The Encyclopedia of World Religions

296 S Mithra

The C OPTIC C HURCH claims to have been started by Mark, who wrote one of the gospels. Christians in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala claim that the apostle Thomas started their church. In its first few centuries, Christianity spread especially in the Roman Empire, which controlled the area around the Mediterranean Sea. Beginning in 600 C . E . Christian missionary efforts focused on Europe. The Roman Catholic Church converted western, northern, and central Europe. The Ortho dox churches were active in eastern Europe and especially Russia. Monks were extremely impor tant to this process. They often established their communities in lands that were not previously Christian. With the discovery of the Americas and the beginning of European overseas colonization, Christian missionaries turned to areas outside of Europe. Indeed, Christian missions often played a very important role in spreading European domi nation over the rest of the world. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Roman Catholic missionaries con verted Mexico, Central America, and South Amer ica to Christianity. They were also active in India, China, and Japan. In the 19th century Protestants caught the missionary fervor and formed many missionary societies. Missionaries from most Prot estant churches were extremely active in Euro pean colonies overseas. That is especially true of missionaries from Great Britain, the United States, and Canada. MUSLIM MISSIONS The Q UR ’ AN teaches that no one should be forced to accept Islam by physical coercion. People should become Muslims because they are persuaded that Islam is true. But Europeans and their descendants have tended to emphasize the role of military power in the spread of Islam. That is due, at least in part, to past European history. Islamic armies threatened Europe on several occasions, from the battle of Tours, France (732 or 733), to the con quest of Constantinople (1453) and the sieges of Vienna, Austria (1529, 1683). Islam spread rapidly at first. One hundred years after the prophet M UHAMMAD began receiving

messages from G OD , Islam stretched from Spain through all of North Africa to present-day Iran. In later centuries it spread in much of central Asia, Africa south of the Sahara, and in south and south east Asia. Indeed, Indonesia is today the most pop ulous Islamic country. The main networks for the spread of Islam were trade, education, and expansion led by mili tary rulers. This was true of the early expansion in North Africa and the Near East. It was also true of the expansion of Islam into south Asia. In south Asia people adopted Islam because they found its teachings and civilization attractive. Many also found that Islam allowed them to escape from the limitations of their caste ( see CASTE IN H INDUISM ). MODERN DEVELOPMENTS During the 20th century many Christian missionar ies became embarrassed by some of the activities of their predecessors. They no longer told others that Christianity was right and other religions were wrong. Instead, they practiced interreligious DIA LOGUE . In such dialogue people tried to understand each other’s version of the truth. At the same time, missionaries associated with Pentacostal Christianity were very active in Latin America and Africa. In Latin America, they often converted people who were Roman Catholics. In addition, North America itself became a fertile mission field for other religions. Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh ( see S IKHISM ), B AHA ’ I , and other mis sionaries were all active in North America. Their success was generally limited, but they did help make North America more religiously plural. Further reading: Meg Greene, Mother Teresa: A Biography (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004); Stephen Neill, A History of Christian Missions (New York: Penguin, 1986); Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2004).

Mithra A deity originally from Persia, where he became a leading subordinate of Ahura Mazda