Christian Missionary killed by tribe on north sentinel island

Started by Munch, November 24, 2018, 11:29:32 AM

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Munch

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2018/11/22/us-missionary-killed-tribespeople-north-sentinel-island-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/around-the-world/

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/21/asia/andaman-nicobar-us-missionary-killed-intl/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5GxyVstvFY

QuoteNew Delhi (CNN)An American Christian believed to have been engaged in missionary work appears to have been killed by tribespeople from one of the world's most isolated communities, on a remote island hundreds of miles off the coast of India, according to officials.

The 27-year-old American, identified as John Allen Chau, came to India on a tourist visa but came to the Andaman and Nicobar islands in October with the express purpose of proselytizing, Dependra Pathak, director general of police of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, told CNN.
"We refuse to call him a tourist. Yes, he came on a tourist visa but he came with a specific purpose to preach on a prohibited island," Pathak said.

Chau did not inform the police of his intentions to travel to the island to attempt to convert its inhabitants, officials said.
The adventurer's relatives, in a post on his Instagram page, said Wednesday that Chau was a beloved family member. "To others he was a Christian missionary, a wilderness EMT, an international soccer coach, and a mountaineer. He loved God, life, helping those in need, and had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people." The family said it forgives those who took Chau's life.

The island, North Sentinel Island, is inhabited by the Sentinelese, who are protected under Indian law. Just more than a dozen people are officially thought to live on the remote island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.
The island is a protected area, and people are not allowed to go within 5 nautical miles of it, after previous incidents of aggressive behavior toward outsiders were observed. In 2006, two local fishermen were killed by the tribes.

Illegal access
Pathak said the American missionary had asked one of his local friends, an electronic engineer, to arrange a boat and find some fishermen who could take him to the island. The contact found a boat and the fishermen, along with a water sports expert, to help with the expedition.
All seven locals who facilitated the trip have been arrested.
"According to the fishermen, they used a wooden boat fitted with motors to travel to the island on November 15," Pathak said.
"The boat stopped 500-700 meters (1,640 - 2,300 feet) away from the island and (the American missionary) used a canoe to reach the shore of the island. He came back later that day with arrow injuries. On the 16th, the (tribespeople) broke his canoe.

"So he came back to the boat swimming. He did not come back on the 17th; the fishermen later saw the tribespeople dragging his body around."
The police haven't independently verified that he is dead, but based on what the fishermen have told them believe that he was killed.
"We have a team out in the waters for reconnaissance and to strategize how to recover his body. The team consists of coastal guards, officials from tribal welfare department, forest department officers and police officials."

Remote, largely isolated
An official from the US Consulate in Chennai confirmed that diplomats are "aware of reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands."
"When a US citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment," the official said.
Chau was "martyred," said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Covenant Journey, a Christian ministry that introduces college-age students to Israel through an immersion program.
"John loved people, and he loved Jesus. He was willing to give his life to share Jesus with the people on North Sentinel island," Staver said in a press release. "Ever since high school, John wanted to go to North Sentinel to share Jesus with this indigenous people."
The island group is about 850 miles (1,370 kilometers) east of the Indian subcontinent.
There are 572 islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory, only three dozen of which are inhabited. The territory has a population of nearly 380,000, according to India's 2011 census.
The 2011 survey only spotted 15 Sentinelese on their island -- the count was done from a distance due to the danger in approaching the tribe. In the 2001 census, the total population was estimated to be 39.
India has designated five indigenous tribal groups in the territory as "particularly vulnerable" due to the loss of sustaining resources and customs.
India's Ministry of Tribal Affairs has said that, with regard to Sentinelese tribes, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration "has adopted an 'eyes-on and hands-off' policy to ensure that no poachers enter into the island."
Survival International, a nongovernmental group that says it is dedicated to tribal peoples' rights, said Indian authorities should ensure outsiders not make contact with the tribe, because of the risk of disease or threats to their land.
"The Sentinelese have shown again and again that they want to be left alone, and their wishes should be respected," the group said. "The British colonial occupation of the Andaman Islands decimated the tribes living there, wiping out thousands of tribespeople, and only a fraction of the original population now survive. So the Sentinelese fear of outsiders is very understandable."

All that came to mind first was:



Doesn't surprise me really. To be so willfully ignorant to not take into account the damage your actions could have. He could have brought disease to these isolated people, he ignored all authority and warning thinking 'GOD IS GREAT' that it would protect him from arrows and spears, all to push his idiotic indoctrination on an isolated people.

Honestly, doesn't feel like a tragedy, feels more like one less stupid person on the planet.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

Mike Cl

Yeah, my first reaction was---culling the herd. 

I guess god did not see fit to have him live. :)  I only hope the indians aren't punished.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Baruch

Same as people trying to evangelize N Korea.  But eventually the Muslims will come, and exterminate those islanders anyway.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

No, eventually the ocean will come and exterminate those islanders.


My first thought was "Oh, great, another Darwin award recipient!"

His family and fellow faith-heads think of him as a martyr, and are happy as God's little clams that he's in the arms o' Jesus now, having died for the Lord.

I don't know where I come down in the debate as to whether these folks are being deprived of modern progress, or should just be left alone to do their own thing. But any contact with them should certainly be done very carefully, or they'll all be dead within a few years. Goddamned missionaries are the very last people in the world that should be anywhere near them.

God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on November 24, 2018, 01:15:00 PM
No, eventually the ocean will come and exterminate those islanders.


My first thought was "Oh, great, another Darwin award recipient!"

His family and fellow faith-heads think of him as a martyr, and are happy as God's little clams that he's in the arms o' Jesus now, having died for the Lord.

I don't know where I come down in the debate as to whether these folks are being deprived of modern progress, or should just be left alone to do their own thing. But any contact with them should certainly be done very carefully, or they'll all be dead within a few years. Goddamned missionaries are the very last people in the world that should be anywhere near them.

No, you will kill them because you didn't stop driving your car!

Progressives, killing inferiors since the invention of cities.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

He wasn't a tourist, he was a missionary.  He was an idiot, driven to tell heathens (to his mind) that THEY were idiots.  He went to teach them that what had sustained them for millennia was wrong.  He got some local fishermen in trouble for helping him to get o a group of people who should have been left alone.

He was the child of medieval fanatics who burned scientists at the stake, burned their books and denied their evidence. 

He was the child of the Spanish conquistadors who destroyed native american civilizations.

He was the child of Europeans who spread blankets of diseases to people who were not immune to those diseases.

He is a child of Jonestown and every sick fanatic group who thought they were THE ONLY WAY.

He was trash!  And I hope his last gasping breath was a useless pleading to the deity that only existed in his mind. 

The crazies like him can best serve the world by ridding us of them.

Evolution In Action...
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Unbeliever

Quote from: Baruch on November 24, 2018, 02:33:58 PM
No, you will kill them because you didn't stop driving your car!
I haven't driven a car in about 20 years.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Cavebear

Quote from: Unbeliever on November 24, 2018, 04:02:25 PM
I haven't driven a car in about 20 years.

Just out of curiousity and no sarc meant, but is it staying very local walking distance or is it taxi/friends/bicycle?
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Unbeliever

Walking. I don't even take busses, as they're too expensive. I don't want a bike for various reasons, either. I'm just lucky I still have the ability to walk, or I'd be in real trouble!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Cavebear

Quote from: Unbeliever on November 24, 2018, 04:21:27 PM
Walking. I don't even take busses, as they're too expensive. I don't want a bike for various reasons, either. I'm just lucky I still have the ability to walk, or I'd be in real trouble!

Grok.  I had a friend who was walking distance to everything he usually needed.  More than a mile, he had me and my car, LOL!
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on November 24, 2018, 04:02:25 PM
I haven't driven a car in about 20 years.

Your people who provide you food, do.  Tell them to stop.  Or do you grow your own food in your back yard?  Do you use electricity from anything other than solar/wind?  Typical clueless bourgeoise?
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Hydra009

I wasn't going to talk about this, cause I don't want to seem callous about someone's death or worse, cheer about it when that person wasn't a mass murderer or anything particularly heinous.

But god damn, this guy was told not to go there, had to evade naval patrols designed to stop him from getting there, got shot at before that fatal day, etc.  All the warning signs were there.

And the cherry on top is that he likely knew that this isolated tribe does NOT have any resistance to foreign diseases.  So all it takes is one cough - one sneeze - one handshake - and they're all toast.  That's incredibly irresponsible.  Even the rare visits by anthropologists take great care to minimize any health risks to the natives - limiting their visit time, staying away if they show the slightest symptoms of even a mild cold, etc.

Then I read about how the victim's family "forgives" their son's killers and I think to myself, did the Sentinelese actually commit a crime, either morally or legally?  From their perspective, they're just defending themselves from foreign intrusion.  The person who should've been asking for forgiveness is the missionary, who trespassed and ignored mortal peril in the arrogant belief that he was under some sort of divine protection and guidance.  That's who should've asked for forgiveness.  Of course, that's impossible now.

And then I read about how the victim's family "doesn't seek justice" in this case.  Well, I should hope not!  First off, India's laws don't apply to the Sentinelese.  And besides, what are Indian authorities supposed to do, launch a police raid and round up natives for trial?  Would any accused natives even understand the court proceedings?  And the purpose of laws from their very first inception is to protect people.  That protection is provided by warning people away from the island - ignoring those warnings and doing whatever you want anyway is basically the same as walking around Chernobyl or jumping in a tiger enclosure.  You violated the law.  You took the risk.  Whatever happens is your fault, you can't pass the blame.

The sheer arrogance and entitlement of this whole thing really annoys me.  Just because you purport a holy cause doesn't mean you can ignore the law, endanger the lives of yourself and other people, ignore the wishes of the people you're "helping", and trespass on land that doesn't belong to you.  This is the same sort of mentality that ruined the lives of a bunch of natives in the past.  Must we repeat these mistakes?

Baruch

Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

pr126


SGOS

Quote from: Hydra009 on November 25, 2018, 01:17:53 AM
The sheer arrogance and entitlement of this whole thing really annoys me.
The arrogance of the whole thing has bothered me from the start.  I feel bad that the guy was killed, but that kind of arrogance is exactly the kind of thing that gets people into trouble.  He was at fault.  Granted, he didn't realize he would likely be killed because he believed his opinion was so important.  Such is the power of opinion carried to extreme.

Quote from: Hydra009 on November 25, 2018, 01:17:53 AM
Then I read about how the victim's family "forgives" their son's killers... The person who should've been asking for forgiveness is the missionary, who trespassed and ignored mortal peril in the arrogant belief that he was under some sort of divine protection and guidance.
That adds another layer of arrogance on top of the original.  I'm sorry for the family.  Maybe they can use the experience to understand why medaling in the lives of others is not as glorious as they believe.  They won't of course.