i.e. the CEOs who run the
>muti-national corporations. Our television and news services honor those corporate
>rulers whose oil/arms/weapons industries propagate war on "uncivilized" Third
>World nations to "share" their resources and "liberate" their citizenry. Of
>course, "share" means to "steal" and to "liberate" means to "exploit" for
>corporate profit. To 'liberate' also means to convert the oppressed Third World
>peoples to the "rightness" of our 'civilized religion and hierarchical system'.
>
>A simpler view of history, as seen from the eyes of Daniel Quinn in his
>book "Beyond Civilization", is that 'our social organization (our hierarchical
>civilization) has introduced humanity to oppression, injustice, poverty, chronic
>famine, incessant violence, genocide, global warfare, crime, corruption, and
>wholesale environmental destruction.' Our 'civilization' thing isn't working
>and hasn't been for quite some time. His answer is simple; "If the airplane
>is in trouble, you don't shoot the pilot, you grab a parachute and jump. To
>overthrow the hierarchy is pointless; we just want to leave it behind...to
>discontinue supporting it."
>
>And how could a self-interested, corporate businessman ever be regulated or
>legislated into changing his motivating beliefs? Such beliefs held by business
>and workers support the war-for-profits agenda of selling depleted uranium
>tipped artillery shells and ignoring the radio-active fallout which brings
>wanton destruction. The answer is that it is not possible to alter that kind of
>belief system held by the corporate executives and wanna-be rich people which
>states 'no matter what, ...profit is the bottom line'. It is not possible to
>force war-addicted,corporate rulers and their drones to stop waiving the banner
>of Christianity while slaughtering people of other faiths.
>
>However, it is possible to have a change of attitude. Any CEO or working
>person may wake up one day and decide to change the way he does things. His new
>belief might save the lives of his children and their living environment.
>Heck, his new attitude might even consider mothers and children of the Asian and
>African nations. By letting go of supporting war-for-profit, air
>pollution-for-profit, low wages-for-profit, water pollution-for-profit,
>and drugs-for-profit agendas...his new beliefs may usher in a different kind of
>reality...still to be explored and discovered..
>
>These are Daniel Quinn's suggestions...and I like what he is saying. There
>is a choice...to support this wanton"civilization" or to go "beyond
>civilization" as we know it. To support the belief in "the working class/ruling class
>hierarchy" or to choose alternative beliefs. This is the challenge. Do we
>continue to be the pyramid-builders to the pharaohs of our time? If so, we
>witness continued exploitation of world citizens, and by our efforts we continue to
>fund devastating empire-building agendas. Maybe our so-called "civilization"
>is nothing but the perpetuation of an outdated belief system ...a belief
>system we bought into four thousand years ago? Let us ask ourselves what this
>"civilization" thing really is about...and do we wish to continue buying into this
>worker class/middle class/ruling class scenario at whatever the cost?
>
>
>