The Deconversion of Daniel Everett

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Daniel Everett went to the mission field to convert heathens. In the end it was the heathens that converted him.  Everett wrote a book, Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, about his journey from Christianity to Atheism and this video is an excerpt from the book.

LInk to video: http://youtu.be/dr3q6Cid1po

Thanks to Jeremy for sending me the link to this video.

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  • Yauman

    Great story – here’s his hour and half complete talk about his experience he gave at the Long Now Foundation – it’s long but it’s worth the time – great answers during the Q & A section: http://tinyurl.com/cw6fcw

  • April

    Yes “shock troops” I imagine would describe it.  There is a lot of harm that seems to go hand in hand with evangelism & “conversion” to christianity.  I bought 2 smaller books that have Native American quotes in it. When I read them I see how the natives had so much more common sense & integrity than the missionaries & I find myself agreeing with their conclusions on many issues.

    • Jim Jones

      One extraordinarily egregious offense I always remember is this

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Indians

      “Mission Indians is a term for many Native California tribes, primarily living in coastal plains, adjacent inland valleys and mountains, and on the Channel Islands in central and southern California, United States.
      The tribes had established comparatively peaceful cultures varying from 250 to 8,000 years before Spanish contact. These resident indigenous peoples of the Americas were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at twenty one Spanish missions in California, and the Asisténcias and Estáncias as they were established between 1796 and 1823 in the Las Californias Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.”

      “Disease, starvation, over work, and torture decimated these tribes. Many were forcibly converted and baptized as Roman Catholics by the Franciscan missionaries at the missions.”

      What a demonstration of Christ’s love!

      “Certainty leads to terrorism”.

      • April

        That is terrible.  It makes me mad & sad…

        I appreciate the link.

  • Steve

    Just bought it! Can’t wait to read it.

  • http://profiles.google.com/mrhackman Andrew Hackman

    I got a third of the way through that book, but then it had to go back to the library.  I just need to buy a copy.

    • http://agardeninthesun.blogspot.com/ renoliz

      I loved the book and read it twice.  This was a great story of how a man lost his faith.  Buying it was worth it to me.  

  • Appalachian Agnostic

    I wonder how we in the West would react if members of an isolated tribe from somewhere showed up in our neighborhoods and told us that we needed to adopt their beliefs or else suffer.

    • April

      Exactly.

  • April

    That was powerful!

     ”Religion” makes me think of the 3 Stooges episode where the Stooges are “ant exterminators” & nobody has ants. So to boost their business they actually cause ant infestations by planting ants in people’s homes. 
    The ploy works for them…now they have people who need their services, paying customers.

     Urg…  I think religion is way worse forcing people to believe they have this huge problem, sin….& of course the religious ones have the answer to the “sin” issue & you’ll be chained to the religious leader & dogma for the rest of your life in this world…& then there’s the tithes $$….there’s the sacrificing your life for the dogma….on & on with no option to really be yourself or be fully free.  
    It’s a trap which becomes a prison over time. :(

    I get upset when I think of how good & holy christian missionaries destroyed lives & cultures of indigenous peoples such as Native Americans & Aborigine in Australia.  :(

    • Appalachian Agnostic

      I get frustrated when I hear about young people who are training to become missionaries. Their families are so, so proud of them. It’s as if becoming a missionary automatically means that you are super-selfless, super-intelligent, super-ambitious and super-determined to make a difference in this messed up world. I’m sure most missionaries mean well, but what could be more arrogant than the assumption that we need to export our culture to other places?

      • April

        I get it AA.  Since the missionaries believe they are the arbiters of truth, they think they are doing the unconverted world a favor by coercing conversion to their religion.  And you make a good point, many probably do mean well, this is what they are being told to do.  But there is an arrogance to it, “WE will tell you what to believe & how to live…”
        YUCK.

        It’s unfortunate that religion is so high on the ladder with so many people.  Religious people could be doing truly helpful works for the world instead of teaching superstitions so converts can join the club of living in fear & guilt too.
        *sigh*

      • Jim Jones

        Indeed. A lot of these stories are about Mormon ‘missionaries’. They are eye opening.

        http://www.postmormon.org/exp_e/index.php/pomopedia/Personal_Accounts_of_Leaving_Mormonism/ 

        And there are videos of atheists in Salt Lake City trying to convert the locals to atheism. Many get mad, one gets violent, none are polite.

    • Obiron

       April,

      I love that episode! 

      It’s a very good analogy to what we have done.  First, convince someone they have an original sin problem (that they never knew about before) and we have the only fix for it.

      • April

        I never thought I’d get that out of a Stooges episode. :)
        Interesting how art imitates life..or vice versa..