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News :: Health |
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Religious Aid Groups Try To Force Convert Tsunami Victims |
Current rating: 0 |
by Observer
(No verified email address) |
17 Jan 2005
Modified: 05:24:05 AM |
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just say 'praise Jesus' and I'll give you this Big Mac C'mon, you can do it. I know you're starving and I have all day." |
Western Christian Groups Hand Out Food at a price you must read the Bible and praise Jesus
Dozens of religious groups have moved in to Aceh, looking to help tsunami victims - and convert them and others, creating tensions in the disaster area.
The arrival of Western Christian groups with records of aggressive preaching risks confrontation with local Muslim leaders which could jeopardise the provision of aid to the 600,000 local people made homeless by the disaster. The death toll in Aceh stands at around 180,000 and is expected to rise.
Reacting to the attempts of one American group to fly hundreds of local children to a Christian orphanage, Din Syamsuddin, head of the Indonesian Council of Clerics, said any attempt to spread religion under the cover of aid was wrong.
Mark Kosinski, an American evangelist who arrived in Aceh from Malaysia last week, said: 'These people need food but they also need Jesus. God is trying to awaken people and help them realise salvation is in Christ.'
One US Christian group was revealed last week to have tried to airlift 300 'tsunami orphans' to a Christian children's indoctination warehouse.
'What we were attempting to do in finding a home for these orphans is no different from what Mother Teresa did in placing Hindu orphans in a Christian children's home,' said Vernon Brewer, president of WorldHelp.
The Church of Scientology has also established a presence in Banda Aceh, setting up a base opposite the governor's mansion. 'We are not here to proselytise. That would be distasteful,' said Greg Churilov. 'We hope we are just seen as another relief group.'
However, there are also opportunities for co-operation. The US navy's high-profile effort to assist Indonesian Army |
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