Scattered reports of Christian aid workers proselytizing in Muslim,
Buddhist, and Hindu countries raise concerns.
By David Rohde
MORAKETIYA, Sri Lanka, Jan. 19 (NYT)--A dozen Americans walked into a
relief camp here, showering bereft parents and traumatized children
with gifts, attention and affection. They also quietly offered camp
residents something else: Jesus.
The Americans, all of them from one church in Texas, have staged plays
detailing the life of Jesus and had children draw pictures of him,
camp
residents said.
They have told parents who lost children that they should still
believe
in God and held group prayers where they tried to heal a partly
paralyzed man and a deaf 12-year-old girl.
The attempts at proselytizing are angering local Christian leaders,
who
worry that they could provoke a violent backlash against Christians in
Sri Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist country that is already a
religious
tinderbox.
Last year, Buddhist hard-liners attacked more than 100 churches and
the
offices of the World Vision Christian aid group, accusing them of
using
money and social programs to cajole and coerce conversions.
Most U.S.-based aid groups, including those affiliated with religious
organizations, strictly avoid mixing aid with missionary work. But
scattered reports of proselytizing in Sri Lanka; Indonesia, which is
predominantly Muslim; and India, with large Hindu and Muslim
populations, are arousing concerns that the good will spread by the
American relief efforts could be undermined by resentment over
missionary work.
The Reverend Sarangika Fernando, a local Methodist minister, witnessed
one of the prayer sessions in Sri Lanka and accused the Americans of
exploiting traumatized people. "They said, 'In the name of Jesus, she
must be cured!' As a priest, I was really upset."
The Americans in Sri Lanka belong to the Antioch Community Church, an
evangelical congregation based in Waco, Texas. Two members of the
church were arrested and accused of proselytizing by the Taliban in
Afghanistan in August 2001. When the United States invaded the country
several months later, Northern Alliance forces freed the women.
The Antioch Community Church is one of a growing number of evangelical
groups that believe in mixing humanitarian aid with discussions of
religion, an approach that older, more established Christian aid
groups
like Catholic Relief Services call unethical.
In Sri Lanka, alarmed local Christian leaders say proselytizing could
reverse the grass-roots interfaith cooperation that has emerged since
the tsunami and endanger Christians, who make up 7 percent of the
population.
The country also has sizable Hindu and Muslim minorities.
The Reverend Duleep Fernando, a Methodist minister based in Colombo,
the capital, brought the Americans to the camp here. Fernando said
they
described themselves as humanitarian aid workers. He and other Sri
Lankan Christian leaders say raising religion with traumatized
refugees
is unethical.
"We have told them this is not right, but now we don't have any
control
over them," said Fernando, who called the group's Web site postings
"unnecessarily explosive."
"This is a dangerous situation," he said.
In Indonesia last week, reports that a missionary group named
WorldHelp
planned to raise 300 Muslim tsunami orphans in a Christian children's
home in Jakarta, the country's capital, sparked an outcry from
Muslims.
The group later said it never had custody of the children.
Sri Lankan refugees, camp administrators and church officials said the
Americans have identified themselves only as a humanitarian aid group.
In an interview here, Pat Murphy, a team leader, said the group is a
nongovernmental organization, not a church group.
"It's an NGO," Murphy said. "Just your plain vanilla NGO that does aid
work."
But the church's Web site says the Americans are one of four teams
dispatched to Sri Lanka and Indonesia who have convinced dozens of
people to "come to Christ."
When the group's postings were read to Murphy, he confirmed that the
Americans were from the Antioch Community Church but said the group
would never use relief goods and gifts to entice people into becoming
Christians. He denied that the group, which sent about half of its
members to work in the eastern town of Kalmunai, was trying to convert
people."We simply provide people with information and they do with
that
what they like," he said.
A Jan. 18 posting from the team in Indonesia says Aceh Province is
"ripe for Jesus!!"
"What an opportunity," the posting adds. "It has been closed for five
years and the missionaries in Indonesia consider it the most militant
and difficult place for ministry. The door is wide open and the people
are hungry."
The Reverend Jimmy Siebert, the senior pastor of the Waco church, said
in a telephone interview that the church would evaluate whether the
group should identify themselves as simply aid workers. But he said
the
church believes missionary work and aid work "is one thing, not two
separate things."
"My hope is that as a follower of Jesus they would bring who they are
into the workplace," he said, "whether they are in a workplace in
America or a workplace in Sri Lanka."
Older Christian aid groups like Catholic Relief Services, Lutheran
World Relief and others with religious affiliations say that they do
not proselytize and that they abide by Red Cross guidelines that
humanitarian aid not be used to further political or religious
purposes. Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services, said
that
over the last 20 years there has been an increase in smaller Christian
evangelical groups providing humanitarian aid in the wake of disaster.
W.L.P. Wilson, 38, a disabled fisherman, said he allowed the Americans
to pray three times for the healing of his paralyzed lower leg because
he is desperate to provide for his wife and three children again.
Wilson, a Buddhist, said he believed that the Americans were trying to
convert him to Christianity but he is in "a helpless situation now"
and
needs aid.
Correspondent:: "nu-monet v7.0" Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:03:40 -0700
--------
Modemac wrote:
>
> By David Rohde
> MORAKETIYA, Sri Lanka
The Buddhists are also noting that the tsunami has
caused the previously hidden radical Islamist
underground to come out of hiding, with the same
thing in mind, trying to curry favor with the
destitute.
--
Herring communicate with each other
via a high-pitched, "raspberry"-like
sound emitted from their anuses.
These noises are not produced by
digestive gases.
-- from 'The New Scientist'
Correspondent:: König Prüß, GfbAEV Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 18:52:48 GMT
--------
"nu-monet v7.0" wrote:
>Modemac wrote:
>>
>> By David Rohde
>> MORAKETIYA, Sri Lanka
>
>The Buddhists are also noting that the tsunami has
>caused the previously hidden radical Islamist
>underground to come out of hiding, with the same
>thing in mind, trying to curry favor with the
>destitute.
>
Mmmmmmm! I love curry flavor!
Correspondent:: "ArWeGod" Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 11:09:59 GMT
--------
So even Christians want the Christians to leave. Hallelujah!