January 23rd
forwarded by a reader from Sri Lanka. this mixing of religion and
charity is endemic, and quite frankly, disgusting.
New York Times
Mix of Quake Aid and Preaching Stirs Concern
By DAVID ROHDE
Published: January 22, 2005
MORAKETIYA, Sri Lanka, Jan. 19 -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, who all come 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 12year-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 the offices
of the World Vision Christian aid group and vandalized
or threatened churches and pastors 75 times. They
accuse Christians of using money and social programs
to cajole and coerce conversions.
Most American groups, including those affiliated with
religious organizations, strictly avoid mixing aid and
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 may be
undermined by resentment.
The Rev. Sarangika Fernando, a local Methodist
minister, witnessed one of the prayer sessions in Sri
Lanka and accused the Americans of acting unethically
with traumatized people. "They said, 'In the name of
Jesus, she must be cured!' " he said. "As a priest, I
was really upset."
The Americans in Sri Lanka belong to the Antioch
Community Church, an evangelical church based in Waco,
Tex. 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, pro-American
Northern Alliance forces freed the women, who church
officials say did speak with Afghans about their
personal "relationship with Jesus."
The Antioch Community Church is one of a growing
number of evangelical groups that believe in mixing
aidgiving with discussing 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 at such a sensitive time 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 Rev. Duleep Fernando, a Methodist minister based
in Colombo, the capital, brought the Americans to the
camp here. Mr. Fernando said they had 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 Mr. 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 brought an outcry from Muslims. The group
later said it had never had custody of the children.
Sri Lankan refugees, camp administrators and church
officials said the Americans here had identified
themselves only as a humanitarian aid group. In an
interview here on Wednesday, Pat Murphy, 49, a leader
of the team, said the group was a nongovernmental
organization, and not a church group. "It's an NGO,"
Mr. 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 - for a total of 75 people - dispatched
to Sri Lanka and Indonesia who have persuaded dozens
of people to "come to Christ."
When the group's postings were read to Mr. 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 or pressure people
into becoming Christians. He denied that the team,
which sent about half its 24 members to work in the
eastern town of Kalmunai, was trying to convert
people. The church has 2,000 members.
"We simply provide people with information," he said,
"and they do with that what they like."
A Jan. 18 posting from the team in Indonesia says the
country's devastated Aceh Province is "ripe for
Jesus!!"
"What an opportunity," it 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 Rev. Jimmy Seibert, the senior pastor of the Waco
church, said in a telephone interview that the church
would evaluate whether the group's members should
identify themselves as 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 they do not proselytize,
abiding 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 in the last 20 years there had
been an increase of smaller Christian evangelical
groups providing relief aid in the wake of disaster.
"I think there are new groups that are driven by
missionary zeal," Mr. Hackett said. In the last
several weeks, Mr. Hackett said, his group has
received anecdotal reports of proselytizing in
countries devastated by the tsunami.
"From our partners in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia
we've heard that there have been instances when
American and other Christian groups have been
proselytizing and casting aspersions on the faith of
people there," he said. "Some of these groups raise
questions about other faiths, saying that people would
be better off if they converted to Christianity
immediately."
Several American evangelical aid groups have arrived
in Sri Lanka, but no reports of proselytizing by those
groups have emerged, according to Sri Lankan church
officials. The Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of the
evangelist Billy Graham, visited Sri Lanka this week
to encourage the workers of his evangelical aid
organization, Samaritan's Purse, who plan to work in
Sri Lanka for the next five years.
Other American evangelical aid groups, including
Gospel for Asia and World Relief, are active on the
country's devastated east coast, according to Sri
Lankan and American aid workers.
Members of Mr. Graham's group said they did not engage
in proselytizing, but said if local Christians wanted
to build a church they would help them. Officials from
World Relief, the aid wing of the National Association
of Evangelicals, have said in interviews that they try
to first build trust with local people and then look
for opportunities for conversions, in some cases years
later.
More evangelical groups are apparently on their way. A
message posted on the Web site of the Moral Majority
leader Jerry Falwell says the school he founded,
Liberty University, is preparing to send a team to Sri
Lanka, India and other countries battered by the
tsunami.
"Distribution of food and medical supplies along with
the dissemination of thousands of Gospel tracts in the
language of the people will keep the L.U. team very
busy," the Web site says. "Mission trips to the Asian
region by many L.U. students will follow in the
months, and perhaps years, to come."
Ron Godwin, president of Jerry Falwell Ministries,
confirmed that the Liberty Foundation was organizing a
shipment of rice, medication and Scriptural excerpts,
but said the primary goal of the effort was relief,
not proselytizing. "Everything we do is in the name of
Christ," he said. "But we try to be sensitive in areas
where it may be politically sensitive, and we have no
litmus test for those we give rice to."
According to the Waco church group's Web site, its
teams in Sri Lanka and Indonesia are performing
"children's ministry," seeing "many people saved" and
continuing to "minister to families and children
through prayer and evangelism."
According to its Web site, the congregation uses small
groups called "cell churches" to attract new members.
The reports from Indonesia and Sri Lanka refer to
"cells" and "lifegroups" in both countries.
Residents of the camp here reported no healings as a
result of the group's prayers. But they said they
appreciated the aid and activities for children that
the group provided and did not want to see them end.
Organizers in a nearby camp have declared the
Americans missionaries and barred them from entering.
Camp organizers here said they believed that the group
was trying to convert people, but did not want to
further upset the tsunami victims by cutting off the
aid.
W. L. P. Wilson, 38, a disabled fisherman with a
sixth-grade education, said he allowed the Americans
to pray three times for the healing of his paralyzed
lower leg because he was desperate to provide for his
wife and three children again. Mr. Wilson, a Buddhist,
said that he believed that the Americans were trying
to convert him to Christianity but that he was in "a
helpless situation now" and needed aid.
"They told me to always think about God and about
Jesus and you will be healed," he said. "Whenever I
ask for help they always mention God, but they do not
give any money for treatment."
Neela Banerjee contributed reporting from Washington
for this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/22/international/worldspecial4/22preach.html?oref=regi
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