Missionaries brought already damaged goods to Uganda
The 131st anniversary of the coming of the first Catholic missionaries to Uganda was recently celebrated. However, a far more important year than 1879 in human history was 1859. For 1859 was the year that Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published.
Darwin described the processes of evolution and natural selection which, by inference, drove a “cart and horses through” (i.e. showed as nonsense) important parts of the Bible’s Old Testament, such as Adam and Eve.
Kevin’s conversion
This triumph of science and reason over religious superstition meant that 20 years later, when Father Lourdel and Brother Amans arrived here, the missionaries were bringing already damaged goods to Uganda.
115 years after Father Lourdel, Roving Eye, arrived in Uganda. At that time, I was an agnostic (someone who is not sure whether there is a God or not). Uganda, however, converted me from an agnostic into an atheist (someone who believes there is no God).
Where was God?
Uganda is the most church-going country I have ever lived in, yet also the most corrupt. In other words, going to church and the influence of Christian
prayer and preaching seem to do little to reduce corrupt “eating”.
The Rwandan Genocide took place a few months before my arrival. So where was God during this genocide and during the Nazi Holocaust, the 2006 Asian Tsunami, the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes etc? Asleep? Gone for lunch? On holiday? Otherwise engaged?
Benny Hinn
And then there are those wretched American pastors who regularly visit here. Well, the only thing that gets healed at a Benny Hinn crusade is Benny Hinn’s bank balance.
“Have no faith in faith” is the motto of this columnist. And, if as you read this, you continue to cling to your religion, ask yourself a few questions:
If the Indians, rather than the British, had colonised Uganda, would this not then be a Hindu country, rather than a predominantly Christian one?
From when you were a baby, what have been the effects on you of your parents (and your school) feeding your brain with a particular religion? If this brainwashing was stripped away, would you be so certain in your faith? Indeed, would you have faith at all? For, as a Jesuit once said, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.”
1859 is far more important than 1879, when the missionaries brought already damaged goods to Uganda.
