6a. Religion as Tool of Imperialist Conquest, cont’d
Missionaries were the “advanced guard” of the imperialists, “softening up” the population by confusing and dividing them so that they were easier, and therefore cheaper, to conquer.
Therefore, nothing is more “political” than religion. This takes some getting used to, because most of us in the West are trained to think of religion as a “personal” matter, rather than, as it is, highly political.