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Iago
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Hmm?
 
2010-01-21, 12:01

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
Apparently, you've failed to consider the notion that there is a thriving Christian community in Haiti,
Haiti is about 90% Christian. I don't think anybody is denying that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
who would likely be the ones requesting Bibles.
"Audio Bible company Faith Comes By Hearing is providing portable, solar-powered audio Bibles to local pastors so people can hear the Bible in Haitian Creole, according to ministry spokesman Jon Wilke. Faith Comes By Hearing is hoping to send a total of 3,000 Proclaimer audio Bibles to Haiti in the hands of disaster relief teams, church teams and ministries. "

I've read several reports on this story. Nobody seems to have 'requested' the Bibles.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
And most countries have a Bible Society, which would be charged with distributing Bibles through whatever channels they have that still exist.
In this case they are going out through visiting 'ministries' (careful not to say missionaries!) and local pastors working in tandem.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
I cannot say I'm 100% certain, but it's extremely unlikely that anyone is being pulled off humanitarian service to distribute Bibles nationally.
It's extraordinarily unlikely that anybody sensible enough to be doing humanitarian work in Haiti would think it worthwhile or appropriate to start peddling mythology to them when they need urgent aid.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
At this point, the airport is still backed up but land and sea routes are in use. Many Christian groups have long worked in Haiti and are using helicopters, ships and small planes to bypass the main airport traffic situation.
I think the overarching point everyone is making on this matter is that you're seeing Bibles taking up time and resources that should be used for other things. If each aid shipment coming in takes 5 minutes to process, and there is only one shipment of these Bibles, any food aid or equipment is therefore delayed by 5 minutes. Multiply that however you will.

The further issue is that religions are using this as an opportunity to "get" people at their lowest ebb. These people have been through an awful time. Religions are scoring PR points by pretending to do good, when in reality they've got a bible in one hand and an aid parcel in the other. Why can't this be non-partisan? Why can't religions just fucking drop it, for one second, and focus on real problems?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
With regard to Scientology, I personally think that Travolta flight is mainly PR. Even in the best of times, Haitians can't afford Scientology.
That's so narrow-minded that it beggars belief.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kickaha
Oh right. Because those aren't as important as establishing a mental beachhead when people are vulnerable and desperate to cling to anything. Gotta move while the opportunity is hot, y'know.
Bingo.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
As I've mentioned in other threads, the Christian response to the Haiti earthquake (as in most large natural disasters) will likely register as one of the major interventions to the disaster short of the U.S. government response (because soldiers are crazy expensive.)
And it will likely register as the most disingenuous, too. The godless liberals don't have any need to help their fellow man other than the reward of seeing him helped. They don't need an invisible middle eastern man in the sky to reward them for their good deeds.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
There must be hundreds of Christian groups operating in Haiti right now, though the biggies for disaster aid will be Samaritan's Purse, World Vision, the Salvation Army, Operation Blessing and the corresponding Baptist, Lutheran, and Christian Reformed disaster committees (the various names escape me right now.)
Just as there are hundreds of secular charities doing more good by not demeaning their cause with an hilariously inappropriate religious subtext.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
So it's not the case that they aren't ferrying the needed supplies, but just that some idiot picked up on the fact that Bibles are included in many general disaster response kits and decided to make a big deal about that.
No; these Bibles aren't part of a disaster response kit. They aren't in a kit containing a flashlight, some band aids, and a food parcel. These are being shipped out with 'ministries' specifically.

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Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
I knew I'd take some flak for that comment, but made it anyway. It differs because Scientology is almost as crazy expensive as the military.
What? You're comparing the cost of shipping soldiers out to Haiti with the cost of getting involved with Scientology?

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Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
There's a reason they only go after Big Business executives and Hollywood/Sports celebrities.
They don't. That's the point. You only hear about the celebrities but they have ripped off thousands of people who really didn't have the money in their time. Like almost all the Abrahamic religions, it's something of a pyramid scheme. You pay your 10% tithe to the Church and are expected to witness and convert others, who give a 10% tithe to the Church. Good deal.

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Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
People shell out megabucks in their quest to get to the religion's highest levels, and Haitians in general aren't going to have that kind of income potential. Ever.
As I understand it, they are working with the aid workers as much as the Haitians. Free 'stress' tests, massages, etc, for the Americans and Europeans on the scene.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
Scientology wasn't in Haiti before the disaster. I can't see them remaining for any length of time afterward.
But it's a massive publicity coup for them, just as the Bibles are for Faith Comes By Hearing. It's also a chance to catch overemotional Americans at a low ebb.

Edit: This and this might help you understand Scientology's mission in Haiti. The first article shows that it is as much about the relief workers as the relief itself, and the second discusses Scientology attempting to help reverse economic decline in order to win hearts and minds. It's a long term play.

I'm Joseph Fritzl, and no windows was my idea.

Last edited by Iago : 2010-01-21 at 12:13.
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