# Idiot missionaries visit uncontacted tribes in spite of Covid-19 pandemic **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 15, 2020, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835 "2020-04-15T08:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/1 "2020-04-15T08:24:15Z")
Not to be outdone by [John Allen Chau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Allen_Chau), who is the subject of [his own BBQ Pit thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=865944), it’s now been confirmed that [Christian missionaries from New Tribes Mission (a.k.a. Ethnos360) recently made several helicopter trips to the Vale do Javari reservation in the Amazon,](https://www.derstandard.at/jetzt/livebericht/2000116856996/redcontent/1000187346/corona-livebericht-15-april-2020?responsive=false) home to some of the last uncontacted tribes on the planet.[sup]\*[/sup] The Brazilian government has (perhaps only half-heartedly) forbidden anyone from travelling to this reservation, particularly in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But that hasn’t stopped these moronic proselytizers, who evidently believe that telling these tribespeople about Jesus is more important than decimating their population with a deadly disease. The term “genocide” springs to mind, though I thought I’d open this thread in case Dopers want to express their opinions using more colourful language. [sup]\*[/sup]The link goes to a German-language newspaper; I haven’t seen this reported anywhere in the English-language media yet, though you can read [English reports from last month about the missionaries’ plans](https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/03/21/despite-covid-19-these-evangelicals-want-to-convert-isolated-brazilian-tribes/). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/2 "2020-04-15T08:42:16Z")
FWIW, [this Portuguese-language article in the Brazilian paper _O Globo_](https://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/missionarios-fizeram-voos-de-helicoptero-para-terra-indigena-com-isolados-sem-autorizacao-24365714) seems to be the source of the news. Unfortunately, the article is paywalled, though it can be viewed through Google’s cache. Here’s a machine translation of the first few paragraphs: > [@](#): > > RIO - Purchased by the New Tribes of Brazil Mission (MNTB) to reach and evangelize Indians in remote and difficult to reach locations, the R66 helicopter landed and took off in villages in the Vale do Javari, in the Amazon, without asking permission from the National Foundation of the Indian (Funai), responsible for authorizations to enter Indigenous Lands. In addition to conducting flights in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic, the religious entity also disregarded at least two rules of operations for aircraft established by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac). > > The transgressions of the evangelical mission confirmed by GLOBO did not stop there. Oblivious to the recommendations made by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) to stay away from contact with indigenous people to avoid the spread of the new coronavirus, the MNTB entered on its own within an area where there is the largest concentration of isolated peoples in the world, putting in risk the health of these Indians, contrary to the policy of non-contact supported by the 1988 Constitution. > > Wanted, the organization’s president, Edward Luz assured that all religious were removed from indigenous lands in February, however, O GLOBO found that missionary Jevon Rich was one of those who remained in the region, between the Paraná and Vida Nova villages. Not far from there, there are at least three records under study by Funai of peoples who have never been contacted, including that of Igarapé Cravo. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/3 "2020-04-15T08:55:36Z")
[Story in English from Newsweek](https://www.newsweek.com/uncontacted-tribes-brazil-exterminated-coronavirus-indigenous-leader-1496317): > [@](#): > > Survival International suggested such groups were partly at risk because Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro had encouraged “fundamentalist missionaries” to reach out to uncontacted Amazonian tribes “who lack resistance to outside diseases.” One missionary organization named New Tribes Mission plans to get in touch with those in the Javari Valley, which according to Survival International has the world’s greatest concentration of uncontacted tribes ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/4 "2020-04-15T09:00:39Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Story in English from Newsweek](https://www.newsweek.com/uncontacted-tribes-brazil-exterminated-coronavirus-indigenous-leader-1496317): Yeah, that one was from before they actually visited the tribes. Despite all the negative press back then, not to mention warnings from the government of Brazil, they actually went ahead with their plans. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/5 "2020-04-15T12:39:33Z")
Pandemic aside, aren’t these missionaries damning many of these tribespeople to hell? If they die having never heard of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, I imagine they have a better chance of eternal bliss than dying having heard the Gospel and rejected it, right? You know, in-universe. I don’t believe any of it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/6 "2020-04-15T14:44:14Z")
In with first Pratchett quote: [“The gods of the Disc have never bothered much about judging the souls of the dead, and so people only go to hell if that’s where they believe, in their deepest heart, that they deserve to go. Which they won’t do if they don’t know about it. This explains why it is so important to shoot missionaries on sight.”](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/66867-the-gods-of-the-disc-have-never-bothered-much-about) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/7 "2020-04-15T15:18:55Z")
India protects the tribe on Andaman, even to the point of not prosecuting for murder. I wonder if Brazil affords these tribes the same exception, cause if so, yeah know, this could sort itself out. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/8 "2020-04-15T16:02:09Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Pandemic aside, aren’t these missionaries damning many of these tribespeople to hell? If they die having never heard of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, I imagine they have a better chance of eternal bliss than dying having heard the Gospel and rejected it, right? You know, in-universe. I don’t believe any of it. That would be the Catholic Limbo (which I think has gone) - the virtuous pagans are not subjected to the rigors of hell. I think that many non-Catholics preach that if you don’t accept JC as your personal lord and savior, you go to hell (which is apparently why they think a lot of Catholics are going to end up there). ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/9 "2020-04-15T16:07:25Z")
I hope the idiots are served the same way that Chau was. The arrogance of these people. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/10 "2020-04-15T16:08:06Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Pandemic aside, aren’t these missionaries damning many of these tribespeople to hell? If they die having never heard of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, I imagine they have a better chance of eternal bliss than dying having heard the Gospel and rejected it, right? You know, in-universe. I don’t believe any of it. AIUI, doctrine is that even those who have never heard of the Gospel will be in Hell if they die unsaved. Hell is regarded as the default, not Heaven. You don’t get to claim “I was never told about Heaven” as an excuse. As for the OP, these uncontacted tribes lack immunity to all kinds of diseases, so Covid-19 is only one of many potentially carried by these missionaries that could sicken or kill them. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/11 "2020-04-15T16:10:34Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > AIUI, doctrine is that even those who have never heard of the Gospel will be in Hell if they die unsaved. Hell is regarded as the default, not Heaven. You don’t get to claim “I was never told about Heaven” as an excuse. Do many Christians really believe this? Assuming you’re Christian, do you believe this? How could someone believe in a loving, benevolent God if that supposedly loving God damns children who have never heard of him to eternal torment? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/12 "2020-04-15T16:14:42Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Do many Christians really believe this? Assuming you’re Christian, do you believe this? How could someone believe in a loving, benevolent God if that supposedly loving God damns children who have never heard of him to eternal torment? Technically, He’s damning their parents for never telling them about Him… ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/13 "2020-04-15T16:32:56Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > AIUI, doctrine is that even those who have never heard of the Gospel will be in Hell if they die unsaved. Hell is regarded as the default, not Heaven. You don’t get to claim “I was never told about Heaven” as an excuse. > … That’s because God is Love, and sometimes Love means damning you to eternal torture! It’s like that Police song: If you love someone, send them to hell! Re: the OP, any chance these tribes practice cannibalism? ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/14 "2020-04-15T17:09:03Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Do many Christians really believe this? Assuming you’re Christian, do you believe this? How could someone believe in a loving, benevolent God if that supposedly loving God damns children who have never heard of him to eternal torment? I’m a Christian. Catholic, specifically. No, I do not believe this. And the Catholic Church does not teach this. So, right there, we see that a majority of Christians do not believe this. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/15 "2020-04-15T18:05:38Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I’m a Christian. Catholic, specifically. > > No, I do not believe this. And the Catholic Church does not teach this. > > So, right there, we see that a majority of Christians do not believe this. Since I mentioned Limbo (I’m lapsed Catholic), I went and looked it up, and [found this](http://www.aboutcatholics.com/beliefs/do-unbaptized-babies-go-to-limbo/): > [@](#): > > Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery. Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of His church but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity And learned that Limbo was never an official teaching, although it certainly was presented to me as such (or at least that is how I remember it). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/16 "2020-04-15T19:24:16Z")
These proselytizers are evil cultural imperialists. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/17 "2020-04-15T20:44:33Z")
Now, don’t get me wrong, as a Christian I’m looking forward to the stories of indigenous tribes sending missionaries to go see Jesus asap… but the Ethos360 web site \*sounds \*like their mission trips are on hold. From their FAQs: _Are we still sending missionaries overseas?_ With many restrictions on international travel, we are encouraging new missionaries to wait until the situation stabilizes and counties open for travel and acceptance of foreigners. All missionaries are encouraged to stay engaged with our personnel department, their sending churches and the fields. From the CEO: "…And, while the ‘no further evangelizing’ decision may sound definitive … we trust and believe that our God can move mountains, open doors and radically change hearts. Thank you so much to all of you who were praying.” But the whole web site is full of enough weaselly language that they could be CYSA (covering their sanctimonious asses): “Oh, dear, we _encouraged_ those missionaries not to fly into that remote tribe…” ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/18 "2020-04-15T21:07:00Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I hope the idiots are served the same way that Chau was. How’s that? With a side of rice? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/19 "2020-04-15T21:15:43Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Do many Christians really believe this? Assuming you’re Christian, do you believe this? How could someone believe in a loving, benevolent God if that supposedly loving God damns children who have never heard of him to eternal torment? Truly, God works in mysterious ways. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835/20 "2020-04-15T21:17:42Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I thought I’d open this thread in case Dopers want to express their opinions using more colourful language. I don’t think I’ve got any language colorful enough. They want to kill an entire culture; and they don’t give a damn if they kill every member of it. Just for not agreeing with them about a self-contradictory proposition that they’ve never heard of. (Sorry about the unclear pronoun references. I expect readers can figure it out.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-missionaries-visit-uncontacted-tribes-in-spite-of-covid-19-pandemic/851835.md?page=2)