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Missionaries in foreign countries are crass
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Anonymous
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Let’s take one country, Pakistan.
In Pakistan, 1.5% of the population are Christian. Many churches built during the colonial Indian period, prior to the partition, remain locked, with the Pakistani government refusing to hand them over to the Christian community. Others have been victims of church arsons or demolitions. Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. At least a dozen Christians have been given death sentences, and half a dozen murdered after being accused of violating blasphemy laws. In 2005, 80 Christians were behind bars due to these laws. The Pakistani-American author Farahnaz Ispahani has called treatment of Christians in Pakistan a "drip-drip genocide". In November 2005, 3,000 Muslims attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan. In August 2009, six Christians, including four women and a child, were burnt alive by Muslim militants and a church set ablaze in Gojra, Pakistan when violence broke out after alleged desecration of a Qur'an in a wedding ceremony by Christians. On 8 November 2010, a Christian woman from Punjab Province, Asia Noreen Bibi, was sentenced to death by hanging for violating Pakistan's blasphemy law. The accusation stemmed from a 2009 incident in which Bibi became involved in a religious argument after offering water to thirsty Muslim farm workers. The workers later claimed that she had blasphemed against Muhammed. Until 2019, Bibi was in solitary confinement. A cleric had offered $5,800 to anyone who killed her. As of May 2019, Bibi and her family have left Pakistan and now reside in Canada. On 2 March 2011, the only Christian minister in the Pakistan government was shot dead. Shahbaz Bhatti, Minister for Minorities, was in his car along with his niece. Around 50 bullets struck the car. Over 10 bullets hit Bhatti. Before his death, he had publicly stated that he was not afraid of the Taliban's threats and was willing to die for his faith and beliefs. He was targeted for opposing the anti-free speech "blasphemy" law, which punishes insulting Islam or its Prophet. A fundamentalist Muslim group claimed responsibility. On 27 March 2016, a suicide bomber from a Pakistani Taliban faction killed at least 60 people and injured 300 others in an attack at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore, Pakistan, and the group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it intentionally targeted Christians celebrating Easter Sunday. On 18 December 2017, six people were killed and dozens injured in a suicide bombing on a Methodist church in the city of Quetta, Balochistan province. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians Christian groups have listed some 25 major incidents, which include physical attacks on Christians and kidnapping, raping and forcibly converting Christian girls, sometimes minors, to Islam. In 2023, armed Muslims set fire to at least 19 churches and looted and destroyed hundreds of Christian homes. Jaranwala is located in the Faisalabad district, about 205 miles south of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Church groups have identified 109 cases of forced conversion cases in the past 11 months. Figures show 25 of them were 14 years or younger, while some 60 were ages 14 to 18. The incidents of Muslims kidnapping Hindu and Christian girls, forcing them to convert, have become common. https://thecatholicspirit.com/news/nation-and-world/pakistan-christians-end-year-of-persecution-hoping-new-government-in-2024-will-bring-respite/ Christianity is not a religion of the white man nor a European religion. Christianity began in Judea in the present-day Middle East and spread to surrounding countries. Anyone who claims Christianity is something “white people” brought to the ME, Africa, Asia, etc, is either uneducated or purposely ignoring history. Christians are being persecuted, killed, imprisoned, raped, etc, all over the world. And if someone thinks Christians in America donating small boxes of toys to little kids when they are invited to a church function in their own community, and the boxes are distributed by Christians in their own community, are disgusting and violent, doesn’t know anything about the current state of the world. If you don’t like Christianity that’s your opinion. But Christians are doing what their religion teaches when they become missionaries or donate to charity. If Christians do not do those things and only talk about helping others or only talk about Jesus Christ, they are performative. They aren’t doing what should do. Yet if they actually do what their religion tells them to do, they are bad people for forcing others to convert to Christianity? Christianity has spread so widely and become the most populous religion in the world because it improves people’s lives. |
Anonymous
Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing both spiritual and physical relief to hurting people around the world. It is not a Catholic organization. Samaritan’s Purse has many ongoing ministries: Disaster Relief responds to emergency situations. World Medical Mission, the medical arm of Samaritan's Purse, was founded in 1977 by brothers Dr. Richard Furman and Dr. Lowell Furman to enable doctors to serve short-term assignments at overwhelmed missionary hospitals. Children's Heart Project provides surgery for children born with heart defects in countries where proper care is not available. Turn on the Tap is a campaign to provide safe drinking water in the developing world. Operation Heal Our Patriots provides lodging and outdoor activities in Alaska for wounded veterans and their spouses. The organization's medical mission in Liberia, West Africa, was one of only two medical NGOs active in Liberia during the beginning of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Samaritan's Purse and SIM USA both have been actively engaged in treating the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Liberia. The organization stepped efforts to aid Ukraine in the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022. The organization donated various supplies especially for the youth in schools such as medication, food, supplies, blankets, tarps, and bags. The donations were made through various methods of transportation such as semi trucks being loaded with roughly 80,000 donation goods, being transferred at Piedmont Triad International Airport on the DC-8 airplane, and then being air lifted to Poland where the goods are transported across the border to Ukraine. The organization accomplished its 30th airlift donation in the month of September having started in February, equating to roughly 4 airlifts per month. It is estimated that 5.5 million Ukrainians were aided due to the efforts with food, water, and supplies. Furthermore, the organization provided roughly 30 emergency field support hospitals in Lviv with the result of aiding nearly 18,000 patients. The organization's 2021 financial statement listed just $758 million in cash donations and another $245 million in donated goods and services. 85% of its $676 million in expenses went ministry expenses with the largest share (42%) going to their Operation Christmas Child project and 17% to emergency relief and 7% to its medical missions. Most expenses come from direct costs in delivering emergency and medical relief and Operation Christmas Child (57%) along with staff salaries and other employment expenses (20%). The organization has received a 4 star rating (out of 4 stars) from the monitoring organization Charity Navigator. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan's_Purse |
Anonymous
There are at least ten of them. |
Anonymous
True, based on the volume of anti-pit bull, anti-dog threads. I don’t trust people who don’t like dogs. Something is broken on the inside. |
Anonymous
And they proselytize unethically. |
Anonymous
Exactly. |
Anonymous
So is there no food at the events? So priests are just luring children to a church event? And not telling them they will get a special gift? |
Anonymous
DP. To be fair, you’re misrepresenting Christians on this thread. |
Anonymous
PP was pretty accurate: "Christians love to play the victim" Someone, presumably a Christian, posted multiple examples of Christians being "persecuted" in other countries. even when they are victimizing others. Multiple examples of Christians missionaries victimizing vulnerable people have been shared on this thread. |
Anonymous
Both can be true |
Anonymous
Maybe Christians wouldn't get killed as often if they weren't trying to proselytize in areas where they aren't wanted. 
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Anonymous
Well, this man was doing what he thought was right. He was not a performative Christian; he didn’t just copy a scripture onto his facebook status. He wanted to help people and knew he was very likely to die. “I think it's worthwhile to declare Jesus to these people. Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed ... Don't retrieve my body." -He wrote this in his diary. The Sentinelese have repeatedly attacked approaching vessels, whether the boats were intentionally visiting the island or simply ran aground on the surrounding coral reef. The islanders have been observed shooting arrows at boats, as well as at low-flying helicopters. Such attacks have resulted in injury and death. In 2006, islanders killed two fishermen whose boat had drifted ashore. The Sentinelese are known to have scavenged both shipwrecks for iron. The first peaceful contact with the Sentinelese was made by Triloknath Pandit, a director of the Anthropological Survey of India, and his colleagues on 4 January 1991. Although Pandit and his colleagues were able to make repeated friendly contact, dropping coconuts and other gifts to the Sentinelese, no progress was made in understanding the Sentinelese language, and the Sentinelese repeatedly warned them off if they stayed too long. Indian visits to the island ceased in 1997. The Sentinelese survived the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and its after-effects, including the tsunami and the uplifting of the island. Three days after the earthquake, an Indian government helicopter observed several islanders, who shot arrows and threw spears and stones at the helicopter. I don’t know why the people on this island are voluntarily isolated, but it can’t be a very pleasant life. |
Anonymous
| Is proselytization/evangelism considered to be an "expression" of one's religious beliefs? |
Anonymous
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So, in regards to the shoeboxes-it's explained clearly that the boxes are distributed through LOCAL churches, orphanages and organizations. The hosts of the event are local people who live there-not missionaries coming in from outside. And they don't offer The Greatest Journey program in areas that it is not acceptable to the local population or if it could endanger kids who might attend (the website explains this also). They do give out boxes but without religious literature in that case.
As far as medical missionaries, like in the example a pp gave of ones who provide prenatal care-typically, the medical personnel are not doing evangelizing. They are usually hosted by a local church or organization and they're there to serve the people. I've known a few dentists and nurses who have gone on mission trips and they essentially provide needed care sunup to sundown and later if there is working electricity. |
Anonymous
Moral of the story: don’t push your religion on anyone. |