My daughter does about 50 boxes a year.
Posted on 12/17/2002 6:43:06 AM PST by Lorenb420
EDMONTON - For nearly a decade, school children across Alberta have packed toys, school supplies and the odd non-perishable treat into shoeboxes under a Christmas program that saw the packages sent to needy youngsters overseas.
So, organizers of Operation Christmas Child were predictably surprised this year when a group of parents complained about the program to their school boards, alleging it is a front for a Christian evangelists seeking new converts.
"We're very open and honest about who we are," said Karen Taylor-Binnie, spokeswoman for Samaritan's Purse, the international Christian group that runs the program.
"We want people to make a decision about whether they want to participate -- as long as they're basing their decision on accurate information," Ms. Taylor-Binnie said.
"Proselytizing and evangelizing are buzzwords that get people's dander up," she said.
"But evangelizing simply means telling people about your faith. And if we are given the opportunity, we do tell people that we're doing this because Jesus told us to be Good Samaritans, and because we are Christians."
Ms. Taylor-Binnie stressed that boxes going to countries hostile to Christian influence do not carry literature referring to religion.
Children in countries that permit such literature receive a booklet called The Greatest Gift of All, which celebrates the life of Christ.
But the presence of that literature has been enough for a handful of parents to brand the shoeboxes a form of proselytizing.
In recent weeks, boards in Edmonton, Calgary, Banff and Red Deer have received letters saying the program is inappropriate for public schools serving students of all faiths.
"These are evangelical tools designed to further their specific brand of ministry," Darren Lund, a Calgary parent who has written one of the letters, told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.
Schools in one division, the Banff-based Canadian Rockies Public Schools, have dropped the program from those permitted during school time.
They did so after parents complained the initiative was a form of evangelizing -- to both the Canadian children packing the boxes and the youngsters abroad who receive the gifts.
The board, representing some 2,500 students in six schools, responded by drawing up a policy affecting "interest groups" seeking access to the classroom.
"It just spoke to not using instructional time or school and teacher resources," said Mike Lloyd, the board chairman.
"We have students with a wide range of cultural and religious beliefs," Mr. Lloyd said.
"We figure we're a melting pot and because of that, it's not our mandate to be promoting one religious belief over another."
Other critics have targeted the founder of Samaritan's Purse, Franklin Graham, for public remarks deemed to be anti-Muslim.
Mr. Graham, the son of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, has faced repeated censure for telling NBC News a year ago that Islam is "a very evil and wicked religion."
The minister's supporters argue the remark has been reprised out of context and point to Mr. Graham's moderate stance on other issues.
He is among a group of influential evangelists, they note, urging U.S. Christians to open their hearts to AIDS victims -- an effort meant to counter depictions of AIDS by some fundamentalists as punishment for homosexuality.
Whatever Mr. Graham's views, several advocates have leapt to the defence of Samaritan's Purse, saying the critics are overlooking the accomplishments of the program.
Launched 11 years ago in the United Kingdom, Operation Christmas Child in its 10th year in North America.
Under it, some 750,000 boxes filled with rubber balls, pencils, crayons and stuffed toys have made their way from Canada each year to poor youngsters from central Africa to the Balkans.
This week, Samaritan's Purse officials left Calgary to deliver their three-millionth box to a child in Uganda.
Brian Rushfeldt, executive director of the Alberta-based Family Action Coalition, said the group deserves praise, not static, for its efforts.
"Even if I wasn't a Christian, I'd be concerned," he said.
"Here we have a program that's been doing some phenomenally good work for children in Third World countries, just to bring some joy to their lives when they have nothing else.
"Surely we are big enough, for the sake of those kids, to allow this kind of thing to go on."
My daughter does about 50 boxes a year.
I have said it before and will suggest it again: Change the 1st amendment and get rid of the word religion and replace it with the word belief. That should cause some problems :)
Liberals hate the poor.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.