I agree with Greg Jerrett’s attacks on the horrors that Asian, African and American cultures were subjected to by European explorers.

There is no excuse for the murder, abuse and exploitation that these people suffered at the hands of those seeking their own financial gain.

Horrible atrocities were committed in God’s name. Religion was used as an excuse for horrible injustices.

I do disagree with the conclusions that Mr. Jerrett draws from these events. Performing an action in Jesus’ name doesn’t make someone a Christian.

The misdeeds of culturally religious people do not mean that true Christians should abandon their responsibilities to share the good news of Jesus.

This is an issue that St. Francis Xavier, a 16th-century Catholic missionary to India, Indonesia, and Japan faced.

His worst enemies were some of the nominally Christian rulers he would encounter in areas where he was trying to reach out with the love of Jesus.

In a letter, he detailed the misdeeds the people of India were suffering at the hands of their Portuguese rulers and said it was not possible to find an excuse for the “shameful disgraces of our faithless breach of agreement.”

In another letter, he wrote that this behavior “is a thing which wounds my heart to the very core, so atrocious and mischievous is it.”

Xavier saw how much these actions went against Jesus’ teachings.

Some who claim to follow Jesus show by their actions that they don’t know Him.

This doesn’t mean that His name shouldn’t be proclaimed to all. Xavier didn’t let the misdeeds of other Europeans keep him from evangelizing thousands throughout Asia, both natives and Europeans who needed to truly believe the faith they claimed.

The crimes committed in God’s name did not lead St. Francis Xavier to abandon his efforts to share the love of Jesus. Today’s Christians should follow his example.

The truth is that “God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (John 3:16).”

The greatest act of love that those of us who know this can do is to share it with others.

We must not commit the ultimate act of hatred, which is failing to rejoice in and share the fact that Jesus died for the sins of us all.

---

Ryan Larson

Junior

Political science and history