Source: Religion News Service
UNITED STATES, 2010 (By Rabbi A. James Rudin): Accusations that members of an Idaho-based Baptist missionary group tried to smuggle 33 Haitian children out of the earthquake-ravaged country have attracted wide media attention. The case, still pending in a Haitian court, raises serious legal, ethical and religious questions.
Missionary activity is not without its risks, or rewards. The New York Times described tensions between missionaries who have been active in Haiti for years and those who only arrived following the Jan. 12 catastrophe that killed more than 200,000 people. In another sign of religious friction, evangelical Christians have reportedly attacked a Port-au-Prince voodoo memorial service. Max Beauvoir, the country’s voodoo leader, accused evangelicals of trying to “buy souls” with the lure of needed food and medicine.
To their credit, Christian missionaries throughout the world have established hospitals, colleges and universities, medical clinics, training schools, hospices, orphanages and other institutions. For these Christians, the term “mission” is less about saving souls and more about saving lives. But while recognizing those humanitarian efforts, the term “missionary” triggers resentment, and even rage, among Jews. For nearly 2,000 years, zealous Christians in their quest for converts have assailed Jews with hostile proselytizing campaigns and forced conversions. There were also humiliating public religious debates in medieval Europe. Such rigged “disputations” sought to prove Christianity’s spiritual superiority over Judaism.
In recent years, many Christians have muted or even abandoned active missionary activities.There’s a difference between “mission” and “witness.” Mission is frequently an act of insensitivity, even coercion, directed to adherents of another faith community. Witness, meanwhile, is the living out of authentic religious beliefs without attempting to proselytize another person. In authentic witnessing, there are no hidden agendas, no strong-arming, and certainly no court cases involving alleged kidnapping.