Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 01-28-2003, 05:05 PM

The Department of Labor is funding the International Justice Mission, a Washington, D.C.-based Christian group focused on human rights abuses, to combat child labor in Thailand.

Federally Funded Missionaries Threaten a Southeast Asian Culture

Quote:

Yet de la Paz is not the evangelicals' fiercest critic in Chiang Rai. By almost all accounts that title goes to Matthew McDaniel, a 44-year-old former carpenter from Oregon. Driving from village to village in a beat-up Toyota four-by-four, its rear end pasted with "Missionaries Suck" bumper stickers, McDaniel isn't shy about his disdain for the religiously motivated. He climbs trees to take down signs posted by missionaries. And he says he has told missionaries trying to move into his village, where he lives with his Akha wife, that he'll do "whatever it takes" to keep them out.

Since moving to Thailand 15 years ago, McDaniel has started a small nongovernmental organization called the Akha Heritage Foundation. With an annual budget of $6000, the group provides services that range from the establishing of fish farms and publishing books in the Akha language to documenting human rights violations.

McDaniel says the missionaries don't do anything to help the people economically. Worse, he says, the missionaries, despite having vast financial resources, have a vested interest in keeping people poor, since desperation makes for easier converts. "You don't succeed as a missionary if you teach someone to be independent," he said. "They want to control them like a resource, like trees in a forest."

Strawberry · 01-28-2003, 05:18 PM

And some of my relatives actually do this for a living.

Dominus Paradoxum · 02-01-2003, 11:05 PM

I think we should create a bill that would make proselytizing illegal.

Godbert · 02-01-2003, 11:19 PM

I think this calls for a celebratory vomiting.
(grabs feather and exits left)

Shake · 02-03-2003, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dominus Paradoxum
I think we should create a bill that would make proselytizing illegal.

Seconded. Now, is anyone here a member of Congress?

The Naked Mage · 02-04-2003, 02:03 AM

Quote:

Seconded. Now, is anyone here a member of Congress?

Not for long, I expect.

Daggah · 02-04-2003, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dominus Paradoxum
I think we should create a bill that would make proselytizing illegal.

Violation of the free exercise clause.

The Naked Mage · 02-04-2003, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Violation of the free exercise clause.

I'd argue that it would be better to violate their civil rights than to be driven to violate their skulls with golf clubs, but I don't want to stoop to their level.

Feather · 02-04-2003, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Godbert
I think this calls for a celebratory vomiting.
(grabs feather and exits left)

What did I do?

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01-28-2003, 05:18 PM	#2
Strawberry Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Lancaster, PA/Toronto, ON, Canada Posts: 627	And some of my relatives actually do this for a living.

02-01-2003, 11:05 PM	#3
Dominus Paradoxum Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: California Posts: 1,000	I think we should create a bill that would make proselytizing illegal.

02-01-2003, 11:19 PM	#4
Godbert Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: southern california Posts: 779	I think this calls for a celebratory vomiting. (grabs feather and exits left)

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