tsunami and evangelism

[Loki]

It appears that perhaps there's something to the idea that god sent the tsunami into Aceh to clear the way for the evangelists...

From here

There, away from the eyes of village officials, each tsunami survivor received relief supplies - a sleeping mat, a plate, a sari, a 55-pound bag of rice and, in the bottom of a white plastic bag proclaiming "Believers Church Tsunami Relief,'' a book containing biblical verses warning against the dangers of alcohol.
...
Members of the Believers Church have also handed out Bibles to tsunami victims on the streets and in relief camps. They set up an orphanage for 108 children, including many Hindus, and asked the children to recite Christian prayers six times a day.
...
A U.S. group, the International Bible Society, has announced plans to send 100,000 Christian texts, including a book translated into Thai, "When Your Whole World Changes,'' to survivors, including those in Thailand.
...
Another group, Focus on the Family, prepared 300,000 survival packets including food, water, medicine and the evangelical text "When God Doesn't Make Sense.'' This group has also announced plans to rebuild destroyed villages in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh as "Christian communities.''

And it's not just the christians...although of course the scientologists have morals (apparently recently discovered??)

Men from the Tamil Nadu Muslim Progress Organization shook the hands of Scientologists, who had trained them in a procedure called a "contact assist,'' which tries to get people to move on from the time of the tsunami and face their fears.

"The first thing we say is we're not here for ourselves,'' said Iain Cochran, a Scientologist from Scotland, adding that anyone trying to convert tsunami victims to Scientology would be kicked out of the church. "It's not allowed.''

From here

Yes, they are all at it...

However, more radical Muslim groups started arriving in the province within days. These include the Islamic Defenders' Front, which has attacked bars and shops selling alcohol in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, and Lashkar Mujahideen, which endorses a militant ideology and has alleged links to the killing of Christians.

Last week, speaking outside a tent at Banda Aceh's busy military airport under a banner reading 'Islamic Law Enforcement', Salman al-Farizi said his group were in Aceh to give medical and food assistance, remove corpses, evacuate refugees and to preach. 'The survivors will be helped to spread the true word of Allah,' al-Farizi said.
...
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.'
...
The Church of Scientology has also established a presence in Banda Aceh, setting up a base opposite the governor's mansion.

And finally from here

But a few of the smaller groups have been raising money among evangelical Christians by presenting the tsunami emergency effort as a rare opportunity to make converts in hard-to-reach areas.

"Normally, Banda Aceh is closed to foreigners and closed to the gospel. But, because of this catastrophe, our partners there are earning the right to be heard and providing entrance for the gospel," WorldHelp said in an appeal for funds on its Web site this week.

The appeal said WorldHelp was working with native-born Christians in Indonesia who want to "plant Christian principles as early as possible" in the 300 Muslim children, all younger than 12, who lost their parents in the tsunami.

"These children are homeless, destitute, traumatized, orphaned, with nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. If we can place them in a Christian children's home, their faith in Christ could become the foothold to reach the Aceh people," it said.
...
One missionary support group, Advancing Native Missions based in Charlottesville, said it has raised more than $100,000 to pay for distribution of food, water and cooking utensils in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South India. Its workers often hand out Bibles or other religious tracts along with emergency supplies because disaster victims naturally question the existence of God, spokesman Oliver Asher said

 

[FireGarden]

Pahansiri once posted a really good alternate version of the Noah story. I wonder if you remember it? I thought that I had saved it. People's attitudes to a biblical story is one thing. Seeing those same reactions to current affairs really turns my stomach. I guess that some people really DO take the bible/koran/whatever literally.

Perhaps the tsunami was God's homage to Pythagorus :
If you can't win the argument through the use of reason, then drown your opponent.

 

[FireGarden]

Found the flood story.
I googled for the part that was most memorable.
"last contact" "with other humans" flood

Copyright rules have changed on this forum, so you only get a link:
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/floodstory.html

 

[c4ts]

Perhaps the tsunami was God's homage to Pythagorus :
If you can't win the argument through the use of reason, then drown your opponent.

That's right, the Pythagoreans drowned a guy because he discovered irrational proportions. It was hillarious at the time I heard of it, back in freshman year as we went through all of Euclid's proofs.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Evangelists seem to love getting their hands on children, prisoners, and disaster victims. I wonder that they don't see their success rates among desperate, confused, and frightened people as reflecting negatively on the beliefs they're peddling-- don't they ever wonder that if their religions were all that great, then happy people would be flocking to it in equal proportions? It's like accepting the results of a taste test given to starving people! They'll take what's offered anyway, regardless of merit.

So, are these evangelists just blind, or are they cynically interested only in the numbers, and looking at such people as easy prey? Fools, or ambulance chasers?

Reminds me of vultures circling.

 

[MLynn]

So, are these evangelists just blind, or are they cynically interested only in the numbers, and looking at such people as easy prey? Fools, or ambulance chasers?

Reminds me of vultures circling.

Your questions and thoughts echo my own. I'd like to see organizations help these victims without any strings attached.