Missions: Cultural Oppression?

Last night I was asked to respond to this idea:  Christian missions merely represents cultural oppression, in which the Western missionary swoops in to suppress the natives, import Western values, and in effect ruin the native culture.  Isn't this just a form of new colonialism?

Here are three thoughts I gave in response:

1.  The idea of the "noble savage" is largely a myth.  When missionaries "of old" spoke of civilizing the heathens, they hoped to free cultures from such "noble" practices as cannibalism, ritual sacrifices, and witch-doctor healthcare.

2.  What values does the Christian hope to import to other cultures?  Do these values suppress culture, colonize people's native culture and  replace it with Western ideals?  Not remotely.  The values are love for Jesus, producing worship of God and the fruits of the Spirit, ie: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control.  As Paul aptly states, "against such things there is no law."

3.  Is the Gospel a Western thing or is it counter-cultural?  The Gospel is not a Western thing;  it is radically cross-cultural.  If the Gospel is true...it applies to all people everywhere.  "God commands all people everywhere to repent!" Acts 17:30

When this criticism is introduced, it rests on faulty assumptions, not the least of which is an assumption that all religions are equally false and merely represent aspects of culture.