Faith will feed you

[Bartix]

Tsunami victims in Thailand and Indonesia are embracing Christianity.
Then they receive food and good things.
Houses even! This is very good thing!
Some places go from no Christians to may be 20%, and they get more comfortable than some one who is not converting!

[Samurai Waki]

hmmm... interesting stuff. got any links??

[Lazul]

hmm, so what... "here, Ill give you some food and a roof over your head... But You Must Convert!"

... sick.

[Fragony]

Nothing wrong with people converting to christianity imho, but why celebrate it when they are doing it just to survive. You can't buy faith and it is just wrong to lure them in in such a way.

[JAG]

Where is the good thing in this?

[Kralizec]

Where is the source on this?

[Lazul]

Where is the good thing in this?

hard to find, isnt it?

[Fragony]

hard to find, isnt it?

Well I just hope it is not true, I didn't give money so that only christians are helped, or even bought. I would feel kind of cheated.

[Kralizec]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...19/wtsun19.xml

There isn't anything here that leads me to suspect the conversions were forced. If a christian charity organisations helps people and also tries to convert them, that's acceptable IMO, as long as they don't withhold aid to those who don't convert.
If even that goes to far for you, you can simply donate to a secular (=neutral in regards to religion) organisation.

[Ser Clegane]

Where is the source on this?

Indeed, some more context would be very helpful - otherwise we are left to speculate ... as can already be seen in the responses (personally, I doubt that any relevant NGO or a country providing major funds would tie the amount of help to the willingness of the victims to convert to Christianity - if so, I am relatively sure that there already would have been an outcry)

EDIT: Thanks for the link GS - this would confirm that the starting post gives a bit of a false impression

[Del Arroyo]

To all of you who thought that the Christian charities were giving aid only or mostly to Christians-- doink!! Christian charities never have operated in this manner, nor do we have any reason to believe that they ever will. You wear your prejudices on your shoulder. They do not look so becoming.

DA

[master of the puppets]

why not go christian?, if they recieve all they need from the christian charity and nothing from the others (are there buddist or muslim charities?) then mabey they will believe that christianity in with its charity and hospitality is better than those selfish hindus. lol

[Strike For The South]

They do this everytime and you still get aid if you dont convert. They try and persuade you but they dont have a gun to your head.

[Templar Knight]

I dont see why they have to convert, shouldn't they get help regardless? Is this still the dark ages? Totally wrong

[Mongoose]

I dont see why they have to convert, shouldn't they get help regardless? Is this still the dark ages? Totally wrong

I don't see why you didn't read this thread all the way through. No source, and bartix was very unclear. Is it that unreasonable for a charity to try to get you to convert after they help you?

[Templar Knight]

Not if they want to convert. I read it that you have to convert to get the goods.

[Paul Peru]

Where's the beef?
I'm lacking in faith, so I can't find it.

Found something in Swedish...
http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_11440008.asp
And a brief one in English
http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/Internation...artikel=765373

Seems Save the Children et al are upset about some christian charities attaching spiritual salvation to the material variety. There is a report forthcoming, apparently. We'll hear more about this one.

What's so wrong about saving the soul as well? They'll be eternally grateful, come eternity.

[Leet Eriksson]

why not go christian?, if they recieve all they need from the christian charity and nothing from the others (are there buddist or muslim charities?) then mabey they will believe that christianity in with its charity and hospitality is better than those selfish hindus. lol

As far as my knowledge goes, the only muslim charity is the Red Crecent, which is part of the Red Cross. I haven't seen private muslim charity as of yet.

Also charities that are affiliated with religion like the red crecent only help muslims for example, no point in helping non-muslims or that might be seen as some sort of proseltysing(however you spell it), also its counterpart already does everything the red crecent does.

[JimBob]

and nothing from the others (are there buddist or muslim charities?)

Yes there are Buddhist and Muslim charities, as well as Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Shinto, and Jewish charities. Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on goodwill.
Just do a Google search for "(religion's name) charity" there's plenty.

[AntiochusIII]

why not go christian?, if they recieve all they need from the christian charity and nothing from the others (are there buddist or muslim charities?) then mabey they will believe that christianity in with its charity and hospitality is better than those selfish hindus. lol

Yes there are other religion-based charities. And yes they do good work. And I don't think that, even if they don't, you can compare them favorably, considering how the majority of the world's Hindus live in India, and that the countries with the Buddhist/Islam majority was hurt the most.

Also, I don't see Thailand being Christian soon. For all my life there, only three or four friends of mine are Christian, and the other Buddhist friends aren't converting lately, and I went to a Catholic school for that matter...

[Alexanderofmacedon]

That's rediculous...

Needs to be stopped

[bmolsson]

It's all over the local news in Indonesia. It isn't going to help the sectarian violence for sure..... :(

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Indonesia is the most currupt nation in the world...

No offence...just pointing out a random fact...

[Samurai Waki]

While the premises might be wrong, it's obvious that if something like forced conversion is going on it's not a public agenda for any country really. I know that the US and Europe would like to have some sphere of influence in South East Asia though, perhaps they've found a corridor to do so.

[LeftEyeNine]

As far as my knowledge goes, the only muslim charity is the Red Crecent, which is part of the Red Cross. I haven't seen private muslim charity as of yet.

Also charities that are affiliated with religion like the red crecent only help muslims for example, no point in helping non-muslims or that might be seen as some sort of proseltysing(however you spell it), also its counterpart already does everything the red crecent does.

Kızılay (=Red Crescent, and "Hilal-i Ahmer" of Ottomans) is working as a part of Red Cross, faisal ? I thought Turkish government supplied the expenses of Kızılay.

P.S. Or Kızılay is not the only one to be called "Red Crescent" ?

[Major Robert Dump]

Hey just so you guys know I called up some charities and told them I just became a Christian and then asked them to send me food to Oklahoma and they all hung up. Don't try it, it doesn't work.

[KukriKhan]

Heh. Ya gotta remember to NOT open the beer cans when you're on the phone. Gives folks the 'wrong idea'.

[Byzantine Mercenary]

you cant force someone to believe something, im not surprised that some people are converting when they recieve aid thats what christians are meant to do, help each other and everyone else out.
for the record most muslims give zakah (spelling?) a fixed percentage of their earnings to charity, that i believe are mainly aimed at helping other muslims.

[Leet Eriksson]

Kızılay (=Red Crescent, and "Hilal-i Ahmer" of Ottomans) is working as a part of Red Cross, faisal ? I thought Turkish government supplied the expenses of Kızılay.

P.S. Or Kızılay is not the only one to be called "Red Crescent" ?

Hmm i'm not sure, its based on what i read here.

http://www.ifrc.org/

I thought they are the same organisations.. not sure now

for the record most muslims give zakah (spelling?) a fixed percentage of their earnings to charity, that i believe are mainly aimed at helping other muslims.

Zakah is Obligatory and must be made yearly, about 2% of your income should be used for zakat. Giving the 2% to christians or jews is considered zakat as well, but any other religion its sadaqa(voluntary charity).

Unfortunately not all muslims follow that pillar alot, eh gives me acid to even think about it. At least christians are doing a good job saving people, while we are still figuring out why we are backwards.

[LeftEyeNine]

Hmm i'm not sure, its based on what i read here.

http://www.ifrc.org/

I thought they are the same organisations.. not sure now

Well, Turkish Kızılay is here -that is 137 years old :

http://eng.kizilay.org.tr/