Agnostic Forums - View Single Post - Why can't (some) Christians just be charitable?

**George** · 02-12-2007, 08:57 AM

I was looking to donate to a charity this year and decided underpriviliged kids would be the way to go for me. I mean Whitney Houston believes they are our future so...

In any case after doing some research I became depressed. I noticed that a lot of the largest, most well known organizations focusing on what I want are to donating for are christian operated. Now I have no problem with that in itself. The problem arises with how some of them are run.

I found out a few interesting things about sponsoring a child from an underdeveloped country. Number one you really need to research the agency you are donating money to, specifically how they distribute it. Depending on how they do it the money could actually hurt the child and their family.

For example it can hurt the parents in 2 ways. It can make them feel incompetent and some of the methods of giving can go against their beliefs. In some cultures gifts are only accepted ina certain way. It can also make the parents lazy and it's even been known to cause them to abandon the child since they feel like the child is well taken care of.

Also something I imagined was probably happening but didn't know for sure turns out to be true. The donations do cause a rift between the children receiving gifts and the ones that don't.

But my main issue and topic of this thread is the motivation of some of the charities. I found out some christian organizations, no matter the culture they are giving to will hand out bibles and religious literature bundled with the gifts and force the gift receivers to sit through sermons.

Now I know a few evangelical christians and they are good people. To them it's not forcing their religion on people but instead they see it as giving someoen the "gift of hope and salvation". Especially to people who may be feeling all hope is lost. I can understand that.... But giving bibles and sermons to muslim kids is not a good thing no matter how greatful they act and no matter what you tell yourself to make you feel better.

Am I wrong here?

02-12-2007, 08:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
George Administrator Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 482	Why can't (some) Christians just be charitable? I was looking to donate to a charity this year and decided underpriviliged kids would be the way to go for me. I mean Whitney Houston believes they are our future so... In any case after doing some research I became depressed. I noticed that a lot of the largest, most well known organizations focusing on what I want are to donating for are christian operated. Now I have no problem with that in itself. The problem arises with how some of them are run. I found out a few interesting things about sponsoring a child from an underdeveloped country. Number one you really need to research the agency you are donating money to, specifically how they distribute it. Depending on how they do it the money could actually hurt the child and their family. For example it can hurt the parents in 2 ways. It can make them feel incompetent and some of the methods of giving can go against their beliefs. In some cultures gifts are only accepted ina certain way. It can also make the parents lazy and it's even been known to cause them to abandon the child since they feel like the child is well taken care of. Also something I imagined was probably happening but didn't know for sure turns out to be true. The donations do cause a rift between the children receiving gifts and the ones that don't. But my main issue and topic of this thread is the motivation of some of the charities. I found out some christian organizations, no matter the culture they are giving to will hand out bibles and religious literature bundled with the gifts and force the gift receivers to sit through sermons. Now I know a few evangelical christians and they are good people. To them it's not forcing their religion on people but instead they see it as giving someoen the "gift of hope and salvation". Especially to people who may be feeling all hope is lost. I can understand that.... But giving bibles and sermons to muslim kids is not a good thing no matter how greatful they act and no matter what you tell yourself to make you feel better. Am I wrong here? __________________ What's that? You haven't Gone Green yet? What are you waiting for? Got a question? Need help figuring out how something works here? Send me a Private Message.