Granny Magda writes:
None of it matters. Only the actions and their motivations matter.
To what point does it not matter? To what point does only actions and motivations matter?
Granny Magda writes:
The truth is that Britain acted out of greed and arrogance.
So what? What is your point?
Granny Magda writes:
That their actions had some positive outcomes does not mitigate this.
Agreed, but to neglect the greater good that occurred as a result of colonization and to focus on the evil of the actions is a dishonest appraisal of the whole situation.
Granny Magda writes:
I understand that the imperialists of the time did not view themselves as evil, but what does that matter?
It matters, because you have to be aware that you are committing evil in order to be given the same status as someone who does evil knowingly and without caring about it.
Granny Magda writes:
Hitler did not view himself as evil.
Hitler was just as evil as the greater part of europe who thought jews were subhumans and blamed all of societies problems on them. Hitler knew that he hated the jews and all non aryan people and he knew it was wrong to do so. You cannot say the same for much of the people involved in india's colonization.
Granny Magda writes:
The slave owners of America did not view themselves as evil.
They were not evil. They were a product of their generation. Nobody thought that slavery was evil at the time. Only after men became enlightened on the subject, did they view it as evil. In order for them to be evil, they had to be consciously aware of the evil of their actions.
Granny Magda writes:
Men will always find a justification for their evil acts.
True, but the slave owners did not seek justification for their evil acts because they didn't view them as evil in the first place. Hitler and the rest of europe did know it was evil to hate a whole race of people. They were guilty of justifying their acts.
Granny Magda writes:
It should not surprise us that the Imperialists of the past sought to shroud themselves in piety and claim divine support for their criminal acts,
They would have to view their acts as criminal before they could seek justification for them. They thought about the role of the british empire in a pious way long before they ever thought about taking action on it. The british people were very religious and thought of themselves as divinely favored. They took this view before taking any actions based on such attitudes.
Granny Magda writes:
but for Faith to do the same, in the Twenty-first Century, is profoundly offensive.
If Faith is claiming that the british colonization of india was in the will of God, such that God approved of it in every last nasty detail and evil act, then she is sadly mistaken. God may have allowed it because it was the best possible outcome considering all the other possibilities that are unknown to us. But to say that God wanted it all to go down exactly like it did and approved of all the humanity involved in it, is a horrendous idea, and if faith is thinking like that, then she needs to rethink her theology.
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