Missionary position...

Christian missionary, John Allen Chau, tried to “declare Jesus” to the tribespeople of North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean: a virtually ‘uncontacted’ tribe thought to be at least 30,000 years old and known to aggressively resist outsiders. In a letter to his parents, Chau wrote “You guys might think I’m crazy in all this, but I think it’s worth it to declare Jesus to these people”. He went ashore, with only a Bible and some gifts; predictably, the tribesmen, armed with bows and arrows, killed him.

Though I can’t summon up much compassion for the guy, who just sounds like an idiot, the episode reminds me of an anecdote, quoted by Annie Dillard, in her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: “If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?” “No,” said the priest, “not if you didn't know.” “Then why," said the Inuit, "did you tell me?”

Artwork framing the landscape, on Holme Moss, West Yorkshire. Engraved on the frame: "Many people look, but only a few see"...