20946: Vishnusurf: Reply to post

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: VISHNUSURF@aol.com

Poster wrote:

"I began by sharing the concept that Haiti has two problems, spiritual
and social. You cannot fix one without the other. We cannot talk about the
social problem until we are ready to deal with the spiritual, just like a
farmer cannot plant good seed in soil until the soil has been prepared."


How terribly self-righteous and condescending is this claim !  So, if
Haitians convert to an white version of Protestant religion, then Haiti will arise ?
In other words, Haiti's African-derived religious culture (perhaps even its
Catholicism, which is in part African-derived)?) is at least half to blame, by
this logic, for the present quagmire, and so it should be changed to a
Protestant religious culture brought by foreign missionaries.  And then things will
get better, right?  This is a very offensive position.  It is tantamount to
saying, "these people are spiritually depraved and that is why there country is
such a mess."  Isn't there a line in the Bible that says something like "Judge
not lest ye be judged?"  This is the kind of attitude that only breeds
division and contempt, and it should be assailed for the paternalistic sanctimony
that it is.