Final answer:
The 1943 Missionary Conference aimed to send five hundred newly trained and experienced missionaries as part of a broader movement to spread Christianity and American values abroad, often through schools, churches, and cultural assimilation in a paternalistic approach.
Step-by-step explanation:
The major goal of the 1943 Missionary Conference was d) the Foreign Missions Department's sending five hundred newly trained and experienced missionaries. This objective was part of a broader movement where Christian missionaries sought to spread Christianity, alongside education, medicine, and modernization, to populations across distant regions. The missionary zeal was fueled by the notion that these efforts would not only spread the Gospel but also American values, which missionaries equated with Christian ethics. Throughout history, missionaries have been instrumental in not only religious conversions but also in promoting various aspects of the culture of the colonizing nation, including its language and societal norms.
Missionaries played a significant role in what Kipling referred to as the "civilizing mission," bringing the so-called "gifts" of civilization to colonized people. The exertion of such influence often took place through the establishment of schools and churches, as well as the assimilation of orphaned or abandoned children into the culture of the conquering nation. While the missionaries' intentions focused on improving lives and expanding democracy, their approach has been critiqued for its paternalistic nature.