Indonesia ousts Christian groups

[kskiska]

From Moonie Times

Christian groups and some other private relief agencies are being asked to halt their work in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh and leave the area by March 26, Indonesia's defense minister said yesterday.

The decision likely will target Western and smaller church groups as the government moves to tighten control over reconstruction work in Aceh, the home of a decades-old separatist insurgency.

"We want each of the relief agencies to be transparent in their programs: Some of them are not clear about their mandates," said Juwono Sudarsono during an interview in a Washington hotel.

"Aceh is mostly Muslim, and some church groups from Australia and the United States are too eager to be there and do their part," he said.

more…
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050316-114421-7242r.htm

[shadowknows69]

1. we can't even help people without fu*ing it up

[NVMojo]

2. ok, it's the moonie times but!!! I love this. The USA BUSH WORLD

is now tied explicitly to christianity/bushianity!!! I'd want that shit out of my country too! This man has ruined the reality of the message of Christ. A pox on his house!!!

[saltpoint]

3. It could be that the government acknowledges the mostly-Muslim --

-- population of that region and wants to ensure that the Christian groups thereabouts are not offering food, clothing and shelter in exchange for relgious conversion.

Some of the "Christian" relief groups in recent weeks have behaved disgracefully by dangling relief in front of desperately needy people in exchange for conversion.

[ananda]

5. toxic evangelism

The tsunami was only a matter of too much water.

Evangelism is a kind of disease, and the only antidote is prevention.

It's so sad that for "compassionate Christians" (an oxymoron), aid comes with conditions.

Sue

[VegasWolf]

9. LOL. Well said! We need a truckload of that antidote right here at home.

[aquart]

4. Good for them!

How dare those "Christians" look on this tragedy as their golden opportunity!

[noonwitch]

15. It should be their opportunity to do good deeds-feed the poor,

help the sick, etc., and let that be the example of what Jesus taught, not proselytizing hungry people whose lives have been devastated.

[regnaD kciN]

6. Considering the monstrous behavior of the Indonesian government...

...during the civil war there (and in delaying tsunami relief efforts from reaching the area in the first days of the disaster), I wouldn't be so quick to support the government over the relief agencies in this case.

As far as I can tell, the government could well want church groups out of the area lest they interfere with the "kill 'em all, let Allah sort 'em out" treatment of the people of Aceh at the hands of a notably brutal dictatorship.

[seriousstan]

7. Thank God religious intorelance is alive and well.

[leesa]

18. Sorry. But Fundies have one thought on their mind...conversion

And they are doing it by manipulating their 'charity'. Why should anyone tolerate THAT?

[ninkasi]

8. I can only speak for myself...

But if I had the money and opportunity to go to Indonesia to help the victims of this disaster, quite candidly, the last thing on my mind would be trying to convert them. Give them shelter, medical aid, clean water, food, yes, any of those...but it would most certainly not be tied to the victims converting to a particular religious point of view.

That isn't charity, that's extortion. If you want to help, then do so, but don't attach strings to the help. These people are suffering, and in shock, and need, and should be spared the pressures to change their religion in order to receive aid.

[Name removed]

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[salin]

14. No - its not

unless you are talking about the far-right fundamentalist evangelicals who have become politicized from the pulpit to the point where their professed beliefs and actions seem to be both contradictory to the teachings of Christ, and aggressively trying to shove their form of "religion" upon all others. For many of those folks, it does seem to be an oxymoron. But they do not represent all Christians.

[VegasWolf]

10. If I give them food, can I convert them to Thunder-in-sky-ism? n/t

[KT2000]

11. During the Irish Famine

the Protestants from England set up soup kitches for the starving people. They required conversion from Catholicism before allowing them to eat the food though.

[cornermouse]

12. Time to declare war on 'em.

That solves everything.

[sarcasmo]

16. Best news of the day Thanks for making me smile. Why can't we do this

here at home? It's because to many have drank the Kool Aid.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

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[ecoalex]

19. The Quakers have a clean track record

The American Friends Service is known world wide as a charity with no religious endoctrination. The fundies are bush -like, and want something in return; your soul.

I agree wish we had a purge here too.

[AlCzervik]

20. Yes we'll help you...if you convert.

i hate this stuff, if you're going to help, then help without strings attached.

[mondo joe]

21. Good for them!

Ditch the fucking stealth evangelists.

[megatherium]

22. Is it really true that the evangelical charities are conditioning aid

to conversion? I'm not sure I believe this, although there might be abuse going on; I wouldn't know. I would be as willing to believe that somebody is threatened by someone else's evangelism, and are slandering them.

It does seem to me that the dominant religion there is being protectionist. I might not be a big fan of proselytizing sects such as evangelical Christianity, but I am a big fan of human rights. In certain Muslim countries, it is a crime to proselytize Muslims from their religion, and it is a crime (punishable by death) to be an apostate from Islam or to blaspheme against the religion. I don't think Indonesia is so extreme, but this is my concern.