Haiti and the forgotten fundamentalists
Imagine for a moment that the American Baptists from Idaho, who have been arrested heading out of Haiti with a busload of ‘orphans’, had been a group of Islamic fundamentalists. Would the world have been quite so sanguine about an incident that has been represented as involving naïve God botherers, or worse, child trafficking?
In truth there is a distorted use of language when it comes to religious fundamentalism. There is a spirit of Christian fundamentalism abroad, which is at least as numerous, if not considerably more so than its Islamic counterpart. Its heartland is in America – particularly in landlocked states like Idaho that have traditionally sported a wariness of the world beyond America’s shores.
These ‘evangelicals’, as many describe them, represent a very broad church that extends from the mad-cap tele-evangelism – that feathers the nests of many of its leaders, to the ‘mega church movements’ that are sprouting everywhere from Texas to East London. They spawn and sponsor many causes ranging from opposing Obama’s health care bill, to advocating the death penalty for homosexuals in Uganda.
Yet the column inches devoted to the threat from Islamic fundamentalists far outstrip the equally concerning antics of Christian fundamentalists. In each case followers are ‘captured’ in places of worship by ‘charismatic’ operatives. In each case funds are raised on a huge scale to fund ‘the work’ of the Bible or Koran. Both groupings depend upon a highly literal application of both books in support of their activities.
It is also true that many of the ‘believers’ caught up in these movements have little context in which to place the issues around which they are being asked to rally. So when the charismatic preacher tells his congregation that ‘thousands of children have been orphaned by the earthquake in Haiti’, they have little way of knowing quite what this means.
My own inquiries in Port-au-Prince revealed very few absolute orphans. The extended family is very much still a part of Haitian life. I found a ten month old baby girl, whose mother had been killed and whose father was missing. But the child’s aunt, who was cradling the child as I spoke to her, told me she would bring her up as her own. According to NGOs I spoke to, there are very, very few children who have been completely dispossessed of all family and community. Yet even in these circumstances, I have heard evangelicals stating as a fact that a loving, childless, Christian family in America will give the child a better life.
Christian and Islamic fundamentalists both play on immigrant and ethnic minority groupings in western countries. They play too on communities in the developing world – from Africa to Europe, from the Caribbean and Latin America to South East Asia.
Christian fundamentalists have yet to carry out bomb attacks against the state. But among many other practices, they kill doctors who carry out abortions, they abduct children, and they threaten the social cohesion of emerging societies by advocating the outlawing of homosexuals.
Do we ignore the dangers inherent in hysterical fundamentalism in all faiths at our peril? Perhaps the time has come to ask why, in the age of technological breakthrough, religious fundamentalism is developing such a stranglehold on societies across the world.
Related posts:
- Haiti: no doctor, no medicine, no hope
- Haiti's long, long haul out of the bottleneck
- Haiti: the toughest, most harrowing assignment ever
- Haiti thoughts from abroad
- The UN's top man in Haiti: his last poignant words
There are 21 comments on this post
People at some stage in their lives need some sort of faith to cling on to.
Watching the God channels on TV for approx one year after the death of my mother helped me listen to many different religious groups and charismatics around the world.
I listened to commonsense views of the world and bizarre views of the world, but what struck me is the comfort and camaraderie many derived from their inclusion in spiritual collectiveness which in itself demonstrates the need for it.
On the other hand the type of hysterical belief without reason to have faith, is disturbing and this sort of religious whipping up of imagined happenings in relation to what most perceive as reality is frightening.
Vodoo practices have been reported where old women are regarded as blood sucking witches?
What about Jehovas Witnesses who living awaiting the end of the world?
The psychology of groups who perpetuate ideas , according to their own bias and let them grow out of proportion to blanket over possible devious motives must be a risk in Haiti, but there must be others whose instinct is purely to reach out and help those kids.
Religious extremists exist in all religions.
We must not forget the death, destruction and thieving the christian faith carried out in the name of jesus during the middle ages.
Why? To conquer land and riches which otherwise would have stayed where they belonged.
Almost all of you Snow Blog readers disagree with me but so called christians have killed and on a massive scale during the last decade alone.
I recently found out that there are 34,000
different christian faiths worldwide. Most people use religion as an excuse to make money and not for urgent humanitarian and ecological reasons.
Has the pope been to Haiti yet?..maybe he’ll make it over the pond in two years time and most Haitians are catholics…
adzmundo CND
adz.. all religions have slaughtered, but it is the people in them , the wrong doers, the users of religion for their own ends who are the abusers. The power seekers, however there has to be power collectors to stave off other power abusers.( IN THE NAME OF RELIGION)
That is not the purity, honesty and love which most desire.. God doesn’t come into religion.
“Most people use religion as an excuse to make money and not for urgent humanitarian and ecological reasons” ??! I’d be interested to find out what you have based this rather bold and, might I say, provocative, statement. It sounds to me like you are not a person of faith and have very little understanding of “most” religions.
Well said Jon and who knows how many people in the developing world have died because of religious dogma on the subject of distributing condoms versus ‘abstinence’?
In times of Uncertainty – many people regress – apparently has always happened . These christian fundamentalists scare me – more so that the Muslim ones – as they in US – are better armed – and in Bush adminsrtion anyway had great power . The indoctrination – in the name of education – that these fundamentalists carry out may take years to shake off – may never be shaken off – aslo some of the christian ones believe in book of revealations – that jesus will come again – and a great war will ensue – how dangerous is that?? . Maybe the quickest way to realise what a load of rubbish the bible is to read it – no child would believe that – so ” education / indoctrination ” is necessary . In case of bible the nasty parts – and they are nasty – are referred to by many believers as metaphors – this is bunkum – the nice bits are true , and when god orders the killing of women and children -as he does many times in bible – its a metaphor – how handy . What strikes me – when so many SAY they belive this junk , and believe in an after life – they are to put it mildly very reluctant to go to this heaven place – why – IMO reason is obvious .Religion is IMO a great danger .
All round the world dreadful things are done in the name of religion. Still on our doorstep, politicians are arguing with one another about whether marches should be held to celebrate a religious conflict fought more than 300 years ago.
Christians are just as culpable as Muslims. They don’t even follow their own teachings as set out in the sermon on the mount.
The problem is that because we are dealing with ‘belief’ all sides think they are right and the others are wrong.
I don’t know how we resolve it – a small start might be to kick the bishops out of the House of Lords
They dont even remotely follow the teachings as set out in Sermon on Mount – and I am afarid that is not whrre it stops – they say they believe in the bible – but for most – NOT a minority – its as tho’ this book and the teachings in that are laudible – and there are many – its as tho they have never heard them . Many here in ROI say they are christian – and many still go to church – I often wonder what goes on in those churches – to put it mildly they are not very pleasnt people and appear not to be able to tolerate dissent – and also its as ifWolfe Tones words that we all learnt at school ‘ ‘a country for Catholic , Protestant and Disseneter ”- never existed . Yet dissent is fine when it is hittting at people they do not agree with – its as if their brains have been switched off .
Some of these churches do often seem mad – and some espouse unsavoury and intolerant views – as do lots of Christians from other continents, e.g. Africa – but these American churches, Catholic ones included, are working for the people of Haiti, in large numbers, which must count for something. They have also been there many years.
“Naive God botherers” – there are no such things. God botherers are far from naive – they are, in all religions, bullying people scaring people in their most vulnerable moments into their obsessive ways of life, usually the ultimate aim of controlling societies and creating wealth.
People will always want to reach for faith and belief in something they consider more powerful and stronger than themselves when they feel their own sttrengths and control over their situations have been lost and thus the d growth of religious or political fundamentalism or such as Nazism when times, be it materially or emotionally, have become hard.
Fundamental religion is and always has been the most dangerous force in the world. Nothing has caused more wars, created so many deaths and so much intolerance of others. Religious organisations are the richest in the world – some of their excessive wealth could save many lives – praying instead doesn’t cut it. Maybe we should realise that we should be teaching faith in each other and ourselves not in some group that’s only interested in looking after its own at the sake of others.
Wonderful Mel- you have spoken for more people than you will ever know.
Religion – the cause of so much evil throughout history. Personally, I think it is very well summed up in Monthy Python’s “The Life of Brian” – especially the scene where people argue what symbolic meaning Brian’s dropped sandal can possibly have.
I have been brought up to believe there is a good Christian God out there. An almighty, bearded father figure to whom we can pray. But at 53, I have come to the conclusion I only believe in people – and what they can do.
Fundamentalism scares me, wherever it comes form. Child ‘kidnappers’ in Haiti – and elsewhere – definitely scare me.
In the reference to “threatening the social cohesion of emerging societies” you touch on one of the most concerning aspects of aid policy – the religious prism through which most development support is granted, particularly in the area of family planning. There remains a wide focus on “Saving the Children” but little on empowering the women who have them. Educated mothers mean smaller families and better educated children. The maternal mortality rates in the developing world are not improving: in Sub-Saharan Africa 1 in 22 women women die – having children they would probably like the choice not to have…. A choice often specifically denied them by Christian fundamentalist driven donor policy.
And now the pope, who has done so little to root out paedophiles from his midst, is lecturing us on human rights.
Apparently if everyone is allowed to apply for a job no matter what their sexual orientation, he might be forced to appoint a gay or lesbian, who presumably are not made in god’s image.
Hang on a minute….
Re the Haiti “orphans”: it’s the scandalous opportunism in taking advantage of a chaotic situation, plus the breathtaking arrogance of the assumption that being “Christian” automatically endows one with all the qualities required to become a suitable adoptive parent, that horrify me. Being “Christian” doesn’t put anyone above the law, any more than being Muslim, Jew, etc., and certainly shouldn’t be a reason to exempt you from the scrutiny of the law. We have seen what terrible crimes Christians have committed against children, when these Christians were protected from the law’s intervention by the aura of untouchability they gained purely by “being Christian” – in Ireland.
It isn’t just fundamentalism that’s to blame – it’s the fawning and unearned respect that all religions manage to secure just by being religions. Blind faith in blind faiths puts us all to shame.
Margaret thankyou for you words but I will say that so long as their will be power collectors, there will always be power abusers.
Nobody has the right to dictate other another soul. Religion has always caused more problems than solved them and therefore lost sight of spirituality. The vatican is a prime example. There can only be one faith and that is for the whole world to work together as one, in the interest of future life on earth.
A long shot I know but we must all start working for each other and not against each other.
adzmundo CND
The basis of this remark is built upon history as long as it has been recorded. Religious wars , crusades, Islamic wars, twin towers destruction in the name of Allah. Unless you want to rewrite history don’t even bother to challenge it.
Look for God ,not murderers.
Re Christian fundamentalism: the conviction last week of the born-again Scott Roeder who murdered US doctor George Tiller, a killing he admitted to planning for 17 years. (Tiller was one of only a handful of doctors who carrried out late-term abortions.) Tiller’s clinic had previously been bombed and blockaded.
With all due respect Margaret.
I can’t rewrite history but what I want and will give my life for, is to help change this pattern called profiteering.
This is not just about religion but about blood money.
The only reason I have written to you once again, is because the world must wake up to what is going on behind the wall street curtains.
adzmundo CND
[...] as my Snowblog of two days ago triggered a reference to the Pope’s reported intervention into British politics, I feel bound [...]
A correction to my post – the final comment should have read “brings shame on us all”. I meant that we should never automatically give any religion respect just because it is a religion. By their deeds shall you know them.