Summary: The Pitfalls of Christian Mission. Every winter, it is the same ritual. Anointed with sunscreen, mostly Americans and Japanese descend on the beach of Waikiki to find out how Sardines feel when they are crammed in a can. Hawaii is the prime location to enjoy the blessings of mass tourism. When they make up for 52 weeks of toil and snares, vacationers usually do not give the behind of a rodent how this Polynesian island came to be the 50st state. featuring Jamaica Osorio, Brave New Voices, HBO 2009 For those who want more than sunburn and efficiently calculated hotel luaus, Sarah Vowell has written “Unfamiliar Fishes” (Riverhead, 2011), a highly accessible history of Hawaii. With pointed prose, she takes a very sobering look on how the land of the free ended the freedom of Hawaii. Her book is recommended not just for the history buffs, but especially for those who try to spread the word of Christ. As a topic for religious discourse, Hawaii is as exotic as its location. But unrightfully so. It is almost a model case for the pitfalls of Christian mission in the nineteenth century. In 1820, American missionaries bring the message of love. It must have been a tough love, because nauseated contempt for the natives drips from the pages of their diaries. Half a century later, most Hawaiians are dead and their islands are the private property of the missionaries’ grandsons. Hawaii, that never was a true Garden of Eden, aside from the weather, had turned into a thoroughly segregated paradise for rich racists. Lorrin Andrews Thurston (July 31, 1858 – May 11, 1931) was a lawyer, politician, and businessman born and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The grandson of two of the first Christian missionaries to Hawaiʻi, Thurston played a prominent role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom that replaced Queen Liliʻuokalani with the Republic of Hawaii, dominated by American interests.- wikipedia Vowell's book may serve as an underpinning to revisit a painful chapter of church history. The church is called to spread the gospel. The mission to Hawaii also felt called to bring “civilization”. Accordingly, the missionaries were primarily guided by their cultural biases and not by the word of Christ. Subordinating the gospel to culture is a very contemporary problem, e.g. acceptance - or not - of LGBT people in mainstream Protestant churches. Exploring the past will illuminate the present and help the church to avoid the mistakes of the past. She should be busy enough making new mistakes. The intentions were pure when missionaries were dispatched by the American Board for Commissioners of Foreign Mission, the first missionary society in the US. Heathens had to be rescued from the darkness of unbelief. The board had its roots in the “Second Great Awakening”. Their piety combined an experiential conversion event with a profound appreciation of the scriptures. Unfortunately, their gospel was inseparably tied to the New England variant of Western culture. In their perception, the Calvinist Protestant was the bearer of God’s light to a world that was darkened by unbelief and the Catholics. God gave New England the gift of civilization. Much of the rest of the world had yet to receive this gift. So the missionaries felt compelled to bring the double blessings of gospel and civilization. In short, true salvation was only found in the Heathen’s discovery of his inner New Englander. Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham I (1789–1869), was leader of the first group of Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands.
