Evangelical Christians spreading Jesus and death in Brazil

[Trell]

This is a sickening article Even uncontacted tribes in Brazil may face coronavirus risk: Missionary group Ethnos360 announces new helicopter plans of Evangelical missionaries spreading Jesus and death with abandon. Nothing new in that, sad to say.

Ars Technica knowing the lack of moral character of these Evangelical Christians to make sure that their message is known in case of WWW meltdown helpfully used web.archive.org indexing their site.

"Ethnos360, an “aviation missionary” organization based in Arizona, has recently announced the use of a new helicopter to provide supplies and transport to its operations in remote western Brazil.​

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The organization, which aims to reach "the last tribe regardless of where that tribe might be," has previously operated in western Brazil with a bush plane. This has restricted its activities because of the permit requirements and expense of building and maintaining an airstrip. The helicopter, the organization writes, will “open the door to reach ten additional people groups living in extreme isolation.” While questionable at any time, the current pandemic creates a context in which the decision to contact these groups is especially insensitive.​

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Leave us alone​

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This region of western Brazil is home to the highest number of uncontacted tribes in the world, according to nonprofit Survival International, which campaigns for the land rights of indigenous people as well as the right for uncontacted groups to remain so. Survival International points to uncontacted people's hostile behaviors, like pointing arrows at aircraft and leaving crossed spears in the forest, as evidence that these groups do not want to interact with outsiders.​

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Unsolicited interaction with uncontacted tribes is currently in violation of the 1988 Brazilian constitution as well as the policies of FUNAI, the Brazilian government’s agency for indigenous peoples. However, the recent appointment of evangelical missionary Ricardo Lopez Dias to head up FUNAI's department for isolated and recently contacted tribes has provoked speculation that these policies may no longer be upheld. In part, this would make way for expansion of mining and farming into indigenous territory under Jair Bolsonaro’s government.​

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But Dias spent ten years as a missionary for New Tribes Mission, which has subsequently changed its name to Ethnos360 in the US but still operates under the original name in other regions.​

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Historically, contact with outsiders has proven disastrous for indigenous people for various reasons, with disease being one of the most important dangers they face. Just as COVID-19 is set to spread rapidly through the current global population because no one has immunity to the virus, uncontacted groups are highly susceptible to new diseases introduced by outsiders. This has resulted in high death rates from diseases like measles and malaria, the latter of which is carried by local mosquitoes only after being introduced by people from other regions.​

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