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From The London Times - December 27, 2008

As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God:
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest
problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset
by Matthew Parris

Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a
boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas
Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps
rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their
village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.

It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities.
But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been
trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to
avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs,
stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my
growing belief that there is no God.

Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous
contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply
distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and
international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and
training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's
hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The
change is good.

I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical
work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that
salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white,
working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and
write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission
hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I
would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help,
then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.

But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the
missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect
that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing....

....Removing Christian
evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the
mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone
and the machete.

To read the full article, visit:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece