The Korean “aid workers” held hostage in Afghanistan earn Jason Kim’s scorn not because of their religious beliefs, but because he believes they are severely misguided.
I don’t want civilians to die, but the recent abduction of 20 or so South Korean Christian missionaries and the execution of 2 of them has got me thinking about the not-so-clear distinction between what can be legitimately called an act with anti-colonial underpinnings, or what the mainstream would view as a vicious and barbaric attack on a group of well-meaning “aid workers”1.
As you may or may not know, Koreans in Korea and in North America are some of the staunchest Protestant Christians, often of the American-style evangelical persuasion. According to the numbers, about a quarter of South Korea’s population identify themselves as Christian, while over 75% of Koreans living in America describe themselves as such. As a result, it isn’t surprising that Koreans make up a rather large portion of the world’s Christian missionaries. In fact, Korea sends more missionaries abroad than even the US.2
Now, I know that many religious organizations do valuable relief work without actively proselytizing, but I think the Taliban or whoever is killing these hostages have good reason to do so. Are they not resisting the foreign colonial imperative?
Those who wish to spread the word of God can do so without traveling to exotic locales filled with dark-skinned and impoverished people. I’m pretty sure if there is such as thing as a god, he wouldn’t care whether you converted 10 Afghani goat herders or 10 of your suburban neighbors.That’s right: I don’t think religion in itself is a sinister influence or perhaps even inherently colonial, which is opposed to the now-trendy “angry atheist” bigotry of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and others like them.Let me be clear in saying that I myself do not believe in any god, and am thoroughly unspiritual: no yoga, no New Age, no alternative healing, no horoscopes, no rituals, no fate, no nothing. I live in a thoroughly unromantic world.
Yet I recognize that religion is a useful, and oftentimes, a positive influence on people’s lives, and that individuals choose to be faithful because they gain personal happiness and other benefits from spiritual practice, not because they are stupid or misinformed.
What I mean by this is that this isn’t an anti-religion tract, nor do I want to suggest that I support the Taliban and other organizations linked to terrorism. Nor do I support killing religious leaders and people. I think its high time that both the left and right, religious and non-religious think critically about what’s at stake in the current hostage crisis.
Missionaries are rightly contrary to anti-oppression politics, but this isn’t because of their religious beliefs in and of themselves. Rather, it is because of the voyeuristic attitude implicit in any sort of mission project (ie. a grand scheme to improve a certain situation), combined with this thoroughly misguided idea that a soul saved abroad is worth more than a soul saved at home that makes me have zero sympathy for these Korean missionary hostages.
- They are from the same church group. They aren’t aid workers, no matter how many times the Western media claim they are. [↩]
- ”In terms of missionaries per congregation, Korea sends one missionary for every 4.2 congregations, which places it 11th in the world.” - http://www.christianitytoday.com/38168 [↩]
