Jesus

We’ve all heard about the Christian groups flocking to Haiti to help the sick, the oppressed and the orphans.

From Pat Robertson’s Operation Blessing to Scientology groups, nearly all versions of Christianity are represented in Haiti.

But in an essay, Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, a Catholic missionary of Latin America and asst. professor of religious studies at the University of Miami, calls it all into question.

Here are some excerpts from her essay:

“These incidents force us to wonder if the ‘good’ these groups bring is outweighed by the manner in which their ignorance is a destructive force in the global South.”

“These North American missionary groups, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, bring U.S. cultural Christian values, along with their food, medicine, textbooks, and able hands to build schools, clinics, and homes for the poor. Ultimately they impose a worldview upon populations, remaining blissfully unaware of the cultural, historical, and religious intricacies of the countries they visit.”

“What we all have come to know is that such immersion experiences affect the visitor much more than the resident who is left behind.”

On the 10 Baptists accused of kidnapping a busload of Haitian children:

“For the attitude that has dominated mission work in Haiti, that we can somehow, even in our ignorance, save people from poverty — like mini-Messiahs incarnating briefly in their lands — can become the prevailing ethos in all intercultural exchange, no matter how well-intentioned.”

Read the full essay here.

In my Gazette column for Sunday, Jan. 31, I write about finding meaning in the Haiti earthquake. The question is particularly relevant in Colorado Springs because two local men working for Compassion International were in Haiti when the quake struck. Compassion  is a faith-based worldwide child development group based in the Springs.  

David Woolley survived the quake, while David Hames has not been found as of Thursday.

Below are excerpts from my interviews with a Springs rabbi and a pastor on why bad things happen in the world. Both acknowledged that theodicy — explaining why a just God would allow evil in the world — is the most difficult theological question.

RABBI HOWARD HIRSCH, founder of the Center for Jewish-Christain Dialogue:

“The oldest theodicy is Job. In Job you learn you don’t understand everything. He doesn’t doubt God’s power. He questions God’s justice.”

“God created the world incomplete so we could become his partners in completion.”

“(Theodicy) is the weakest part of any religion. What you need to do is stand with the individual rather than offer neat theological answers. There is a big mystery that still remains. We don’t understand it. I don’t know if we will ever understand it.”

“Compassion is phenomenal. The real peace comes with acceptance of the things that happen to us in our lives.”

ROGER BUTTS, pastor of High Plains Unitarian Universalist Church:

“God is not all-powerful, but he is present in those moments of tragedy. God is especially present in

Rev. Roger Butts

 those places (that bring about) hope and resilience. God suffers right along.”

“In those stories where people are helping one another out, where life is renewing itself, there is the divine, the holy.”

“Death happens. Earthquakes happen. It is tragic but I don’t think the event itself has anything to do with the supernatural.”

“In suffering, in the margins where people are ignored, there is something about life that renews itself. God is especially there in the margins. The capacity to hold on to hope even in the midst of tragedy is what God is like. In tragedy we see life renewing itself, people reaching out and helping. That is where the holy is.”

“There are people surrounding (Renee, the wife of David Hames) with such love and affection. It is another example of our ability to be compassionate and life-affirming even in the face of confusing and awful circumstances.”

“Theodicy is an open wound. There is no solving it, except to say that God is not all-powerful.”