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Christianity is the
world's largest religion.

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It claims one in three
of the global population

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and is growing all the time.

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How did it rise to such power?

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How did its message reach the
four corners of the globe?

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And why was it accepted?

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This is the story of what happened
when Europeans colonised the world,

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and carved out whole new empires...

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It was terrible, it was devastating.
90% of the population died.

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..Of how they enslaved whole
populations,

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while trying to force them
to convert to Christianity.

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Inasmuch as the gospel
was preached,

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it could not penetrate into the
real consciousness of the African.

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In this film, I'm going on a journey

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to uncover the true story of
Christianity's global spread,

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to reveal the ancient history
of African Christianity

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and the sometimes gory truth
of the missionary experience.

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Forever and ever...

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And of how, in the greatest
revolution in religious history,

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the new converts
have seized the religion

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of their former colonial masters,
transformed it

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and are now set to
overturn the European world.

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The West has lost its original
Christianity and the Africans

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will need to re-propagate
the gospel back to the West.

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Right now! Right now! Right now...

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As a Christian, I am often asked how
someone like me, a man of colour,

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can worship the God of his
former slave and colonial master.

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I was taught at school that
the explorer, David Livingstone,

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was one of Victorian Britain's
greatest heroes. His grave is here

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at Westminster Abbey alongside
all of the great and the good.

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David Livingstone was one in a
long line of European missionaries

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who dedicated their lives to
bringing Western Christianity

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to the so-called
Dark Continents of the world.

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But this great missionary enterprise
was part of a huge colonial venture,

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one which often brutally
exploited peoples across the world.

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That history is part of my family
history and as a result,

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they were introduced
to Christianity.

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Christianity began as a small
Jewish cult in the Middle East.

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But it soon spread through Turkey,

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Greece, Egypt, North Africa
and into Italy

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where in the 4th century,
it was adopted by

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the Roman Emperor
and spread throughout the Empire.

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And then for the next 1,000 years,

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Christianity was dominated
by white Europeans.

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In 1492, the Spaniard Christopher
Columbus reached the New World.

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So began 500 years of colonialism.

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And the lives of millions of people,

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including my ancestors,
were changed forever.

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The first Spanish colonists
to arrive here

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believed this was a dark continent
peopled by heathens,

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who had to be saved
from witchcraft,

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ignorance and evil.

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But wherever they went,

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the Spanish found advanced
civilisations like the Maya,

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capable of building
incredible monuments to their faith.

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Mayan society was
highly sophisticated.

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They had exquisite architecture,
they were great artists,

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mathematicians, astronomers.

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It has a very sophisticated
religion as well.

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This is part of the Dresden Codex
and you can see there several gods.

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And this is Itzana
in the form of an alligator,

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an animal that comes
from the underworld.

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What really disgusted
the Spanish invaders was

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that these beautiful temples were
dedicated to bloody human sacrifice.

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Human sacrifices were very important
because they had a lot of gods and

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the gods needed blood to feed
and if the gods didn't have blood,

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especially human blood,
they just stop producing the energy

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for the universe so the
universe will just stop.

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That was the belief?

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That was the belief, yes.

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Growing up, I, too,
believed they were a heathen,

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ungodly and uncivilised people.

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Our Christian God didn't continually
demand the blood of humans.

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But these people had a religious
system that had existed for

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thousands of years.

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For me, this is the tragedy
of European colonialism,

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that it could see no virtue in
the civilisations it encountered.

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That all it sought to do
was destroy whatever it found

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and replace it with its own
western Christian civilisation,

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with terrible consequences
for people all over the world.

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Oh, my God!

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Isn't that the most spectacular
thing you've seen in your life?

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But for the European colonists,
this meant nothing.

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The Spanish and Portuguese divided
up the New World between them.

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By the late 16th century,
their empires extended

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from the coasts of Africa
to Central and South America

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and even to India
and the Philippines...

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..bringing millions of indigenous
people under Catholic rule

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for the first time.

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And all of this was backed by
the authority of the Pope in Rome.

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In Mexico, the Spanish
were determined to destroy

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the local religions and so
they built their new churches

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right on top
of the old Mayan temples.

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One of the biggest is
the Franciscan convent at Izamal,

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the headquarters
of a brutal campaign

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of forced
Christian conversion.

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We have to remember that
in the 15th century,

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the Papacy gave the monarchs of
Castile and Aragon the title of

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Catholic kings. This only confirmed
a very, very old tradition that made

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peninsular Iberian monarchs vicars of
God and responsible for the salvation

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and for the faith of their subjects.

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The Spanish colonists
believed they had

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a mission from God
to convert the Indians.

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And in charge
of the work in Yucatan

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was a Franciscan monk,
Diego de Landa.

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But this conversion
was in no way voluntary.

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The local people were
reduced almost to slaves.

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And Europeans brought
terrible diseases with them too.

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According to the
Archbishop of Mexico,

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in the duration of two or three
months, he saw 100,000 people die.

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This catastrophe,
it was terrible, it was devastating.

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90% of the population died.

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I can see how the Mayans thought
their gods had abandoned them,

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while the Spanish believed
it was their Christian duty

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to save these people
by converting them to Christianity.

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What happened here in Yucatan

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was mass conversion
at the barrel of a gun.

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The new colonial Christian masters
wanted to control

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not only the bodies but also the
souls of their Mayan subjects.

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To Diego de Landa
and his Franciscans,

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it looked like they had succeeded.

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But they were wrong.

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30 years after
their arrival in Mexico,

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the Spanish monks began
to get disturbing reports...

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..of idols hidden in caves,

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of human sacrifices...

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..of Mayan priests who were
encouraging the people

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to return to the old pagan ways.

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When questioned by the Franciscans,
the locals freely admitted

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that they still worshipped
their Mayan idols.

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For Diego de Landa and his
Franciscans,

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this was a betrayal
of all that they had worked for.

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And his reaction
was one of pure vengeful savagery.

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In an attempt to root out the pagan
idols and the heretical ringleaders,

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De Landa unleashed
a new weapon in Yucatan...

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..the Inquisition.

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Thousands of Mayans
were systematically
rounded up and tortured.

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The Mayans still
remember those terrible days.

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TRANSLATED:
'They got them and took them away,
and they mistreated them.

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'And they took them from the
temples so they didn't listen

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'to the gods' words.
They took them away and hung them

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'so they didn't perform ceremonies,
or take part in religion.

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'That's what it was like when
the Spanish invaded Mexico.'

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De Landa was determined
to destroy the Mayan gods

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once and for all.

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So he ordered the local population
to assemble in the town square.

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First, a huge pile of idols and
sacred skulls were put to the torch.

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And then hundreds of
Mayan religious books,

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the beautiful manuscripts which
held their whole civilisation

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in their pages.

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Today, only three volumes survive,
anywhere in the world.

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For us, it would be like destroying

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the last surviving copies
of the Bible.

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So began Western Christianity's
encounter with the outside world.

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While sincerely believing
they were bringing

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Christian salvation
to these people,

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the Europeans instead
brought death and destruction

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on a monumental scale.

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And the worst part of it was forcing
people to convert just didn't work.

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SPEAKS SPANISH

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But incredibly, in secret,
the Mayans were able to save

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some of their religious traditions,

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later importing them into
their own version of Christianity.

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And so prove that for many, like me,

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the white way
is not the only way to salvation.

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MEXICAN BAND MUSIC PLAYS

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500 years ago, white Europeans
began a colonial land grab

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that eventually covered
most of the world.

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They brought their version of
Christianity with them

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and tried to force
the native peoples to convert.

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Given the fierce resistance
we saw to Christianity in Mexico,

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it seems surprising that it grew to
the global force that it is today.

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500 years ago,
there were hardly any Christians

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outside of
the middle eastern Europe.

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Today, they outnumber those in
the heartland several times over.

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The question is, how did they do it?

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What was it that led
to such enormous growth?

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I was told that one of the secrets
of Christianity's global success

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had first taken place
in the jungles of Mexico.

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The Spanish colonists tried to
destroy the old Mayan religion,

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but they failed.

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Instead, elements of it survived
with incredible consequences.

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Here in Ek Balam,
I've come to find out how.

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The villagers are celebrating
the beginning of the maize harvest.

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But instead of a Catholic harvest
festival, it's a Mayan ceremony,

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and the man in charge may be
a Catholic priest,

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but he's also a Mayan shaman.

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(PRAYS IN SPANISH)

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(SPEAKS SPANISH)

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(TRANSLATION) Every year,
when the first harvest is collected

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we have to thank God
for what we have received.

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That's why we have the altar here,

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and then we take
the tender cooked corn,

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and place it on the altar
to consecrate it to God.

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(PRAYS IN SPANISH)

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These people are Christians,

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but they also like to invoke
a local power

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to bring rain
and bless their harvest.

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Its name is Chaac,
the same as the Mayan god

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who once demanded human sacrifices
at Chichen Itza.

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(SPEAKS SPANISH)

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(TRANSLATION) Chaac is the power of
God. We can't actually see it,

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but we know its name, Chaac,
which is a Mayan name.

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What's going on now
is not a pagan survival,

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but Christianity Mexican-style.

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It's much like when Pope Gregory
wrote to Saint Augustine

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in the sixth century during the
English conversion to Christianity.

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He wrote, "Don't destroy
their religious traditions,

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"simply adapt them to Christianity."
And it worked.

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What happened then
founded western Christendom.

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What's happening now
is part of a new Christendom.

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00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,719
The fact is, Christianity has never
been just a white man's religion.

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00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:41,519
If it had, it would never have been
ableto spread so far and so wide.

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Its strength is its ability to
adapt to local circumstances.

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For me, the best example is the
global popularity of Jesus' mother.

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00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,399
Although she lived
and died in Palestine,

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visions of the Virgin Mary have
appeared all over the world -

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in Asia, in Africa
and Latin America.

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This, really, is why Christianity
began to make inroads,

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here in Mexico.

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It's a portrait of the Virgin Mary.

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But if you look closely,
it's not the pale version

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we're used to seeing in
European paintings of the day.

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No, she's brown.

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In fact she's called here
the "virgen morena" -

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the Brown Virgin of Guadalupe.

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And her cult is a classic example
of what happened

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once Catholicism began
to take root here.

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(TRANSLATION)
In Mexican religious history,

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the Virgin of Guadalupe is
half Indian, half white,

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or rather indigenous,

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and therefore her face, and the way
the friars wanted to represent her,

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they wanted to show a Virgin
close to the Mexican people,

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a dark version, just like them, not a
blonde European one, but a dark one.

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That's the main idea.

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The Virgin appeared here and she
loves her people, her dark people.

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The Brown Virgin of Guadalupe
is now the national saint of Mexico,

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and there are hundreds of
other local cults

239
00:17:16,340 --> 00:17:18,339
dedicated to the Virgin Mary

240
00:17:18,340 --> 00:17:22,099
all over Latin America
and the developed world.

241
00:17:22,100 --> 00:17:25,579
This intense emotional attachment
to the Virgin Mary

242
00:17:25,580 --> 00:17:28,539
has been one of Christianity's
secret weapons

243
00:17:28,540 --> 00:17:32,539
in its extraordinary growth
all over the world.

244
00:17:33,500 --> 00:17:37,259
If you look at churches
in the provinces of Mexico,

245
00:17:37,260 --> 00:17:38,299
they're packed...

246
00:17:38,300 --> 00:17:43,299
They're packed with people
and masses and different rituals,

247
00:17:43,780 --> 00:17:49,779
whereas in Europe you see
less and less participants.

248
00:17:58,420 --> 00:18:01,179
The Spanish Conquest had
destroyed the local gods

249
00:18:01,180 --> 00:18:03,619
and caused a devastating loss
of population,

250
00:18:03,620 --> 00:18:07,099
but in this very
apocalyptic atmosphere,

251
00:18:07,100 --> 00:18:12,099
Mexicans began to turn
to Christianity in large numbers.

252
00:18:13,460 --> 00:18:19,259
The Indians saw their whole
world shaken completely,

253
00:18:19,580 --> 00:18:24,579
and a new process had to begin.

254
00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:29,799
The second or third generations,
disciples of the first missionaries,

255
00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,479
were able to speak Spanish,

256
00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:42,479
write the Latin alphabet and help
in the process of Christianisation.

257
00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,319
But crucially,
the Mexicans refused to give up all

258
00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:48,719
of their old religious traditions

259
00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:52,719
and many were simply imported
into the new Christianity.

260
00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:54,799
I would say that...

261
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,999
from the 1650s on,

262
00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:04,239
we can speak of a hybrid...religion,

263
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:09,559
which was Christian,
but that had some rituals

264
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:15,679
of Indian origin,
purely pre-Hispanic.

265
00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:18,799
By the middle of the 17th century,

266
00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,799
through the military might of
the Spanish and Portuguese empires,

267
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,519
Christianity had spread throughout
Central and South America

268
00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:28,399
and even to India.

269
00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,699
Now it was the turn of another
continent to face the full force

270
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:38,799
of European colonialism,
the land of my ancestors - Africa.

271
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,079
When Europeans came face to face
with my ancestors' religion,

272
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,959
again, they saw only witchcraft,
superstition,

273
00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,159
and the powers of darkness.

274
00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,159
DRUMMING, SINGING

275
00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:56,519
When they tried to convert them,

276
00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:58,559
they did so in the context

277
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,999
of one of Christian Europe's
most shameful episodes -

278
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,999
the slave trade.

279
00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:16,039
Although I was born in Britain,
I have traced my family story

280
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:20,039
back through the Caribbean
to Ghana in Africa.

281
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,799
When the Europeans first came
face-to-face with the home

282
00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,319
of my ancestors they weren't
confronted by Mayan temples

283
00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:31,319
or bloody human sacrifices, but
by the spirit world of the fetish.

284
00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,879
Many of the indigenous religions
of Africa centred on a belief

285
00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,599
that the world was full of spirits,
which could affect every aspect

286
00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,599
of people's lives.

287
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:53,999
Many African villages

288
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:58,999
had their fetish priests, whose
role was to enter the spirit world.

289
00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,939
Once there, they could take on
the powers of healing, prophecy

290
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,199
and spiritual warfare.

291
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,199
But when the Europeans first
encountered them,

292
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,759
they saw only witchcraft
and superstition.

293
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:19,759
They thought the local peoples
were nothing but primitive savages,

294
00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:25,439
so began one of Christian
Europe's most shameful episodes,

295
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,879
the slave trade.

296
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,799
My ancestors were held in
slave forts like this

297
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:40,799
before being shipped
off to the Caribbean to be enslaved.

298
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,399
Once there, they were given
the religion of their slave master,

299
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:49,719
and much like me many years later,
taught that it was part of a huge

300
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:51,519
benevolent missionary effort.

301
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:55,319
And that, in fact, Christianity
was a Western religion.

302
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,319
In fact, there could be nothing
further from the truth.

303
00:22:00,020 --> 00:22:03,159
Cape Coast Castle
was the headquarters

304
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,559
of the British slave trade in Africa
from the end of the 17th century.

305
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,559
The slavers kept hundreds
of Africans at a time

306
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,839
here in these dungeons.

307
00:22:18,060 --> 00:22:20,759
Then they herded them at gunpoint

308
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,059
down these corridors
towards the ships.

309
00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:29,119
That was just the start
of a horrific ordeal.

310
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,839
Up to a fifth of those who left
Africa died en route,

311
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:41,439
either through starvation, disease
or brutal violence.

312
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:48,639
The exact number of Africans

313
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,639
shipped overseas during
the slave trade is hotly debated.

314
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:57,199
Estimates range between
ten and 50 million.

315
00:22:57,900 --> 00:23:01,319
The survivors not only
lost their freedom,

316
00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,319
but their African identity as well.

317
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:18,639
Shockingly, this relic from
the slave trade, Cape Coast Castle,

318
00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,099
was also the setting for
the beginnings

319
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,879
of the British missionary effort
in Africa.

320
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,799
I have here a copy of a letter
by

321
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:29,319
one of the first
missionaries to work in Ghana,

322
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,799
"I have taken the earliest
opportunity to acquaint you

323
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:34,719
"with the history of my journey.

324
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,119
"I got safe by God's peculiar grace

325
00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:41,119
"to cape Coast Castle in Africa
after having undergone in the voyage

326
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,039
"a great deal of difficulties
and dangers."

327
00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:46,759
What's interesting is that this

328
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,279
letter wasn't written by a European,
but by an African.

329
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:54,079
In fact, the first Black African
to be ordained as an Anglican priest

330
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,079
and a missionary.

331
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:02,079
His name was Philip Quaque,
and he's buried here in the castle.

332
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,519
He was the son of an African
who sold slaves to the British.

333
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,679
But when he was just 13,
he was sent to London

334
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:13,999
to be trained as a missionary.

335
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:18,999
He was ordained priest in 1766
and sent back to Africa to convert

336
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:26,799
his fellow Africans in
a chapel located directly
above the slave dungeons.

337
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,079
You know, he was an ordained priest

338
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:35,479
and how do you think that
he and the others as Christians

339
00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,599
felt about this enterprise
that they were directly on top of?

340
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,879
They weren't even removed from it,
they were standing on top

341
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,199
while they were
praying to their god.

342
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,799
Yeah, to the best of my mind and
knowledge Philip Quaque was helpless,

343
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,959
he was the one black skin
amongst the whites

344
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,119
and he was trained by them so...

345
00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:01,519
I imagine maybe he was brainwashed.

346
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,519
Let us pray,
almighty and everlasting God...

347
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:08,439
Today, it's easy to see how

348
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,039
doomed from the start
Quaque's mission was.

349
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:15,439
The Christianity he had been taught
was Western European, the religion

350
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:19,239
of 18th century England,
shorn by the Reformation

351
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,499
and the Enlightenment
of its popular spirituality,

352
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,479
its vitality, its raw energy.

353
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,479
This kind of religion bore
no relation to the world

354
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:32,279
of black Africa.

355
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,279
One God, now and forever. Amen.

356
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:07,639
By the time he died,

357
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,639
Quaque had converted just
a handful of his fellow Africans.

358
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:17,639
So, how do you think the people who
lived out side of Cape Coast castle

359
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:20,679
viewed Philip Quaque?

360
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,979
Having mingled yourself with
the white man who was selling

361
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,479
our own brothers and sisters
and not even

362
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:33,479
visiting us in the community
and a white wife on top of it.

363
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,079
Naturally, they saw him as a traitor.

364
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:40,479
When Quaque died in 1816
he was a broken man,

365
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,059
shunned by both communities.

366
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,159
The white slavers could not accept
this black priest

367
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,919
and the local community
couldn't understand

368
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,119
why he had given up
on the ways of old.

369
00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:54,119
It was a miserable failure.

370
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,719
If Christianity was to take
root in places like Africa,

371
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,599
it would need to compete with
the local religions on equal terms.

372
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,759
There was no point in
Europeans imposing something

373
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:07,799
alien from the outside.

374
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,159
Anyway, all this talk about
bringing Christianity

375
00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:13,159
to the dark continent was false.

376
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,159
It had already been here 1,000 years
before the first missionary arrived.

377
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,879
The true Christianity
arrived in Africa

378
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,879
2,500 miles away on the other coast.

379
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,659
When the European missionaries first
came to Africa,

380
00:27:28,660 --> 00:27:31,659
they were faced with
an uncomfortable truth.

381
00:27:31,660 --> 00:27:34,399
It wasn't the dark continent
they had imagined.

382
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:38,359
They weren't the first
Christians to come here.

383
00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:42,279
On the other side of Africa,
is a land that successfully

384
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:46,279
resisted European colonialism
until the 20th century.

385
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:48,599
A country, Ethiopia,

386
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,559
that came into being long before
Spain or Portugal or Britain.

387
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:56,559
It is even mentioned
in the Bible itself.

388
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:00,279
I'm with a group of Christian
pilgrims

389
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,999
and we're on our way to
see an ancient religious festival,

390
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,279
part of one of the oldest
churches in the Christian world.

391
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,959
Founded over 1,600 years ago,

392
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,959
when Britain and most of Europe
languished in a pagan dark age.

393
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:17,119
We're about to investigate
the Ethiopian Orthodox church.

394
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:22,279
CHANTING

395
00:28:29,620 --> 00:28:33,059
Here at Lalibela,
in the Ethiopian Highlands,

396
00:28:33,060 --> 00:28:37,059
is one of the most extraordinary
religious sites in the world.

397
00:28:37,220 --> 00:28:43,219
Carved out of the rock itself, they
call it the Jerusalem of Africa.

398
00:28:44,540 --> 00:28:47,539
Oh, wow that's incredible!

399
00:28:47,540 --> 00:28:50,499
If not slightly dangerous!

400
00:28:50,500 --> 00:28:52,579
Oh, my days!

401
00:28:52,980 --> 00:28:54,559
Look at that.

402
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,559
It's a whole underground city.

403
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,639
It's like...wow.

404
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,119
How old did you say this is?

405
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:08,119
Over 800 years ago it was excavated
at the end of the 12th century.

406
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,559
My word.

407
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:15,559
This should be one of the
wonders of the world, shouldn't it?

408
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,979
This isn't an uncivilized people
that have to have their religion

409
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,099
or someone else's religion
thrust upon them.

410
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,199
This is a structure to celebrate
their own expression.

411
00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:31,579
This is their own
expression of Christ.

412
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:36,439
SINGING

413
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:42,359
The Ethiopian Orthodox church

414
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:46,359
was founded when
pagan emperors still ruled in Rome.

415
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,679
It is thought that Christianity

416
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,679
was brought here by monks from
Egypt in the fourth century.

417
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,479
But some Ethiopians claim that
their faith goes right

418
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:06,679
back to the Old Testament times
before Christianity even existed.

419
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,439
The Ethiopians even have their own
ancient manuscript tradition,

420
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,639
with perhaps the first ever
African alphabet.

421
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,279
Ethiopian Christianity is so old
that even its Bible is different.

422
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:36,119
When European scholars arrived
here in the 17th century,

423
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:41,599
they found books in this bible that
they had not even heard of,

424
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:44,719
perfectly preserved.

425
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,359
How old is this book?

426
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,199
820 years.

427
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:57,199
820 years. So it was
here when this church was built?

428
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,279
It's written in a most wonderful
and colourful script

429
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:02,599
as well as the illustrations.

430
00:31:02,900 --> 00:31:07,599
How long did it take
to write this Bible?

431
00:31:08,020 --> 00:31:11,319
It takes about eight years.

432
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:18,119
Many aspects of the Ethiopian church
are particular to this community.

433
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,199
You won't find them in any other
orthodox community across the world.

434
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,099
But though it may seem
strange to Western eyes,

435
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:29,399
it's a testament to the extreme age
of this African church.

436
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,959
Today, is the feast of St Michael,
and the ceremonies here demonstrate

437
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,919
an extraordinary facet
of Ethiopian Christianity,

438
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:46,919
its links with Judaism and the
ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

439
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,679
At the heart of every
Ethiopian church is a sanctuary

440
00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,239
where the public are never allowed.

441
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,079
Inside, protected by the priests,

442
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:02,079
are kept the most sacred objects
in the Ethiopian orthodox faith.

443
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,719
A few times every year,
they are carried in procession

444
00:32:09,020 --> 00:32:13,119
on the heads of these priests,
covered with sacred cloths.

445
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:18,939
They are inscribed blocks of wood,
replicas of the tablets of stone

446
00:32:19,580 --> 00:32:23,119
brought down by Moses
from Mount Sinai

447
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:26,119
as told in the Jewish Old Testament.

448
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,199
The Ethiopians practise
other Jewish customs too,

449
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:37,199
such as circumcision, and even
many of the Jewish dietary rules.

450
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,039
(TRANSLATION) Our religion stands
on three foundations.

451
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,039
The first is the command
of the holy spirit.

452
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,839
The second is the law of
the Old Testament,

453
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,839
and the third is the new law
of the New Testament.

454
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,799
Lalibela is not only famous
amongst modern Ethiopians,

455
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,999
but amongst people around the world.

456
00:33:06,500 --> 00:33:09,999
It's the pride of our people
and as you have witnessed it,

457
00:33:10,540 --> 00:33:14,239
you will be able to tell the story
better than we can.

458
00:33:18,020 --> 00:33:20,939
It is a really holy day here.

459
00:33:20,940 --> 00:33:24,739
People have walked for miles,
for months, just to get here

460
00:33:24,740 --> 00:33:26,459
so that they can see the tablets

461
00:33:26,460 --> 00:33:28,779
even though they are covered,
just to see the bishops,

462
00:33:28,780 --> 00:33:32,779
just to be blessed on this day,
to kiss the walls of the churches.

463
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:39,179
It really is a very significant
and moving spiritual day.

464
00:33:40,180 --> 00:33:43,339
Seeing a church as ancient,
and as African,

465
00:33:43,340 --> 00:33:49,339
as this has been a truly
liberating experience for me too.

466
00:33:49,900 --> 00:33:53,999
When my ancestors were enslaved by
the British they had their freedom,

467
00:33:54,420 --> 00:33:59,419
their identity, their religion,
their names ripped from them.

468
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:03,799
I was born with the surname Roberts,

469
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:07,799
that of the last slave master
to own someone in my family.

470
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,999
When I discovered this,

471
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,239
I decided to trace
my ancestry back to Ghana

472
00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:17,839
and reclaimed an ancestral name,

473
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,839
Kwame Kwei-Armah.

474
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:27,959
I wear this orthodox cross
to symbolise, for myself really,

475
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,079
that I can access Jesus
the revolutionary,

476
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,199
the protector
of the dispossessed,

477
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:37,039
through the lens of Africa
and not through my colonial masters

478
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:41,039
who often arrived with a bible
in one hand and a gun in the other.

479
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:46,239
The Ethiopian church has
been an inspiration
for millions of people,

480
00:34:46,240 --> 00:34:49,519
not just in Africa,
but round the world.

481
00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:53,519
Seeing Jesus through a non-European,
non-Western lens like this

482
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:57,639
has been the key to a
transformation in world Christianity

483
00:34:57,720 --> 00:35:01,719
which is already
having seismic effects.

484
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:07,079
In a reversal of roles,
it's now Africa and not Europe

485
00:35:07,380 --> 00:35:10,959
that is the powerhouse
of world Christianity.

486
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:14,359
And it's Britain,
formerly the biggest colonial power,

487
00:35:14,660 --> 00:35:18,359
that is feeling it most.

488
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,519
Hallelujah!

489
00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,579
Once called the Dark Continent,

490
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,679
Africa is now the global
powerhouse of Christianity.

491
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,679
It is the fastest-growing Christian
community anywhere in the world.

492
00:35:37,820 --> 00:35:41,619
In 1900 there were just ten million
Christians here.

493
00:35:41,620 --> 00:35:44,419
Today, a little over
a 100 years later,

494
00:35:44,420 --> 00:35:47,259
there are more than 360 million.

495
00:35:47,260 --> 00:35:49,859
Now those millions are
beginning to challenge

496
00:35:49,860 --> 00:35:51,899
the Western Christian establishment.

497
00:35:51,900 --> 00:35:55,899
And Britain's at
the heart of the storm.

498
00:35:57,580 --> 00:35:59,619
The sheer numbers
and increasing power

499
00:35:59,620 --> 00:36:01,339
of the African Anglican churches

500
00:36:01,340 --> 00:36:05,299
have already begun to shake
the unity of the Anglican Communion.

501
00:36:05,300 --> 00:36:07,899
In particular,
liberal Western attitudes

502
00:36:07,900 --> 00:36:10,899
over issues like women priests
and homosexuality

503
00:36:10,900 --> 00:36:13,699
have angered African Christians.

504
00:36:14,100 --> 00:36:17,459
This practice makes
the whole Church seem

505
00:36:17,460 --> 00:36:21,459
as if it's going against
the teachings of the Bible.

506
00:36:21,780 --> 00:36:23,779
They brought Christianity to us.

507
00:36:23,780 --> 00:36:27,179
Now it's our turn to
take Christianity to them.

508
00:36:28,220 --> 00:36:31,379
But the real challenge is
not just about social values,

509
00:36:31,380 --> 00:36:33,499
but about the faith itself.

510
00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:37,499
And that's down to the kind
of Christianity Africans created

511
00:36:37,740 --> 00:36:41,139
out of the turmoil
of the colonial experience.

512
00:36:41,140 --> 00:36:44,699
Throughout this journey I've been
constantly amazed at how people

513
00:36:44,700 --> 00:36:48,699
abandon beliefs that have
dominated their lives for centuries

514
00:36:48,700 --> 00:36:52,259
for this new religion, born out
of a small place in the Middle East,

515
00:36:52,260 --> 00:36:53,739
2,000 years ago.

516
00:36:53,940 --> 00:36:57,739
Why has Christianity been
so spectacularly successful?

517
00:36:57,980 --> 00:37:00,619
And why is it growing so quickly?

518
00:37:01,620 --> 00:37:05,019
Here in this small Ghanaian village,
we can get a glimpse

519
00:37:05,020 --> 00:37:09,019
of how the global
Christian explosion took place.

520
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:16,499
In 1922, a charismatic African
preacher called Joseph Appiah

521
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,059
was expelled from
the Methodist Church

522
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,119
because he insisted on
playing African drums.

523
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:25,319
But he didn't give up.

524
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,319
He set up his own church.

525
00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,439
So what would you say was
the main differences

526
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:03,439
between the mainstream
Methodist church and your own?

527
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,999
(PRAYS)

528
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:28,439
Whereas before they might have
turned to a fetish priest,

529
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:31,399
Joseph Appiah and his congregation
nowsaw the power

530
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:33,399
of the Christian Holy Spirit

531
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:37,399
as a means to bring healing
and help cast out evil spirits.

532
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:43,159
MAN CHANTS, CONGREGATION RESPONDS

533
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:55,519
(PRAYS)

534
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,679
Did the establishment
see this healing and these drums

535
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:07,879
as maybe the African Christians
going back to a former fetishism?

536
00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:32,559
Churches like this
sprang up all over Africa

537
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:34,719
during the colonial period.

538
00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:37,119
These African independent churches

539
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:39,919
confronted the spirit world
directly,

540
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:41,999
and it was they who kick-started

541
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,999
the spectacular growth
of Christianity in Africa.

542
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:23,519
The promise that Jesus is your
personal saviour is a universal one.

543
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:27,079
But the real secret of
Christianity's global success

544
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:31,579
is that it still allows people
to hold on to their own culture.

545
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,879
It means you can turn Christianity
into your own religion.

546
00:40:55,240 --> 00:40:58,159
After independence
in the 1950s and '60s,

547
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,199
the peoples of the former
European colonies in Africa

548
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:05,199
had a difficult history,
full of plagues, famines and wars.

549
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:07,239
But when they read their Bibles,

550
00:41:07,240 --> 00:41:10,959
they saw their own lives
played out in its pages.

551
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,919
For them the Bible is not describing
an alien, ancient world,

552
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:18,919
it's describing their lives, now.

553
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:23,959
# Read your Bible, pray every day

554
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:28,159
# Pray every day, pray every day

555
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:32,679
# Read your Bible, pray every day

556
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:37,039
# If you want to go... #

557
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,839
There are hundreds of different
churches in Africa

558
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,079
and moreare being added every day.

559
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:29,079
In fact, it's the fastest-growing
Christian community in the world.

560
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,719
Every 30 years, it doubles.

561
00:42:31,720 --> 00:42:34,879
In fact, by 2050,
there will be more Christians

562
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,979
in Latin America, Africa and Asia
than Europe and America combined.

563
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,359
That means the West's stranglehold
on Christianity

564
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,359
will have been broken, and a new
Christendom will have arisen.

565
00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:50,719
CLAPPING, SHOUTING

566
00:42:53,460 --> 00:42:55,919
This new Christendom
is very different

567
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,359
from what we're used to in Europe.

568
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:02,059
It's not something that is
at the margins of society.

569
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:06,059
Here, Christianity is a core part
of daily life -

570
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:08,999
something that affects
everything people do,

571
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:12,499
that quite literally
takes them over.

572
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:16,439
In terms of sheer numbers,

573
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:20,739
the most spectacular growth is found
in charismatic Pentecostal churches.

574
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:25,899
They now account for one quarter
of all Christians worldwide.

575
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:28,839
One of the biggest in Ghana

576
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:32,839
is the Christian Action
Faith Ministry in Accra.

577
00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:13,919
Spiritual warfare dominates
the ministry of this church.

578
00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:17,919
Powered by the Holy Spirit,
exorcisms deliver believers

579
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:21,119
from the power of evil spirits.

580
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:26,039
You are able to empower
your spirit man and then

581
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:29,959
we are able to obtain from God
things you can't get physically.

582
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:33,959
I have had instant healing
several times.

583
00:44:38,300 --> 00:44:40,679
Healing is at the heart of it.

584
00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:44,879
Like the older independent churches,
Pentecostal churches engage directly

585
00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:48,279
with the spirit world.

586
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,519
This couldn't be more different

587
00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:05,119
from the sedate churches
of the Western missionaries.

588
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,639
And this kind of
biblical Pentecostalism

589
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:10,799
is not just confined to Africa.

590
00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:13,239
It is rapidly spreading
all over the globe,

591
00:45:13,240 --> 00:45:17,239
in Asia, in America,
and in Europe too.

592
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,399
This is the future
of global Christianity.

593
00:45:23,500 --> 00:45:27,999
For Pentecostals, the power of
the Holy Spirit is fundamental,

594
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:33,319
and it's something they believe
we in the West no longer have.

595
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:37,799
(SCREAMS)

596
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:41,799
(SHOUTS)

597
00:46:20,940 --> 00:46:24,839
This has truly been a revolution of
global proportions.

598
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:27,719
For ever and ever.

599
00:46:27,720 --> 00:46:28,759
Amen.

600
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:32,959
For 2,000 years, Europe has had
a stranglehold on Christianity.

601
00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:36,679
When Europeans began to create
new empires overseas

602
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:39,319
they took their Christianity
with them,

603
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:43,319
often brutally forcing
their subjected peoples to convert.

604
00:46:43,720 --> 00:46:46,039
But it didn't work.

605
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:50,039
Christianity only became
a global religion

606
00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:53,919
when local peoples took control of
it and made it their own.

607
00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:57,919
And today these new Christians have
harnessed a powerful spiritual force

608
00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:02,319
which many churches in
the West have abandoned.

609
00:47:04,720 --> 00:47:07,759
No longer does Europe
control the faith.

610
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,759
The Western dominance of
the Christian world is broken.

611
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:18,679
Today a new Christendom has emerged,
based in the developing world,

612
00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:23,879
and these new Christians believe it
is Europe that now needs converting

613
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:26,279
to the true faith.

614
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:29,359
It's not just an African issue.

615
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:33,359
Churches in Latin America and Asia
seemingly share the same worldview,

616
00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:36,159
that Europe
is now the Dark Continent,

617
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:39,679
a place where Christianity is
a shadow of its former self.

618
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:43,079
The missionary boot
is on the other foot.

619
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:47,039
Have faith in God and continue
to read the Bible.

620
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:51,039
You will see the power of God
in your life emerge.

621
00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:55,519
# Read your Bible, pray every day,
pray every day... #

622
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:11,799
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