The problem arose because missionaries must always decide what heathenism is. Is it mankind stumbling in uncertain quest of the true God? Or is it humanity organized in hardened resistance to the gospel? Should the Christian ambassador seek the good in heathen religions and use this as a foundation for building a Christian community? Or should he suppress— destroy if necessary—all forms of heathen religion in order to plant the true faith? We can call one approach the policy of adaptation and the other the policy of conquest.
