Religion Map of the World...

[Coconut Flan]

Yes, if a person can't check out at the grocery store without verbally witnessing to/harrassing the cashier or the bagger, they might want to think about how they classify things and their world view. I have neighbors like that. They go to a church that teaches never miss an opportunity to "share your faith" or in other words to bug or be rude to other people. I've spent years explaining to them how that is perceived as rude and arrogant by many people and there are better ways of handling things. Of course these are the same people who didn't want the Mormons at the Good Friday cross walk luncheon. At least I've convinced her that the Catholics were reasonable participants.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

I can't believe they didn't put Russia and some of the Scandinavian countries on there. They approach 50% of the population self-identifying as atheists.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

FWIW here's an image of what religions are actually practiced where:

http://www.rayfowlerDOTorg/blog/wp-cont ... igions.gif

[YPestis]

There are persecution of Christians and all religions in various parts of the world. The map is inaccurate because it confuses individual instances of persecution with official, government sanctioned ones. As one poster above stated, in China, you can most definitely buy Bibles and attend Church but the gov't does have issues with "unsanctioned" churches. So there is persecution of Christians, but really no different than persecution of every other religious organizations that appears to supercede the Chinese Communist party.

I think what irks me about the map is it implies that Christians are the ONLY ones persecuted. In fact, in many so-called hostile countries, the gov't persecutes everyone. It's a general human rights issue, not just a Christian problem. Also, the same people who tout this type of map also hate any public display or support of nonChristian religions themselves. In other words, they are the first ones in line to persecute other religions that they accuse other countries of doing to Christians. What a bunch of hypocrites.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Yes, if a person can't check out at the grocery store without verbally witnessing to/harrassing the cashier or the bagger, they might want to think about how they classify things and their world view. I have neighbors like that. They go to a church that teaches never miss an opportunity to "share your faith" or in other words to bug or be rude to other people. I've spent years explaining to them how that is perceived as rude and arrogant by many people and there are better ways of handling things. Of course these are the same people who didn't want the Mormons at the Good Friday cross walk luncheon. At least I've convinced her that the Catholics were reasonable participants.

Thiiiiiis. The problem for a lot of people that original map was aimed at is that they fully believe that they must proselytize to be good people. This makes it hard to shoo them off or convince them that they can believe what they want but should leave others alone.

Plenty of people are not religious but fine to "live and let live," but if the religious person is one of those "I have to try and save you, I have to share the word, 24/7" people who thinks the "...let live" part is weak-ass religion, particularly if they grew up sheltered in circles where that was completely normal and everyone is talking Jesus all the time, there will be conflicts.

I can buy the map as an indication of where it might be hard for missionaries to do gospel-sharing. Though I have to admit when I first saw it I thought perhaps they'd list countries where religious freedom is fine but (1) most people are secular and don't want to hear about your religion, OR (2) most people are some OTHER religion but are quite fervent in it and so similarly don't want to hear about your religion, as "hostile" (so as someone else mentioned, say, Scandinavia or Japan) but I suppose not.

Still I'd love to see a map like the original one for any other religion (I picked Scientology earlier because people call it out as a cult frequently, but really ANY other religion is fine) and see how those same potential Christian missionaries would take it.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

FWIW here's an image of what religions are actually practiced where:

http://www.rayfowlerDOTorg/blog/wp-cont ... igions.gif

That's a pretty neat map.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

I can buy the map as an indication of where it might be hard for missionaries to do gospel-sharing. Though I have to admit when I first saw it I thought perhaps they'd list countries where religious freedom is fine but (1) most people are secular and don't want to hear about your religion, OR (2) most people are some OTHER religion but are quite fervent in it and so similarly don't want to hear about your religion, as "hostile" (so as someone else mentioned, say, Scandinavia or Japan) but I suppose not.

This is what I hate about missionaries and missionary organizations. The CANNOT take the hint that some regions of the world aren't interested in their religion. It's true that those same regions might have some serious human rights issues, but "open border, insert Christianity" is not the answer to those problems.

[slickcat79]

I can't believe they didn't put Russia and some of the Scandinavian countries on there. They approach 50% of the population self-identifying as atheists.

But see, those countries don't have the poverty-stricken brown people who SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR THE WORD OF JESUS, so it's totally different.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

But see, those countries don't have the brown people, so it's totally different.

But it's RUSSIA!!! COMMIENAZILAND! They passed up a golden opportunity to pontificate!

[CanadianHippie]

But see, those countries don't have the poverty-stricken brown people who SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR THE WORD OF JESUS, so it's totally different.

Well, they do have Belarus on their, which is 82% Orthodox Christianity. I can only assume that it's listed as "Restricted" because they do prohibit religious organizations deemed harmful to society or government organizations. Which would mean no independent fundamentalist baptist churches and other such groups that do their very hardest to limit the personal freedoms of anyone who isn't the right kind of Christian (though regular Baptists are apparently permitted) and no home churches.

[DifferentGurl]

This is what I hate about missionaries and missionary organizations. The CANNOT take the hint that some regions of the world aren't interested in their religion. It's true that those same regions might have some serious human rights issues, but "open border, insert Christianity" is not the answer to those problems.

Yea, sure the arrival of missionairies sometimes brought in literacy among other things, but this is at the cost of them persecuting the local population for their religion. Jeez, it's ok for you to persecute others for their religion but heaven forbid they start persecuting you for your religion. If you want others to let you worship how you want, then do the same and lets others worship how they want....and if you want to "save people", learn how to take a hint and not push religion down others throats when they clearly said THEY AREN'T INTERESTED IN YOUR RELIGION.

This is why my family has a problem with missionaries....because they go to a place where a group of people have lived well for thousands of years and tell them that their religion is better. Do onto others as they do onto you! Why can't some people remember that?

[gardenvarietycitizen]

This is why my family has a problem with missionaries....because they go to a place where a group of people have lived well for thousands of years and tell them that their religion is better. Do onto others as they do onto you! Why can't some people remember that?

I was never religious but this is similar to why I have a real problem with missionaries - at least the ones I ran into as a kid.

To me, they sounded like multiple people each screaming at the top of their lungs that THEY, and only THEY, have the TRUTH. Problem is, the various "truths" they are peddling directly contradict each other, so why bother believing any of them? Obviously some of them have to be false.

That alone is just annoying, but they'd go further, and preach that only believers in the Gospel (their specific interpretation of it, of course) were good people and going to heaven. Everyone else will just burn. When questioned, they say yes, EVERYONE, including everyone I know, everyone in the country, including amazing people who have done amazing things for the area FAR more than any random foreigners have or ever will do. All for not believing in their god. So... eff that.

Then, they will say that, well, people who truly haven't HEARD the Gospel maybe won't burn (this is one of those things they don't agree on, though) because they haven't actually rejected God, they haven't heard of him so they don't have the responsibility to listen. To which my response is, why on EARTH are you travelling the world and putting on RESPONSIBILITIES on people (by these missionaries' own view) that they would not have to deal with without your intervention?

And of course they sit there thinking that their own foreign culture is of course better than anything local, they're there to Fix It All. Just... wut?

Plenty of religious people do good things worldwide both in their countries and in other countries, but the attitude of some of the explicit missionaries just really bugs the hell out of me. Particularly when they go around targeting kids.

I mean, imagine if say some very well funded and explicitly proselytiz-y Muslim group (just picking a religion viewed as very much Other in much of the US) came to a poor town in the US and set up some program for kids. Parents are grateful because they need childcare and their kids get to eat there and whatever, so far so good, but then their kids start coming home and telling mom she should cover her hair and worrying about their parents having a bad afterlife because they don't believe, and telling the parents they need to spend more money they don't have to buy only halal meat, or something. I doubt it would go over well among the same sort of (Christian) fundies who go on and on about how wonderful missionizing is.

Of course if some group made a program like that (afterschool activities and free dinner or whatever) and didn't propagandize kids, it would genuinely be a good thing, and probably welcomed. It's the proselytizing hard sell that's the problem. The programs where the actual aid or help is secondary to spreading the word, and the goal is baptizing kids. I dunno, whenever I see those blogs where they're happily baptizing kids and the parents are NOWHERE around in any of the photos or mentions, I have to wonder just what the parents think about it all.

[debrand]

There is a documentary streaming on Netflix about a man who visits the different tribes on a Pacific island(I can't remember the island's name) The inhabitants have their own beliefs and traditions. At the end of the documentary, the man discusses how upset a particular group is because a missionary visited and told them that they were doing everything wrong, including being nude. Such disrespect for another culture is very upsetting. There seem to be a number of American missionaries who really believe that being Christian means acting and dressing like someone from the west.

When I attended an IFB church there was a missionary from Africa who informed us that the region's native faiths were demonic. It seems that some missionaries(especially IFB) don't mind contorting what local people belief so that it sounds evil. A friend's church sends missionaries to Italy because it isn't enough to be a Christian, you have to be the right kind of Christian.

[julie paradox]

Then, they will say that, well, people who truly haven't HEARD the Gospel maybe won't burn (this is one of those things they don't agree on, though) because they haven't actually rejected God, they haven't heard of him so they don't have the responsibility to listen. To which my response is, why on EARTH are you travelling the world and putting on RESPONSIBILITIES on people (by these missionaries' own view) that they would not have to deal with without your intervention?

"This is why it is imperative to shoot missionaries on sight." - Pterry

The pie chart thingy, if you look closely, is telling us what proportion of their missionary efforts goes where. Sigh. Why can't they do missionary work in their own country? But then I suppose they couldn't call themselves Voice of the Martyrs (which, amusingly, comes up as VOM).

[DifferentGurl]

There is a documentary streaming on Netflix about a man who visits the different tribes on a Pacific island(I can't remember the island's name) The inhabitants have their own beliefs and traditions. At the end of the documentary, the man discusses how upset a particular group is because a missionary visited and told them that they were doing everything wrong, including being nude. Such disrespect for another culture is very upsetting. There seem to be a number of American missionaries who really believe that being Christian means acting and dressing like someone from the west.

Was this Papa New Guinea? I watched this one documentary about this one tribe in Papa New Guinea and they were naked...for the most part. The women would wear no shirts but wore grass skirts because they believed if they didn't, spirits would go up their vagina or anus. The men would also sometimes wear a bird's beak over their penises. When my sister saw the man with the bird beak on his penis, she was "

Oh my gosh!". I hope I didn't scar her for life. :lol:

[CanadianHippie]

Was this Papa New Guinea? I watched this one documentary about this one tribe in Papa New Guinea and they were naked...for the most part. The women would wear no shirts but wore grass skirts because they believed if they didn't, spirits would go up their vagina or anus. The men would also sometimes wear a bird's beak over their penises. When my sister saw the man with the bird beak on his penis, she was "

Oh my gosh!". I hope I didn't scar her for life. :lol:

This is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to missionaries. They are so sure that their way is the right way that they think nothing of visiting a people who have remained mostly unaffected by any contact with the rest of the world they may have had and actively trying to change them. Cultures have died out because self-important Christians who think they know everything have actively tried to change it. It really makes me worry for the few remaining uncontacted peoples left.

[Anxious Girl]

It should be titled; "Lack of Fundamental Christianity in the World" for these ignorant fundies.

[Childless]

Ugh. I can't stand missionaries. I've traveled to various parts of the world and seen many indigenous cultures. It's a shame that these people try and change them. They are interesting and have their own lessons to teach us and I shudder to think that they are dying out because Christians feel the need to dominate everyone.

Personally, I find other religions in the U.S. more tolerable than Christians in this country. People of other religions don't ring my doorbell and wake up my napping toddler or bother my ass during dinner. They leave me alone to live my life in peace.