Students on a mission

DOUGINMOZ - I didn't think you were angry at Clearthinking1. I think you were just asking him/her explain his/her assertions. It is only fair that one is able to back up their facts as best they can. Clearthinking1 made some pretty...harsh or radical assertions regarding proselytizing. I would like to know more about the truth of these accusations just as you requested. Like you, I have not witnessed violence associated with proselytizing (and I did NOT participate in violence on the 2 short mission trips that I attended - in fact we helped the community greatly), although I am not afraid to confront the fact that violence has happened in the past. However, I contend that most Christian proselytizing has done good. Please know that I am a Native American whose family (not my immediate family but those before them) has personally experienced these negative affects of proselytizing from the Catholic Church when they were first forced onto our reservation. I try hard to be fair and therefore I can admit to wrongs done by the Catholic Church, but I can must also admit to a lot of good done by the Catholic Church. I am protestant and I think the same applies to them. All I request is that Clearthinking1 be fair in his/her conclusions and understand that everyone proselytizes their point of view and in so doing people other than religious people have also done harm...and also done good in doing so.

For information on the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Board_of_Commissioners_for_Foreign_Missions.

The group is not as impressive as the name suggests.

And is it not odd that Professor Marshall says nothing about the Catholic foreign missions considering she works at Georgetown U???

For information on the contemporary Catholic missionaries start at http://www.uscatholicmission.org/go/missionagencieslistings

And is her commentary more a book promotion done on the behalf of her friend, Robert Wuthnow?

Thank you, Cassie. Your demeanor towards both me and clearthinking1 are appreciated. Well done!

I hope you don't think that I was angry at clearthinking. I tried to make a little joke about him not expressing his/her feelings when he/she was was vehemently doing just that. But I would like him/her to step up and be specific about the rash brazenness of his comments, especially since "everybody knows it" except apparently me. But fiery opinionated insults are not a sign of clear thinking. Anyone wishing to claim such a title will do better.

It was a pleasure to meet you, Cassie.

Douginmoz - All the work you have done is wonderful! I agree with you regarding some Christians using the mission trip as a way of fulfilling their "Christian" checklists. So many more have given away so much - if not their time, than their money and prayers.

In my experience, limited as far as missions is concerned, I have witnessed a lot of the good that is accomplished. Not only regarding the Gospel (which is the most important) but also in people's individual lives (i.e. building homes/caring for orphans/feeding the hungry/providing medical supplies). I must confess, as a teenager, I was one of those "checklist" type Christians -- but fortunately, I have changed :)

Clearthinking1 seems to have been personally hurt in the past by a Christian or religious person...That is too bad. I hope that his "clear thinking" can lead him/her to realize that what he/she is doing on this post is actually proselytizing. You don't have to be religious to proselytize and it is not always violent. And, thank God, that Clearthinking1 can share his/her views just as much as I can.

P.S. I do not know how Clearthinking1 has come to the conclusion of proselytizing = violence. It most cases, that is simply not true. I guess he/she is thinking of the Crusades? Harm has been done in the name of God -- but much more good has been done in the name of God.

Wow, clearthinking1! Don't be coy. Tell me how you really feel. Or better yet, use some clear thinking to explain how what I do "IS AN ACT OF VIOLENCE" or "SELFISH ACTS OF EVIL." And if I have been the source of so much "pain, conflict and suffering," then why is there such sadness when I am preparing to leave?

Mission work and proselytizing IS AN ACT OF VIOLENCE.

It is insincere and disingenuous, and everyone knows this.

If you want to help people and do good, then do it in America or in your own dysfunctional homes, which many religious zealots have.

Missionaries have been a source of pain, conflict, and suffering in every place they have gone with their phony attempts to help civilize or Christianize. THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO OTHERS WITH YOUR SELFISH ACTIONS.

GO AWAY & STAY HOME. Leave others alone and respect others beliefs. Don't cause more problems.

YOUR MISSIONS ARE SELFISH ACTS OF EVIL. Everybody, especially God, knows it. You will go to hell for it.

My first such trip was to Haiti in 1997. I came back touched by God with the frustration of having spent so much money to get our little group there and back without really giving any aid to the people. The next thing that I knew was that I was in charge of a team of church members that were in charge of helping missionaries and organizations specifically engaged in helping the poor - creating orphanages, street kid programs and schools; building homes, churches and drug rehab centers, shipping medical supplies; and yes, supporting a school for unschooled teenage orphans to give them a chance in Haiti.

For the next 5 years, we gave up family vacations to go on mission trips to build a school for orphans in El Salvador or build a house with a class of 7th graders from affluent families for a family living in a house of palates, cardboard and tin on the outskirts of Juarez, Mexico; or made 3 trips to Nicaragua to teach at pastoral seminars. For the last 7 years, we have become full-time missionaries in Mozambique, Africa, helping pastors in poor bairros and rural areas, still working with orphans and bringing in medical supplies and mosquito nets with the help of friends that have also caught the vision of helping others around the globe.

There is a downside to such trips. Some trips are more for vacationaries rather than missionaries. Some teams have been more "ugly American" or unchristian than we would have expected them to be. I have heard of teams that have ruined relationships that took missionaries years to build with the indigenous peoples. I know some just check it off of their Christian "to do" list and go on untouched.

But these trips have inspired hundreds of thousands to be more generous in their giving and to find opportunities in their own communities to do the same. Others have taken the steps to continue, forsaking homes and careers, to assist in the needs of others. When you watch your church members realize what James calls "pure religion" and act on those premises, it is worth beholding. And when you watch your 7th graders playing soccer on intermingled teams on the dusty and rocky streets of a Juarez slum without a common language other than love and respect, then you know something is right in the world.