Missionary

== Criticism ==
Contact of Christian missionaries with isolated tribes has been asserted as a cause of the extinction of some tribes, such as extinction from infections and even simple diseases such as flu.<ref name=wiresen1>Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar, [https://thewire.in/government/centre-ignored-scheduled-tribe-panel-recommendations-vulnerable-andaman-tribes Centre Ignored ST Panel Advice on Protecting Vulnerable Andaman Tribes], The Wire, 23 Nov 2018.</ref><ref name=wiresen2>Navina Jafa, [https://thewire.in/health/jarawa-north-sentinel-andaman-tribes The Sentinelese and the Dilemma of Conservation Without Contact], The Wire, 2 Dec 2018.</ref> Documented cases of European contact with isolated tribes have shown rapid health deterioration, but this is not specifically linked to missionaries.<ref name=LeaveAlone1>[http://time.com/3909470/tribes-uncontacted-ethics/ Is It Ethical to Leave Uncontacted Tribes Alone?], [[Time (magazine)]], 4 June 2015.</ref>

Christian missionary work has been criticized as a form of colonialism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ntdaily.com/missionary-work-is-just-another-name-for-colonization/|title=Missionary work is just another name for colonization|date=12 October 2020|last=Card|first=Rachel|work=North Texas Daily|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017151911/https://www.ntdaily.com/missionary-work-is-just-another-name-for-colonization/|archive-date=17 October 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Christian missionary thinkers have recognized complicity between colonialism and missions with roots in 'colonial paternalism'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/cgcm/files/2009/09/101015dldanarobertpaper.pdf |title=Rethinking Missionaries from 1910 to Today |first=Dana L. |last=Robert |website=[[Boston University]] |access-date=2022-03-03}}</ref>

Some kinds of Christian missionary activity have come under criticism, including concerns about a perceived lack of respect for other cultures.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor = 1185603|title = Protestant Missionaries and Native Culture: Parallel Careers of Asher Wright and Silas T. Rand|journal = American Indian Quarterly|volume = 16|issue = 1|pages = 25–37|last1 = Abler|first1 = Thomas S.|year = 1992|doi = 10.2307/1185603}}</ref> The potential destruction of social structure among the converts has also been a concern. The [[Huaorani people]] of Amazonian Ecuador have had a well-documented [[Operation Auca|mixed relation]] with [[Evangelical Christian]] missionaries and the contacts they brought to their communities, criticized by outsiders.