Christianity and colonialism

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Christianity and colonialism are associated with each other by some ideas, because of the service of Christianity, in its various denominations (namely Protestantism, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy), as the state religion of the historical European colonial powers in which Christians likewise made up the majority. In several regions, Christian missionaries acted as the "religious arms" of the imperialist powers of Europe, but oftentimes they also defended the rights of indigenous peoples. According to Edward E. Andrews, Associate Professor of Providence College Christian missionaries were initially portrayed as "visible saints, exemplars of ideal piety in a sea of persistent savagery". However, by the time the colonial era drew to a close in the later half of the 20th century, missionaries were critically viewed as "ideological shock troops for colonial invasion whose zealotry blinded them", colonialism's "agent, scribe and moral alibi". Meanwhile, "differing South Asian groups who...

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