American missionary tries preaching to natives and killed

[mr friendly guy]

Why would you preach to people who don't want outsiders there?

American tourist killed by bow and arrow after he landed on a remote island in the Indian Ocean
NOVEMBER 22, 2018 4:20PM

An American missionary has been killed by a flurry of arrows from an isolated tribe on a remote island in the Indian Ocean.
North Sentinel Island, off-bounds to visitors, is home to the Sentinelese tribe. They killed John Allen Chau shortly after he was illegally ferried there by fishermen, officials said.

The island is located in India’s remote Andaman and Nicobar chain.

“A murder case has been registered,” an Indian official told Reuters.

Local media reports that as contact with the tribe is forbidden, Chau’s killers cannot be prosecuted despite taking his life.

Chau was described in Indian media as either an adventure tourist or a Christian missionary.

His body is yet to be recovered.

Seven local fishermen have been arrested for taking Chau to the restricted island.

A REAL LOST TRIBE

The Sentinelese are a community of hunter-gatherers who live on the remote, forested island in the Andaman and Nicobar Island chain in the Bay of Bengal.

They are one of the last human societies untouched by modern civilisation.

They refuse to use money. They resist attempts to trade. They don’t like visitors.

We don’t even know what they call themselves.

The tribe came to western media attention in the wake of the 2004 tsunami when a member of the tribe was photographed firing arrows at a helicopter assessing the extent of the damage.

The earthquake the caused the tsunami reportedly had a major impact on the island, exposing previously submerged coral reefs and effectively enlarging the size of the land mass.

It’s now roughly the size of Manhattan.

The Sentinelese people are resistant to outsiders and almost always attack anyone who comes near.

In 2006, a boat holding two Indian fishermen drifted to the island’s shore. Both were killed.

Visitors to the island are heavily restricted by the Indian government. Even uploading images and video of the tribespeople is illegal.

But the days of the Sentinelese are numbered.

According to recent Indian census estimates, the island’s population has collapsed from 117 a century ago to the most recent count - in 2001 - to just 39.

Survival International, an advocacy group for remote communities, urges people to leave the Sentinelese alone: “If not, the entire tribe could be wiped out by diseases to which they have no immunity”.

MALADVENTURE

Chau described himself on Instagram as a “Wilderness EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), “PADI Advanced Open Water Diver”, “Outbound Collective Explorer” and a “Snakebite Survivor”.

Local Andaman news source Andaman Sheeka said Chau had previously visited the archipelago some five times.

The local Director General of Police Dependra Pathak told TNM: “His body has not yet been retrieved because we have to strategise keeping in mind the nuances and sensitivity of other cultures.”

“We are working on that, and are in contact with anthropologists and tribal welfare experts.

“We will figure out some strategy.”

Chau, 27, had reportedly visited the island hoping to preach Christianity to the tribe.

Christian missionary website the Joshua Project urges followers to “Pray that the Indian Government will allow Christians to earn the trust of the Sentinelese people, and that they will be permitted to live among them.”

Authorities are now concerned Chau’s body may harbour diseases to which the Sentinelese may have no immunity.

Jatin Narwal, Superintendent of Police at Port Blair, told TNM that Chau was last seen alive on November 16.

He added: “He lived in Alabama, US. He is some kind of paramedic. He was on a misplaced adventure in prohibited area to meet uncontacted persons.”

ILLEGAL ALIEN

“People thought he is a missionary because he had mentioned his position on god and that he was a believer on social media or somewhere online.

“But in a strict sense, he was not a missionary. He was an adventurer. His intention was to meet the aborigines.”

A source told AFP: “He tried to reach the Sentinel island on November 14 but could not make it. Two days later he went well prepared. He left the dinghy midway and took a canoe all by himself to the island.

“He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body.”

“They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the sea shore.”

When they got back to Port Blair on South Andaman Island they told a local preacher, who was a friend of Chau’s, what had happened.

Police have launched an investigation, Deepak Yadav, an official in the island chain in the Bay of Bengal, said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the United States consulate in India’s southern city of Chennai said in an email: “We are aware of reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Got this in my news feed and thought it would be interesting to share.

[Broomstick]

When will people learn that "no" means NO?

I have to wonder if this was an elaborate suicide bid, given how he went back even after having arrows shot at him and even after being injured by them.

Christian missionary website the Joshua Project urges followers to “Pray that the Indian Government will allow Christians to earn the trust of the Sentinelese people, and that they will be permitted to live among them.”

The Sentinelese have made it VERY clear for a long time that they don't want to interact with other people. I think the approach of the Indian government - leave them alone as they want and bar others from bothering them - is the right course of action. It's not the "Indian government" preventing missionaries from approaching the tribe, it's the Sentinelese themselves. Again, some people just don't get that "no" means NO. Either that, or it's that elaborate suicide thing that is glossed over by calling it "martyrdom".

[madd0ct0r]

well, I hope e enjoys his 72 virgins.

[Zwinmar]

I grew up with people like this, they think its their privilege and duty to go forth and preach their religion to the barbarians. So yeah, used to happen all the time: they bribe them with food, shelter, and medicine and all they have to do is accept their bible.

[mr friendly guy]

The thing is, the island has like 39 people on it. It would be more productive from a converting to Christianity point of view, to just preach in his home country of the United States given the number of atheists and so called "agnostics."

[His Divine Shadow]

If there are only 39 left they don't have a chance anymore. That will be really sad for the last generations.

[Broomstick]

We actually don't know how many people are on that island. All surveys are done from afar for obvious reasons. There could be significantly more than 39 or 40 hidden by vegetation. Or some folks could have been double-counted and there's fewer.

Regardless, they very much want to be left alone. Let's leave them alone.

[mr friendly guy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy2RJoMe4nQ

Found a video with rare contact between the Indian government and the Sentinel islanders.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

well, I hope e enjoys his 72 virgins.

That's 72 Virgils.

Squeal lahk a pig, boy.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Here lies one stupid motherfucker
He went where he wasn't welcome, for the Bible told him so.

And died asking Jesus why the natives had killed him.

Amen.

[muse]

He was a missionary once...
Then he took an arrow to the knee.

[Highlord Laan]

And 2018's Darwin Award goes to...

[EnterpriseSovereign]

He was a missionary once...
Then he took an arrow to the knee.

Seems everyone in Skyrim has

North Sentinel Island. Estimates of its population range from 40-400. The entire island is one giant forest. If the sea level rises though...

[Eulogy]

Missionaries have to accept that they take quite the risk when they go out to spread their Word, but there is a big difference between going to a relatively friendly place where the locals may be interested in what you have to say and going to the middle of nowhere where you know you're not welcome and the natives have made it quite clear that nobody is welcome.

I doubt a just and loving God would fault His flock if they didn't want to be killed if they tried converting people in certain places. Oh well, I doubt this murder will be prosecuted anytime soon.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm not a big fan of missionaries, but I can't help but feel sorry for him and his family. Being an idiot isn't deserving of death.

[Ralin]

I'm not a big fan of missionaries, but I can't help but feel sorry for him and his family. Being an idiot isn't deserving of death.

Yeah it pretty much is when you consider that among other things he was doing the equivalent of smugly walking into an ICU full of people with compromised immune systems while suffering from a virulent flu and coughing up a storm.

[Tribble]

I'm not a big fan of missionaries, but I can't help but feel sorry for him and his family. Being an idiot isn't deserving of death.

Yeah it pretty much is when you consider that among other things he was doing the equivalent of smugly walking into an ICU full of people with compromised immune systems while suffering from a virulent flu and coughing up a storm.

While demanding that they convert to his faith. And after they have explicitly said they dont want visitors.

"Last chance to pray to Jesus!"
"I'm not Christian "
"Oh well you're going to hell then"

[Rogue 9]

He was a missionary once...
Then he took an arrow to the knee.

Seems everyone in Skyrim has

North Sentinel Island. Estimates of its population range from 40-400. The entire island is one giant forest. If the sea level rises though...

According to the article's description, the land rises about 20m not very far inland from the beach, sloping upward to terminate between 46m and 122m near the center. The sea level would have to rise an awful lot to submerge North Sentinel.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm not a big fan of missionaries, but I can't help but feel sorry for him and his family. Being an idiot isn't deserving of death.

Yeah it pretty much is when you consider that among other things he was doing the equivalent of smugly walking into an ICU full of people with compromised immune systems while suffering from a virulent flu and coughing up a storm.

Hmm, hadn't thought of that.

I'd suggest that they island should be quarantined and random dumb fucks trying to land their arrested.

[Batman]

Hmm, hadn't thought of that.

That's because it isn't like that. Unlike biological diseases, religion is one you have to accept to catch. You can't say 'yeah, not interested' to measles. Those people rather unmistakably said 'not interested'.

[aerius]

I'd suggest that they island should be quarantined and random dumb fucks trying to land their arrested.

Did you read the article? I'm not sure how much better you can quarantine the island short of having a 24/7 naval blockade.
In short, fuck him. He gets a well deserved Darwin Award.

An American missionary has been killed by a flurry of arrows from an isolated tribe on a remote island in the Indian Ocean.
North Sentinel Island, off-bounds to visitors, is home to the Sentinelese tribe. They killed John Allen Chau shortly after he was illegally ferried there by fishermen, officials said.

The island is located in India’s remote Andaman and Nicobar chain.

“A murder case has been registered,” an Indian official told Reuters.

Local media reports that as contact with the tribe is forbidden, Chau’s killers cannot be prosecuted despite taking his life.

Chau was described in Indian media as either an adventure tourist or a Christian missionary.

His body is yet to be recovered.

Seven local fishermen have been arrested for taking Chau to the restricted island.

Visitors to the island are heavily restricted by the Indian government. Even uploading images and video of the tribespeople is illegal.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Hmm, hadn't thought of that.

That's because it isn't like that. Unlike biological diseases, religion is one you have to accept to catch. You can't say 'yeah, not interested' to measles. Those people rather unmistakably said 'not interested'.

The disease bit is because they haven't been exposed to the myriad of pathogenic microbes the idiot could well have been carrying with him. In this context, Christianity is not a disease.


And I definitely don't feel sorry for the dead asshole. He got welcomed with arrows his previous time trying, so I'd say he damn well brought death upon himself. Maybe for his family, assuming they didn't try condoning this shit. His friends seem like idiotic assholes, too, calling him a martyr.

[Ralin]

Just imagine how many of his peers are probably in favor of using lethal force against illegals trying to cross the border into the US.

I think what's a much bigger deal is that the Sentinelese are suddenly worldwide news. Anonymity was probably their best defense against this sort of thing, and they just lost that.

Also apparently his body is still on the island and could be carrying god knows what.

[Aether]

Also apparently his body is still on the island and could be carrying god knows what.

I guess they shouldn't have killed him, then huh?

[Darth Yoshi]

I guess they shouldn't have killed him, then huh?

Yes, because it's too much to ask that he take the hint when they first started shooting at him.