--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote: > > > Re "When the Portuguese and Spanish missionaries arrived > > in Japan and found that the "heathens" had no fuckin' > > interest in what these smelly furriners were trying to sell > > them, they *often* resorted to violence. The Portuguese > > missionaries occasionally killed people to "make an > > example" of them, and if that didn't work, they burned > > entire villages.": > > Got a link for this account? Maybe you should update the > Wikipedia pages as I can't see any mention of these horrors.
I did mention at the beginning of all of this (at least one of the times I've told this story) that the information in question came from JAPANESE history books, did I not? It is unlikely that you'd find accounts such as this in European history books, accounts that portray them as barbarians who never bathed and resorted to violence and terror to try to convert others to their religion. I have no interest in Wikipedia, other than as a user. > Have you read Shusaku Endo's novel "Silence" It's set > in 16th-century Japan, where missionaries face the > persecution of Christians by Japanese feudal lords > who want to drive Christianity out of Japan, and try > to do so by torturing priests into apostasy. I have not, and don't find it likely that I will. I'm telling you why the Japanese feudal lords might have felt that doing this was appropriate. In Japan at the time, pretty much the worst thing you could do is to try to convert someone to your religion. It was an indicator or barbarity, and a complete lack of civilization as they understood it. Those who did this were probably considered by the Japanese as less than human, and in my opinion, rightly.
