Saturday, January 22, 2005

HERE'S AN ARTICLE FROM TODAY'S NEW YORK TIMES about a twofer program being offered by some churches in the United States to victims of the tsunami in Asia. The orphaned children, traumatized by the loss of their parents and their homes, are offered generous amounts of love, affection, attention, and other gifts by Christian missionaries (is there any other kind, actually?); and also, at the same time, they are offered Jesus. Wow! I mean, these children are so incredibly vulnerable and emotionally fragile right now; they have all lost the people who loved them and whom they loved the most. It's so selfless of these missionaries to come into the refugee camps where these children live just at this critical time, and offer them Jesus's love just when they are most likely to be willing to love anyone who doesn't beat them over the head with a stick. Anyone who says these missionaries have other motives than just an unselfish desire to help, or who questions the integrity of people who try to persuade children to follow their religion at a time when those children are most open to being influenced by anything that seems to promise love and affection, is just a suspicious, cynical meanie.

I do wonder, though: Have the group of missionaries from that one church in Texas mentioned to these Asian orphans that in Texas children can be executed by the state government?

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