Bartholomew's Notes

Strange news about the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago, from Diana Muir at the History News Network:

Visitors can see the sixteen foot tall human-headed, winged, guardian bull from the palace of Sargon II, the astonishing giant head of a bull made of polished black that guarded the entrance to the Hundred-Column Hall at Persepolis, and an almost equally remarkable bit of Islamic propaganda – written by the museum staff and posted in the section on ancient Megiddo – in which history is rewritten and Mohammed actually travels to Jerusalem.

The alleged “propaganda” is a plaque, which can be seen at Paleojudaica. Muir objects to its claim that Islam “grew” in the Southern Levant, and the following:

The golden days of Israel and Judah ended at the hands of the Babylonians with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 586 B.C. and subsequent mass exile of the Israelites. Although many returned to the Southern Levant under the rule of the Persians (529-332BC), they would not soon regain their autonomy. [Muir leaves out the following sentence: The city of Megiddo faded from prominence after 332 BC]

But Israelite religion continued to develop.

This glosses over the entire Second Temple period, and one has to suspect that this is for ideological reasons concerning opposition to modern Israel. The plaque goes on to assert that:

…Six centuries later [after Christ], the Prophet Mohammed would visit Jerusalem where he would experience his Night Flight and Ascension to heaven.

Muhammad’s night journey to Jerusalem, of course, is a supernatural belief within Islam. Presenting it as historical fact in this context is as out-of-place as writing “Jerusalem was the place where Jesus rose again from the dead”.

However, Muir has an agenda of her own, and she apparently believes that ancient history should be put to the service of modern politics:

Since one of the strongest arguments that can be made by a national liberation movement is that the group claiming a right to sovereignty has a history of sovereignty, eliminating ancient Jewish kingdoms from the historical narrative reduces the historically based claim to legitimacy of the modern Jewish state, with real political implications.

Hardly. The “strongest argument” of a national liberation movement is that its goals represent the general will of a particular group, and that its aims do not include the oppression or dispossession of others. That’s the context in which to consider the rights and wrongs of the Israel-Palestinian conflict; events from thousands of years ago are neither here nor there. Unfortunately, neither Muir nor the plaque writer appear to understand this.

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“Joshua Fund” Dispenses Food and Jesus DVDs to Lebanese

Apocalyptic Novel to be translated for Israelis

A new organisation is brought to my attention: The Joshua Fund. Over to its website:

Israelis, Lebanese and Palestinians have been devastated by the recent war and acts of terrorism. Lives have been shattered. Homes have been destroyed. Food, water, clothing and medicine are needed urgently. The Joshua Fund is partnering with evangelical ministries in the Middle East to provide desperately needed resources to Christians in the region to bless their neighbors in need in the name of Jesus. This is a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ to those who need it most.

The Joshua Fund is run by Joel C Rosenberg, former assistant to Benyamin Netanyahu and Steve Forbes turned apocalyptic Christian novelist. I looked at Rosenberg’s literary efforts back in the early days of this blog; Sadly, No! followed up in August (The Revealer also published an interesting piece).

The Fund’s two “humanitarian aid” efforts are the “Project to Bless Israel” and the “Project to Bless Lebanon”. As they explain:

The Joshua Fund is partnering with the Israeli Knesset (parliament) and the “Love For Israel Relief Fund,” a project of Knesset Social Welfare Lobby. Together, we will provide humanitarian relief for families in northern Israel who live under the poverty level and have recently had their lives and homes devastated by Hezbollah missiles and rockets…Needy Israeli families will be invited to the party where they will be given the opportunity to “shop” for Hannukah gifts for their children, food stuffs, clothes, diapers and other essentials.

Meanwhile, Lebanese refugees will get “Bags of Blessing”, to be distributed by Campus Crusade for Christ and local evangelicals:

…They will include non-perishable food items such as beans, rice, pasta, canned meat, processed cheese, oil, and powdered milk. In addition, each Bag will contain basic supplies such as soap, candles, matches, and aspirin, and a Jesus film DVD in Arabic.

Lebanese refugees are a particular target for evangelism just now; back in July I blogged on how an official for Samaritan’s Purse had claimed that the Israeli bombardment had “softened the hearts of many Muslims.”

However, despite Rosenberg’s personal background as a Jewish convert to Christianity, the “needy Israelis” will be spared a similar “Jesus film DVD in Hebrew”, for obvious political reasons. Instead, Rosenberg has some more subtle evangelism in mind – although a bit of unsubtle self-promotion is involved:

The Joshua Fund is currently translating The Ezekiel Option into Hebrew and Russian for publication in Israel in 2007. The Ezekiel Option, written by Joshua Fund founder and president Joel C. Rosenberg, is a political thriller about the threat of a Russian-Iranian alliance to destroy Israel based on the Biblical prophecies found in the Book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. Written from an evangelical Christian perspective, the novel takes readers on a geopolitical and spiritual journey into God’s plan and purpose for the Middle East.

Rosenberg’s partners in this venture are his wife Lynn, Tim Lugbill (of the National Association of Manufacturers) and his wife Carolyn (of Going Global Matters), Steve Klemke (senior VP of KCM Mining and “luxury car guru“) and his wife Barb, and Amy Knapp. There’s also Edward Hunt, who with the Rosenbergs directs November Communications, Inc., which helps leaders “discover, develop, and deliver their message at home and around the globe”: particularly, it seems, former Iraqi General Georges Sada, whom I blogged on here. Hunt’s wife Kailea is also involved; she works for Global Impact Ministry at Lon Solomon’s McLean Bible Church in Virginia (“Impacting secular Washington for Christ”).

Other projects include Bibles for Iraq; a launch party for David Brog (another character I’ve encountered before); and meetings with Shimon Peres, Saeb Erekat, and the 1994 Prime Minister of Jordan.

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From the Guardian:

A survey comparing the childhood experiences of mothers and fathers with their own children has prompted fears that this generation is growing up faster than any other in history.

It found that children today stop believing in such things as elves, goblins and fairies around the age of six, whereas their parents mostly held on to such beliefs until the age of 10.

…The survey of comparative childhood experiences was conducted for the Cartoon Network children’s channel.

…Cecilia Persson, of the Cartoon Network, said…”Although sustaining a fantasy world of fairies, goblins, elves and cartoon heroes may not seem worthwhile to some more serious-minded parents, it has a surprisingly significant impact on a child’s development.”

I was always more interested in the likelihood ghosts and aliens than in elves and goblins, but one wonders if the above findings do suggest a decline in childhood creativity and curiosity. If so, one wonders what that might mean for instilling either scientific curiosity or religious beliefs in older kids.

UPDATE: Chuckling responds.

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Pagans Attacked, Abused

From Christian youth forum XT3 (cached only):

has the light on your halo gone dark?

have your wings gone a bit grubby?

just want to switch your faith back on?

Then you could do with attending Lightswitch@Glastonbury, an alternative Hallowe’en festival for those who have grown tired of tatty fancy dress and the Blair Witch Project.

In an article in The Universe, Youth 2000’s David Ashford describes the modern-day stand-off:

“[In Glastonbury] this dramatic play-off between good and evil rages on. It’s been viewed as a special place by both sides for centuries. Until the Middle Ages, there was a major shrine there dedicated to Our Lady of Glastonbury and people travelled for miles to visit the Abbey on pilgrimage.”

“Nowadays, the Christian significance of Glastonbury is less well-known, but it has become a magnet for modern-day pagan religions, with the Tor in particular being a focus point for Wiccan worship.”

Highlights include:

Mass in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

Pilgrimage to the Tor, prayer to combat the darkness at this holy spot.

Peaceful Eucharistic Procession through Glasto’s streets. Not to be missed!

The event has now passed, but the Guardian has a report on what we missed:

In scenes reminiscent of medieval witchhunts, Catholic pilgrims in Glastonbury have attacked pagans and threatened to “cleanse” them from the town.

Local pagans were pelted with salt and branded witches who “would burn in hell” during a procession organised by Youth 2000, a conservative Catholic lay group. The Magick Box, a pagan shop on the route of the march, was also singled out and attacked.

…The archdruid of Glastonbury, Dreow Bennett, said: “To call the behaviour of some of their members medieval would be an understatement. I personally witnessed the owner of the Magick Box being confronted by one of their associates and being referred to as a bloody bitch and being told ‘you will burn in hell’.”

Youth 2000, however, claim they are not to blame:

Charlie Conner, the managing director of Youth 2000, said: “There were several incidents that happened that same weekend that were linked to people who had come to Glastonbury for the retreat. This was in direct contravention of the general spirit of Youth 2000 and its express instructions. The young man who was fined was not in fact registered on the retreat, although he did attempt to attend it.

A fuller statement appears on Youth 2000’s website and can be seen here. One youth was arrested and two women were cautioned by police. Further discussion about what went on can be found at the Wild Hunt Blog.

The Catholic pilgrimages have been going on for a few years, and they appear to have had originally an irenic attitude. Independent Catholic News reported in May 2000:

Clare Ward, from Youth 2000 said: “It sounds like the most crazy thing for any young person to do. We’ll be walking by all the shops selling pagan and New Age gear. But somehow I think we have more in common then [sic] we realise.”

The organisation was commended by the Catholic Bishop of Lancaster in August.

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“Quietly Withdrew” Draft Resolution Based on Justus Weiner Report

Back in July I blogged on a US draft resolution on the topic of “the plight of Palestinian Christians”. The resolution had been sponsored by Reps. Joseph Crowley and Michael McCaul, who were both deeply influenced by a report on the subject by Justus Reid Weiner. Justus Weiner (better known for his “Edward Said is not Palestinian” hatchet job) had painted a grim picture of life for Palestinian Christians facing religious persecution from Palestinian Islamists and the Palestinian Authority (I blogged on it here). But what happened next? The JTA reports:

…McCaul and Crowley said P.A. policies had led to “to mass migration of Palestinian Christians out of territories under Palestinian Authority control” and that “Christian holy sites and cemeteries have suffered repeated desecration with little response from the police.”

That drew multiple critiques from Holy Land Christians who said they did not recognize the dire circumstances described by Crowley and McCaul and were not consulted by Justus Weiner, a scholar in residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs who wrote the study that formed the basis for the resolution.

The response had an effect: By the end of summer, Crowley and McCaul quietly withdrew the resolution.

This is tucked away in an article about Bernard Sabella, a Palestinian Christian sociologist and politician currently visiting the USA for a conference. Sabella in fact blames both sides for Palestinian Christian decline:

He said that instability in the region derives from Israel’s presence in the West Bank and noted the disruption occasioned by the security barrier, which he says is frustrating commerce and travel between the Bethlehem area, a Christian center, and the rest of the West Bank.

…he blames both sides for not getting their political houses in order and negotiating a two-state solution to the crisis.

Sabella is wary of the Hamas government’s Islamization of what he believes should be a secular Palestinian society, and he acknowledges “sensitivities” between Muslims and Christians…

The article adds:

Congressional staffers who met with Sabella were impressed with his restraint and eloquence; one said his input might have salvaged the Crowley-McCaul resolution.

I’m sceptical about that, and the reasons why Crowley and McCaul chose to withdraw their unbalanced resolution rather than to amend it into something more useful are not hard to fathom. Obviously, the resolution was an attempt to co-opt Palestinian Christians into an attack on Palestinian society for the benefit of Israel; Crowley and McCaul didn’t really care about their “plight”, and when they realised that they had misunderstood the nature of it they simply lost interest. Either that, or they came to realise that defending Palestinian Christians requires more moral courage than that needed to express obvious pieties about the evils of Islamism, and neither man was up to the task.

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From 9-News, yesterday:

[1:12]

Interviewer: Do you know Mike Jones?

Pastor Ted Haggard: No, I do not know Mike Jones.

[2:14]

I: Do you…have you ever done drugs?

H: I have never done drugs, ever. Not even in high school.

[2:42]

I: Why would he pick you out of everyone?

H: I have no idea, I have no idea. He says he saw me on TV.

[7:05]

H:…if somebody has an accusation, we have a system to investigate that, and we will do that, and, erm, and we trust that that will happen. We’re not hesitant at all with an independent group asking the questions, of…what’d you say his name was?

I : Mike.

H:…Mike, and, erm, hearing him, and then investigating it and deciding what I should, what should be done with me.

From the AP, today:

Evangelist Ted Haggard admitted Friday that he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who claims he was paid for drug-fueled trysts by the outspoken gay marriage opponent.

…Talking to reporters outside his house Friday, Haggard denied the sex allegations but said that he did buy meth from the man because he was curious.

…Haggard, a married father of five, said he never had sex with Mike Jones…He said he did get a massage from Jones after being referred to him by a Denver hotel.

Alas for Haggard, this qualified admission might have had a bit more credibility had it not been for the earlier performance (which was very impressive, although the “what’d you say his name was?” gilded the lily slightly).

As others have noted, Haggard’s attraction to meth may perhaps have been connected with his interest in weight loss; a year ago he published The Jerusalem Diet, for which Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review:

Haggard, pastor of the huge New Life Church in Colorado Springs, proposes a diet that was born in, yes, Jerusalem. Haggard was there in 1998 when he realized he’d gained too much weight to comfortably fit in his clothes. He decided that for one day, he would eat only fruits, veggies and nuts. Voila! He felt better and looked better in his clothes. Gradually, one day at a time (and about one pound a week), he returned to his target weight. Now, whenever he gains a pound or two, he restricts his diet for a day and exercises for an hour; within 24 hours, he’s usually returned to his target. In fact, he finds that the routine of weighing himself every day serves as a good deterrent to overeating…

(Pic via Out Front Colorado)

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Haggard to be Investigated by Pastor who Denounced Pokemon as Occultic

I suppose I should be grateful to Mike Jones, the male escort whose somewhat unexpected allegations against Ted Haggard are no doubt responsible for a sudden surge of hits to my blog posts concerning the now ex-head of the National Association of Evangelicals. The Colorado Springs Gazette has perhaps the most in-depth coverage:

Jones said he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard.

…The Rev. Ross Parsley, associate senior pastor, will serve as acting senior pastor for 14,000-member New Life Church while the investigation into the allegations proceeds.

Parsley has since informed the media that Haggard has admitted to “some indiscretions”, and a planned press conference of national evangelical leaders to offer support has reportedly been called off. The Gazette continues:

…Greg Montoya, editor of a newspaper that focuses on Denver’s gay, lesbian and transgender community, Out Front Colorado, said Jones is a well known figure who was voted by the paper’s readers three times as the best massage artist and personal trainer in the area.

Jones’s website reveals that he was also “Former state bodybuilding and powerlifting champion”. The report adds that

…Montoya said rumors about Haggard’s love life have circulated through Denver’s gay community for the past year.

Meanwhile, Jones has been contacted by Jeff Sharlet, whose fair but critical profile of Haggard appeared in Harpers in May 2005:

I just talked to Jones on the phone. He’s not vindictive, nor particularly political; he’s voted for Republicans and Democrats. He struggled with his decision, out of compassion for a man in the closet. He was motivated, he said, simply by being a gay man who’s been around long enough to know how Ted’s politics play out in the ordinary lives of people Jones cares about. That’s about as good a motive for outing someone as I’ve ever heard.

Fair enough, although whether such an alleged revelation can be squared with the ethic of discretion that must be central to Jones’s profession is another matter. Sharlet also links us to a story he wrote for Nerve about Christian Right books on sex for men:

…Of course, if you ask [James] Dobson why homosexuality looms so large in the evangelical mind, he’ll tell you it’s because godless humanists planted it there by way of subversive signals in our television programming. Ask Pastor Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and good cop to Dobson’s bad cop at the top of the evangelical world, and he’ll offer a more nuanced answer. Like most fundamentalists, Haggard believes that sexual sin is among the worst; he also knows it is the most common. Evangelicals, he’ll say, aren’t more obsessed with sexuality these days; rather, homosexuals are, somehow, more homosexual. The official line is that gay marriage marks a tipping point (Haggard, like many evangelicals, is a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s book of that name) into wholesale hedonism. The unofficial line, among leaders such as Haggard and Dobson is that it’s a fight their side has already lost.

…Christian conservatives loathe all forms of homo- and bisexuality, of course, but it is the gay man (singular; he’s an archetype) who looms largest in their books and sermons and blogs and cell group meetings. Not, for the most part, as a figure of evil, but one to be almost envied. “The gay man” is the new seductress sent by Satan to tempt the men of Christendom. He takes what he wants and loves whom he will and his life, in the imagination of Christian men’s groups, is an endless succession of orgasms, interrupted only by jocular episodes of male bonhomie. The gay man promises a guilt-free existence, the garden before Eve. He is thought to exist in the purest state of “manhood,” which is boyhood, before there were girls.

New Life Church, meanwhile, has put out a statement (links added):

…Under the governing structure of New Life Church, there is a board of overseers consisting of four senior pastors of other congregations. Those overseers have authority to conduct an inquiry, to discipline the senior pastor, to remove him from his position, or to restore him to ministry. The overseers of New Life Church are: Rev. Larry Stockstill, Senior Pastor of Bethany World Prayer Center, in Baker, Louisiana; Rev. Mark Cowart, Senior Pastor of Church For All Nations in Colorado Springs; Rev. Tim Ralph, Senior Pastor of New Covenant Fellowship in Larkspur, Colorado; and Rev. Michael Ware, Senior Pastor of Victory Church in Westminister, Colorado.

That team should be able to get to the bottom of things – after all, in 1999 Mark Cowart discovered that Pokemon was a occultist conspiracy:

…While driving with his kids, he heard them in the back seat talking about “Abra” and “Cadabra,” and “my antenna went up,” Cowart said.

Cowart said one of his concerns is that one of the Pokeman characters sprouts horns. Another concern, he said, is that children exploring a Pokemon Web site can click to other games, including “Magic: the Gathering,” a game similar to Dungeons and Dragons.

Cowart got his children’s pastor to give a demonstration; he

burned Pokemon trading cards with a blowtorch and struck a plastic Pokemon action figure with a 30-inch sword.

Hopefully Haggard’s interrogation will be less intense…

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ASSIST Ministries reports on the plight of Suhad Massad, the wife of a Palestinian pastor who has been refused re-entry to Gaza by the Israeli authorities:

Suhad is a Jordanian citizen, residing in Gaza. Suhad and her husband, Rev. Hanna Massad, pastor the Gaza Baptist Church. Several months ago, Suhad and her 21-month-old daughter, Joyce, left their home in Gaza to visit her parents in Amman, where she gave birth to their second daughter, Jolene.

Recently, Dr. [Hanna] Massad was able to leave Gaza to come to Amman to take his wife and family back home. For some reason, Suhad’s visa application was denied, and only Pastor Hanna was able to return to Gaza (Joyce is an American Palestinian. Jolene is an American and will be issued a Palestinian ID when she enters Gaza).

So much for the Gaza “withdrawal” being a step forward for Palestinian self-determination, then. This was on 27 October; a more recent report adds:

…On Monday, Rev. Massad spoke with his attorney, who confirmed that their only option is to once again take the case to the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. This is not the first time Pastor Hanna has been forcibly separated from his family. In 2002, shortly after their marriage, Suhad returned to visit her parents in Amman and was refused a visa to return to her husband. Then, as now, a Supreme Court decision was required to reunite the couple.

No answer from the court is expected until late November.

This is the second ordeal for the Massads; the couple were separated for fourteen months in 2001-2002. Back in August, I blogged on the similar case of Grace El Yateem, the wife of the Lutheran minister Khader El Yateem. The El Yateems are both Palestinian-Americans, but during a trip to see relatives in Beit Jala Grace and their children were denied entry into Israel at the Jordanian border. The two cases highlight a widespread tragedy that’s been unfolding in recent months, and which the Middle East Times reported on a few days ago:

Last May Adel Samarra’s wife of 31 years left the West Bank to go to Jordan to renew her Israeli visa for the 126th time.

…Like thousands of other Palestinians, Samarra was left stranded by Israel’s recent decision to close a loophole that allowed thousands of foreign passport holders to remain in the Palestinian territories by renewing tourist visas every three months.

The new policy, which Israeli officials say is merely enforcement of an already existing law, has divided scores of Palestinian families and threatens to split up many more.

…The Israeli crackdown on the tourist visas is part of a broader campaign to undermine the Hamas government, observers say, but Palestinians say that it is collective punishment for their democratic choice in January’s parliamentary elections.

…Those turned away have been predominantly American passport holders, of which there are about 35,000 living in the West Bank and Gaza, according to the US embassy in Tel Aviv.

Apparently we’re not supposed to ask ourselves why so many people living under Israeli occupation have been obliged to follow such a strategy for such a long time (and much less should we compare their situation with the ease by which Jewish immigrants make their way to residency in Israeli settlements in the same Palestinian Territories). The cases of El Yateem and Massad, however, suggest that the policy of exclusion extends beyond just those who have to re-enter the country frequently in order to stay with their families.

When I blogged the El Yateem case, I suggested that some American politicians might like to bring some pressure to bear – particularly Michael McCaul and Joe Crowley, two US congressmen who made a huge show of their concern over “the plight of Palestinian Christians” back in June (as I blogged here). The two men sponsored a draft resolution calling for Palestinian Christians to be protected from Muslim extremists and from the Palestinian Authority; unsurprisingly, the phrase “Israeli occupation” was kept firmly off the agenda. Of course, this was all just cant and wind – the reality of Palestinian Christians suffering as a result of Israel’s policies stirred no interest, let alone indignation.

The situation of Suhad Massad is unlikely to inspire much action either, and details of her 2002 exclusion fell on deaf ears in Washington. ASSIST reported at the time:

Friends in the United States have tried to help by asking Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and others to intercede on Pastor Hanna’s behalf. Every request was refused.

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Lib Dem MP Removes His Name from List Supporting Operation Christmas Child

From The Guardian‘s diary column:

So you’re a backbench MP. You see a cuddly early day motion praising a group that sends much-needed Christmas presents to deprived children abroad. Do you sign it? Well, of course. Do you check the group out first? Well, probably not.

An “early day motion” (EDM) is a subject tabled to be debated in Parliament, but which will probably not in fact reach the floor of either House. Its purpose is to allow MPs to show their support for the issue concerned by signing their name to it. Of course, the idea of MPs checking out a group before endorsing it is an optimistic one – the satirical TV show Brass Eye showed several years ago that politicians are very easily manipulated when presented with the chance to be associated with a good cause.

So let’s not be too hard on Timothy Farron, [Liberal Democrat leader] Ming [Campbell]‘s principal private secretary, who put down an EDM last week endorsing the work of Operation Christmas Child’s shoebox appeal. Or MPs such as the rightwing Tory Andrew Rosindell, who put his name to it. How could they know that the charity’s leading light and founder Franklin Graham prompted controversy both here and in the US by describing Islam as a “wicked and evil religion”?…Contacted yesterday, Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock, one of the signatories, wrote to the table office asking for his name to be removed from the EDM. Mr Farron said that while he deplored Mr Graham’s remarks, the charity’s good works seemed more important. Mr Rosindell also supported the charity’s work but said he could not be expected to check the bona fides of every group he endorsed in an EDM…

The shoebox appeal is, of course, an offshoot of Samaritan’s Purse International, which combines humanitarian aid with proselytisation. As well as Graham’s notorious 2001 remarks on Islam, I noted in July that Ken Isaacs of SPI had tactfully declared that Israeli bombing of Lebanon had “softened the hearts of many Muslims in Lebanon to the spiritual truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ”.

Operation Christmas Child has been controversial in the UK for some time; the Guardian first raised concerns in 2002:

The charity says about 4,500 volunteers were involved in last year’s British appeal, which was backed by GMTV. For the past three years, Kwik-Fit has supported the initiative, allowing donors to leave boxes at its 650 tyre, exhaust and brake centres. In its annual report for 2000, SPI states that its objectives are “the advancement of the Christian faith through educational projects and the relief of poverty”, and it describes itself as “a faith relief mission agency”, although the latter does not appear in the 2001 report. The glossy appeal leaflets, which instruct children and parents what to put in boxes and how to pack them, do not make any mention of a missionary role.

However, SPI’s website features links to a Samaritan’s Purse newsletter from Graham, in which he states that God has blessed Operation Christmas Child “because it is about more than Christmas presents”. He says: “It is about introducing children and their families to God’s greatest gift – His Son, Jesus Christ. As long as evangelism is the focus, God will continue to bless it.”

…The Rev David Applin, chief executive of SPI, admits that a religious pamphlet – “The greatest gift of all” – is distributed with the boxes (though not inside them). But he denies that the appeal is evangelical.

As a result of this report and subsequent concerns raised by the Charity Commission, the organisation rewrote its fundraising material to make its religious mission clearer, and appointed David Vardy (brother of the controversial Creationist businessman Peter Vardy, whom I blogged on here) as new director. However, negative coverage continued, and in November 2003 the Co-operative Society broke links with the organisation:

Following complaints from Muslim pressure groups and its own members, the Co-op yesterday said it would no longer participate in Operation Christmas Child, a project supported by thousands of schools, churches and other organisations.

…”You are aware that we have received a large number of complaints regarding the comments of your trustee, Franklin Graham. Indeed, had we been aware of his views in advance, we would not have participated in Operation Christmas Child this year. It is unfortunate that our work together has come to an end in this way, as the shoe boxes of customers’ gifts will undoubtedly bring joy to many deserving children this year.”

Such coverage elicited a response from Vardy in the Guardian letters page:

…Samaritan’s Purse works in many countries and dispenses humanitarian aid to all, irrespective of race, political background or religion.

For example, Samaritan’s Purse has provided supplies and equipment to Al-Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad. Its director, Dr Mahdi Jasim Moosa, a Muslim, told Christianity Today: “Workers with Samaritan’s Purse didn’t preach or attempt to convert people.” Surely this has a degree of veracity which outweighs the opinion of those who fail to understand the reality of our aid operations, and our all-encompassing approach to assist anyone who needs help?

The Christianity Today article – which indeed shows that SPI’s humanitarian work is appreciated in Muslim countries – can be seen here.

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