"Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete."

Huh?

Comments

[Nathanael Snow]

Nike refers to sweatshops, of course, which are not as bad as this atheist makes them out to be.
Witch doctors is obvious.
Cell phones may be your mystery. Did you know that Somalia, a land with no government, has a rich and thriving cell phone industry. Economist Ben Powell has excellent work on Somalia, and Tom Hazlitt has work on the telecommunications industry within Africa and without.
The machete is also obvious.

[Jason Taylor]

I get what's wrong with machetes(at least when they are used on people instead of brush). But what's wrong with mobile phones?

[labrialumn]

The atheist sees that Christianity provides a worldview for the locals to be able to resist exploitation and genocidal hate.

[Zoe Sandvig]

Sorry, everyone, about the confusing 'huh.' I know what the author meant. The 'huh' was intended to point out the beautiful irony of such words coming from an atheist's mouth.

[Zoe Sandvig]

LeeQuod,

You're probably right about the quote. I may have picked a poor example. But as I read the entire article, I tend to believe that Christianity might actually be winning Mr. Parris over, not simply convincing him thatit's good for his proverbial children.

Comments like this make me believe he might not be beyond taking his own medicine:

"But traveling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God."

[LeeQuod]

I understand what you're trying to say, Zoe, but I'm not altogether convinced that it's quite so ironic - or beautiful, either. Rather like those adults who want religion for their children because it teaches the kids some values, but not for themselves because it's too restrictive, atheists much prefer to live in a place where everyone *else* is a Christian.

[becky]

Funny that he mentioned no other religion. He recognizes the value of faith but still has none of his own. I agree. Huh!