The Missionaries: God Against The Indians

by Norman Lewis

This work is an attack on the destruction of the culture and environment of indigenous tribes in Latin America and the South Pacific by fundamentalist missionaries from the US.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Travel, Religion, Anthropology, British Literature, English Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Norman Lewis was a British writer renowned for his richly detailed travel writing, though his literary output also included twelve novels and several volumes of autobiography. Born in Enfield, Middlesex in 1908 to a Welsh family, Lewis was raised in a household steeped in spiritualism, a belief system embraced by his grieving parents following the deaths of his elder brothers. Despite these early influences, Lewis grew into a skeptic with a deeply observant eye, fascinated by cultures on the margins of the modern world.
His early adulthood was marked by various professions—including wedding photographer, umbrella wholesaler, and even motorcycle racer—before he served in the British Army during World War II. His wartime experiences in Algiers, Tunisia, and especially Naples provided the basis for one of his most celebrated books, Naples '44, widely praised as one of the finest firsthand accounts of the war. His writing blended keen observation with empathy and dry wit, traits that defined all of his travel works.
Lewis had a deep affinity for threatened cultures and traditional ways of life. His travels took him across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Mediterranean. Among his most important books are A Dragon Apparent, an evocative portrait of French Indochina before the Vietnam War; Golden Earth, on postwar Burma; An Empire of the East, set in Indonesia; and A Goddess in the Stones, about the tribal communities of India. In Sicily, he explored the culture and reach of the Mafia in The Honoured Society and In Sicily, offering insight without sensationalism.
In 1969, his article “Genocide in Brazil,” detailing atrocities committed against Indigenous tribes, led directly to the formation of Survival International, an organization committed to protecting tribal peoples worldwide. Lewis often cited this as the most meaningful achievement of his career, expressing lifelong concern for the destructive influence of missionary activity and modernization on indigenous societies.
Though Lewis also wrote fiction, his literary reputation rests primarily on his travel writing, which was widely admired for its moral clarity, understated style, and commitment to giving voice to overlooked communities. He remained an unshakable realist throughout his life, famously stating, “I do not believe in belief,” though he found deep joy in simply being alive.
Lewis died in 2003 in Essex, survived by his third wife Lesley and their son Gawaine, as well as five other children from previous marriages.

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, so if you believe missionaries are out there doing good, helping remote peoples to improve their lives, I suggest you put aside any thoughts of reading this book. In fact, put it down and walk away. Stop reading here, and probably don't read any reviews of this book.

It is fair to say there are no positive outcomes in this book. It is totally providing the bad news, the terrible stories about the worst of the missionaries. I do believe there are well intentioned people and beneficial programmes out there - this is not their story. This is grim reading.

Tahiti, Vietnam, Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Venezuela all feature. Perhaps Guatemala and Paraguay are covered in more depth.

In each country Lewis describes the time he spent. He tries to reach the remote areas, spend time with the Indians (the traditional local inhabitants are usually called Indians - but not in the case of Tahiti and Vietnam) spend time with the missionaries and explain the outcomes of the intervention.

In many cases the missionaries in question are American Evangelist (but not always), are very organised, and are without doubt destroying the culture of these remote tribes. So many aspects are common to these missions - forcing the Indians to wear clothes rather than their native dress (or lack of), preventing the natives from performing their customary dancing, singing and ceremonies (other than singing hymns), moving the nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes into houses in the missions, indenturing or enslaving the Indians into working on farms and plantations, modifying their attitudes to sex. As well as that, eliminating the Shaman and traditional beliefs of the Indians and converting them to believe in a fairytale about sky wizards and a heaven and hell scenario which they cannot even translate into a workable concept for the Indians.

I mean this literally - the translations turn the core concepts of Christianity into a ridiculous jumble of meaningless rubbish. Some examples were given, including this ridiculous translation of the crucifixion for the Panare tribe: (P190)
The Panare killed Jesus Christ
because they were wicked
Let's kill Jesus Christ
said the Panare.
The Panare seized Jesus Christ.
The Panare killed in this way.
They laid a cross on the ground.
They fastened his hands and his feet
against the wooden beams, with nails.
They raised him straight up, nailed.
The man died like that, nailed.
Thus the Panare killed Jesus Christ.

Here was a quote which summed up some of the translation nonsense: (P189)
Difficulties arose from the fact that, as in the majority of Indian languages, there are no equivalents in Panare for many words held as basic concepts of the Christian religion. There is none, for example, for sin, guilt, punishment and redemption. There are many other pitfalls. The concept of a universal God runs contrary to all the processes of Panare thought, and in any case he cannot be thanks, but only congratulated. 'God is love' may be translated as 'the Great Spirit is not angry!'. The panare mentality and character were established in relatively protected forest environment over thousands of years. In this famines were impossible, plagues are not recorded, and the wars that shaped our history were reduced here to at most to a ceremonial skirmish. Consequently the Indians can only grope after the meanings of words coined in a more stressful society. The biblical dramas become hardly more than shadow plays. How can the walls of Jericho fall down for a man who has never seen a brick? How can an Indian, who has never known dearth be urged to store up treasure in heaven?What point can the parable of the talents of silver have to Panare whose language possesses no word for profit? Most of the biblical animals are missing from the rainforest, so 'the Good Shepherd' may have to be translated as 'the sharer who looks after the pigs' *. Redemption is explained as a trading bargain after the arduous rigmarole of cash payments, debits and credits have finally been made clear. Adam and Eve and the fall of men were omitted from the Panare translations owing to their horror of incest."
The * footnote says To some the image seemed inappropriate, so elsewhere small numbers of sheep were imported and raised in an unfavourable environment, so that this could be put right.

According to Lewis, tied up in some of this mission work is a high level political and big business corruption. Politically the missions have power - and wealth. The missions play a part in moving the Indians out of their nomadic or semi-nomadic locations opening the way for development of their lands - felling or forests, establishment of plantations etc - the Indians are then forced to work on these plantations.

Written in 1988, but drawing from the authors travels over many years, this book reads well in individual chapters, but missed an overall narrative to move from the individual stories to a conclusion. It ends abruptly, without even a summary statement. This probably dropped my rating from five to four.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would have been far better for these poor people never to have known us.
-- Captain James Cook

The Missionaries: God Against the Indians recounts an ongoing human tragedy. The book details Norman Lewis' experiences with christian missionaries over the course of his travels through Latin America and Southeast Asia. These missionaries, particularly US evangelicals, perpetrated the destruction of native cultures through their ruthless and relentless practices – from the stripping of forests and theft of land to wholesale enslavement of populations.

Chief among the offending missions Mr. Lewis encounters is the New Tribes Mission. While their credo states: "Through evangelism, Bible translation and discipleship, missionaries serving with New Tribes Mission are planting churches among unreached people groups," Mr. Lewis' experiences detail a far different picture – one where missionaries perpetrate debt slavery, turn a blind eye to genocide, and foster the destruction of native cultures.

In an example of a New Tribes Mission so-called "Bible translation," the missionaries accuse the Panare tribe of Venezuela, whom they were attempting to evangelize, of killing Christ:

The Panare killed Jesus Christ
because they were wicked
Let's kill Jesus Christ
said the Panare.
The Panare seized Jesus Christ.
The Panare killed in this way.
They laid a cross on the ground.
They fastened his hands and his feet
against the wooden beams, with nails.
They raised him straight up, nailed.
The man died like that, nailed.
Thus the Panare killed Jesus Christ.

Such are the disgraceful tactics Mr. Lewis observes.

Time and time again (Guatemala, Vietnam, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela…) Mr. Lewis finds the aftermath of the missionaries' invasion into the lands of untroubled people as the devastation of those untroubled people.

Fortunately, Mr. Lewis' reporting, and the outcry that followed, led to the creation of Survival International, a human rights organization that campaigns for the rights of indigenous tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples and helps them to determine their own future.

Unfortunately, organizations such as New Tribes Mission are still in operation.

Lewis laments in the afterward: "The great human tragedy of the missionary conquest of the Pacific is being repeated now in all 'untouched' parts of the world. In another thirty years no trace of aboriginal life anywhere will have survived."

With renewed focus on modern-day slavery (such as A Crime So Monstrous by Ben Skinner, and Underground America edited by Peter Orner) we should reexamine the continuing offenses perpetrated by these missionaries.

[b bb bbbb bbbbbbbb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well intentioned, yet it ends up being an odd, wandering jumble of history, reporting, anecdotes and memoir. Lewis' other material blended these together much more successfully.

There is a moderate amount of dubious speculating and projecting of ideas and intentions onto the people he sees and writes about, instead of simply observing or asking the people themselves about it.

The subject matter of missionaries destroying the culture, habitat and way of life (to the point of genocide) of indigenous peoples is extremely frustrating, sad and depressing.

[Michelle Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

i remember reading this book when I was in college close to 30 years ago. I was decluttering my books and decided to read this book. It pissed me off then and it still pisses me off. Missionaries claimed to be doing God's work but were doing things the way God wouldn't approved of: completely destroying native cultures by stealing lands, destroying forests and wholesale enslavement of native population. This book took place in Central and South America. It sounds familiar because the same thing happened in North America.

[Dunrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been working my way through all of Norman Lewis' books. This was the roughest yet, due to its subject.

As its title alludes, the book covers how American missionaries in South America interfered with the health and culture of nomadic folks in remote areas (hunted them, force them to settle on the mission and be rented out as heavy laborers or worse, get them to give up their rituals).

Difficult, shocking topic, glad to have read it but hard to handle.

[Lockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this doesn't convince you of the venality of those christian hypocrites who enslave indiginous populations, nothing will. Lewis's experience as described in this very easily readable short book, led him to help found Survival International, the campaign for tribal peoples' rights.

[Les Dangerfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Norman lewis' non fiction writing but I found this one disappointing. The overall message is an important one but the book is too lossely structured for my liking - there's no logical progression to his writing.

[قصي بن خليفة · Rating 3 out of 5]

من أعجب ما قرأت! بعد قراءة 40 صفحة كنت لا أزال في حيرة ما هو موضوع الكتاب... ولم تسعفني لغته غير السهلة فلم تنجح القراءة السريعة، ولكن لاحظت أني إذا تمهلت وجدت متعة بل عجبٌ عجاب
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الكاتب من كتاب الرحلات المشهورين على ما يبدو... يحكي في هذا الكتاب عن القبائل البدائية في العالم، هذا التراث الحي قبل أن تبيد وتصبح من التاريخ والحضارات البائدة... بدأ في جواتيمالا ثم جزر المحيط الهادئ ثم فيتنام ثم الباراجواي والبرازيل وفنزويلا، وهناك الكثير من التاريخ لم نر سوى طرفه
~~~~~
عديت نصف الكتاب والآن استوعبت!... يحكي الصراع بينه وهو الإنسان المتحضر الذي يريد أن يحافظ على الآثار القديمة والعادات القديمة ويمثل دور اليونسكو ربما، وكيف أن الحضارة المادية أتت لتدمر ثقافات وأشياء لا تقدر بثمن، ومعها المبشرون المسيحيون الذين لا هَمَّ لهم سوى تدمير تلك الثقافات وإدخال النور المسيحي كما يقولون، فهم بذلك يدمرون ويزيلون كل التماثيل والخرافات الموجودة!! فتأمل ذلك
~~~~~
يُعاملون الهنود وهم السكان الأصليون وكأنهم كائنات بدائية أو نوع من الحيوانات فيذلونهم في رزقهم ويأخذون أراضيهم ويضعونهم في مخيمات كمخيمات اللاجئين، بل أسوأ ويسمونها محميات!.... كأنني أقرأ شيء من الخيال أو في الماضي السحيق رغم أن رحلة الكاتب الرئيسية كانت في السبعينات
~~~~~
رغم كل شيء فقد فتح عيوني على أمور جديدة

من ذلك من إيمانهم الشديد بباطلهم وحرصهم الأشد وتفانيهم للدعوة والتبشير ورغبتهم في إنقاذ الناس كما يقولون

ومن ذلك موضوع دراسة وتبويب المعثورات الأثرية في مكان ما والتي قد تأخذ سنوات، ويا لها من إضاعة للوقت والمال. ما تفعله إدارة الآثار في الشارقة على سبيل المثال، وقد كنا منبهرين بعملهم، أراه الآن تقليد واتباع أعمي للغرب وولعه بكل ما هو غريب
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جعلني أتأمّل فيمن يقدّس التراث وهم كثر وربما أفاضل. هؤلاء جعلوا لكل موروث ورثوه هالة وقدسية وقيمة كبيرة، ربما لندرته أو لقربه من قلوبهم كقرب الأم والأب. قد أتفهم هذا، ولكن لم القدسية المفرطة؟ ألم يهدم الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم الأصنام؟ أم لها قدسية؟ قد تقول أنها باطل وقد ترك عمر الأهرام. أقول تركها ولم يعرها بالاً

تأمل معي طالبان وأصنام بوذا وتأمل مكة والقلعة العثمانية، وكيف قامت قيامة العالم لهذه الموروثات أو الآثار كما تسمى

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and quite sad to think and picture the genocide of the native indian population throughout Latin America, all in the name of God and ultimately in vain. Filled me with a strong desire to travel to these places and experience it for myself, however I'm not sure that is possible any longer.

[Graham Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

An expose of the many injustices committed against first people's.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could give it 3.5 stars. It is a must read for contemporary missionaries as well as anyone interested in hunter-gatherer clashing with modern culture. At some points I feel like he meandered from his main subject and at others it was a little dry but overall it was a good read. As a prospective missionary, I can say the actions and attitudes recorded go against everything I have ever learned. My education is more anthropological and looks nothing like these ridiculous men and women who destroy cultures and peoples all in the name of their fundamentalist, gnostic religion. I guess I'm one of those liberal missionaries that the NTM and SIL would forbid tribesmen from associating with because we are the acolytes of Satan. Coming from these people I consider that a compliment. Pick it up and see for yourself the beauty of these ancient people and the ignorant men and women who work tirelessly to destroy them.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this much more. For too few know how the Summer Language Institute belies its anodyne name to advance the New Tribes Mission in its relentless push to wipe out traditional enclaves in the name of spreading the Gospel to all men and women. But Lewis combines a too-loose structure with overwhelmingly grim coverage. Not that I expected fluffy inspiration, and I am glad his own foundation counters this pressure, by encouraging natives to be able to make their own decisions. Reading this three decades-plus after it documents in 1988 the impacts perpetrated by these preachers and promoters, I doubt that the crush of eager, calculating, and linguistically-driven representatives of the SIL's programs has eased. While Catholicism worked out a compromise with native ways, the Protestant-Evangelical-Pentecostal factions deny any negotiated middle-ground.

[Jeni Harger · Rating 2 out of 5]

So far, this book is an easy read but not as engaging as I'd hoped. Obviously, you can tell a lot from the title. I expected it to be a little more historical in its focus. Instead the author writes about the current-day impact of evangelicism in Latin America and elsewhere. He really seems to be driving home the point that religion has been used for political purposes and selfish gain.

[Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have experienced the effects of missionary work on the cultural identity of native people first hand through my travel with EWB. However, I did not truely understand the extent to which they had negatively impacted those they "converted" until I read this book. To me this is a must read book about the importance of cultural tolerance and a lesson in the morality of missionary work.