Friday, January 22

One Giant Christian Middle Finger to Haiti

"Amid the massive effort to ship tons of food, water and medicine to
quake-ravaged Haiti, one U.S. religious group is rushing in hundreds of
solar-powered Bibles.
The Bibles, sent by the
Faith Comes by Hearing organization, can broadcast the holy scriptures in Haitian Creole to 300 people at a time.
Jon Wilke, a spokesperson for the Albuquerque-based group,
says 600 audio Bibles, called "Proclaimers," are en route and there is an "immediate need" for another 3,000 Proclaimers."We want to equip short-term groups, disaster relief teams, church teams and other ministries with the Word of God in a format the people can use," Wilkes says in a statement on the group's website.
(Posted by Doug Stanglin)"

100,000+ dead. Over 400,000 homeless. Thousands more in desperate need of medicine, shelter, food and water. Good call on the Bibles.

7 comments:

Kevin said...

Ohhhhhhh, now I get it. I just heard part of the story and thought The Proclaimers were doing a concert in Haiti. Weird timing, I thought. da da da da.

Kevin said...

(goes with preceding post, but I'm too lazy to go back)
Also, speaking of the Hitchiker's Trilogy, I just reread "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish" last week. Still good stuff.

Jon said...

Nice title, very creative...

Thanks for your thoughts on the solar-powered audio Bibles. I can see where you may think this is not a good approach.

These audio Bibles are still in the United States enroute to dozens of relief groups who have called ASKING for them (and these won't arrive for until early Feb).

So, these are NOT displacing ANY aid to the victims of this terrible tragedy.

The Haitians have been preyed upon for a long-time by those interested in exploiting their natural resources and impoverishing their people.

Faith Comes By Hearing believes the people of Haiti are that nation's most precious resource, and we desire to empower them with the Scriptures in which they believe in a format they can use. Roughly half the nation is unable to read, so giving them the Bible in a format they can use--audio, is completely reasonable.

Mary Lynn's Blog said...

I've always understood that 80% of the H's are Catholic, and so already have a religious background. I think certainly when it's so difficult getting them the aid they need, put the bibles on the back burner for heaven's sakes.

Mary Lynn's Blog said...

I just read Jon's sight - now I get it. He's involved with a group interested in converting everyone to his way of thinking. It's his way of no way.

Brian said...

Yes, I'm sure by early February everything will be back to normal. The Bibles may not be displacing aid, but it seems the money and effort being spent on manufacturing and distributing the Bibles would be better spent sending proper aid to the people who need it NOW. I am reminded of when Presentation High School was on the verge of being shut down due to lack of funding, so they had a big pledge drive. People were sending flowers and cards wishing them the best of luck.

Judith Bowman said...

Aren't Christians supposed to be the embodiment of Christ's love in this world? If I were homeless, starving, suffering from unattended broken bones and infection, after losing family members in a devastating earthquake, I would be immensely grateful and very moved by the Christian who understood the meaning of love and DID something -anything - to relieve the agony.