# Christian Evangelical Relief Organizations in (post-war) Iraq **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 3, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296 "2003-04-03T20:50:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296/1 "2003-04-03T20:50:43Z")
[Christian Groups Eager to Help in Iraq, but Critics Wary Their Aim Is Conversion](http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAAYCP53ED.html) > [@](#): > > NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - In the aftermath of war, Iraq is expected to face a massive humanitarian crisis, with hunger, homelessness and disease threatening the nation’s 24 million people. > > U.S.-based Christian relief organizations, including a Nashville group affiliated with the Churches of Christ, are prepared to help. Even before the war began, many started gathering medicine, food, blankets and other supplies for Iraqis in need. > > Critics, however, already are raising concerns that evangelical relief groups may try to use humanitarian aid to make inroads in Muslim countries. > > The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington advocacy group, said it was especially upset to hear that the relief agency Samaritan’s Purse, run by the Rev. Franklin Graham, planned to work in Iraq. Graham has called Islam “a very evil and wicked religion.” > > “It’s particularly disturbing that a group headed by a man who openly states he believes the faith of Islam is evil would enter into a Muslim country in the wake of an invading army,” council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. > > But like most agencies, Samaritan’s Purse says it won’t proselytize. > > “In Iraq, as is the case wherever we work, Samaritan’s Purse will offer physical assistance to those who need it, with no strings attached,” Graham wrote in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times’ Thursday editions. It would seem to me that this can be absolutely disastrous. No matter how well meaning these people’s intentions might be, and even if it is true that they are not intending to proselytize, there is at least the opportunity to create the perception that the US is trying to impose it’s own culture and religion on Iraq. The US is going to have enough trouble as it is with Arab and Muslim perceptions - as discussed in other threads - and anything that adds to this is a terrible idea, IMHO. If these guys really mean well, let them donate all their stuff to some non-sectarian or Islamic relief organization. Otherwise, stay out. And if they won’t, the government should stop them. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296/2 "2003-04-03T21:04:03Z")
I agree with you though I am not sure that the US government can legally stop evangelical groups from undertaking relief work when other groups are allowed to do so. Perhaps someone like Karl Rove can have a quiet word with them and try to persuade them that it will harm American political efforts in Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296/3 "2003-04-03T21:07:33Z")
Izzy- no matter what we do, they’ll hate & resent us anyway (and you too, of course). I don’t see how they can make things worse. ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296/4 "2003-04-03T21:36:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CyberPundit \* > I am not sure that the US government can legally stop evangelical groups from undertaking relief work when other groups are allowed to do so. I would guess that they can, as it is a foreign policy issue rather than a domestic rights issue. Perhaps a lawyer can comment. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrDeth \* > Izzy- no matter what we do, they’ll hate & resent us anyway (and you too, of course). Of course. Especially me. Still, there’s hate and there’s even more hate. I don’t think “like” and “hate” are the only two positions on the scale. Plus, there’s always hope that hate can be mitigated. This will not help. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296/5 "2003-04-03T21:46:24Z")
—I don’t see how they can make things worse.— That’s a great attitude: don’t worry about being stupid! It will all work out bad anyway! Frankly, I think religious freedom (including the freedom for all religions to prosletyze) is something the Muslim world needs (along with most of the other liberal values). The question is how it can be done without sparking revolt. Islam means peace, but not entirely in the way it seems. The idea is that _society_, not just the individual, gives up certain things to please God and attain peace. That’s the whole point of shariah. The liberal ideal of pluralism in the quest for knowledge is a direct threat to that. So you can’t just easily dismiss Muslim concerns. Our values are a real and honest threat, and they really WILL overturn their concept of the good society. If we think it’s still worth it (as I do) then we at least have to be very careful about what we are really doing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296/6 "2003-04-03T22:10:02Z")
Well, they way I look at it, if the only way is up, why not try? If the Evangelicalists idea works, we have a “win”. If they fail, we have a “break even”. Maybe they’ll see that Christians are not so bad after all, and stop hating us (by “us” I mean America). I have no hope for “stop resenting us”, however. They have every right to resent us, Hell, if I wasn’t an American, I’d “resent us” too. But maybe, just maybe, the hate will diminish. I don’t think it can get any stronger. However, I do agree that they should be on their best behaviour, and be careful. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296/7 "2003-04-03T22:24:54Z")
“I would guess that they can, as it is a foreign policy issue rather than a domestic rights issue” I think it’s the discriminatory part that’s a problem. I think the US government could make it illegal for any US relief agency to work in Iraq but I don’t think they can discriminate against just evangelical agencies. Can someone who knows the relevant law clarify? “If they fail, we have a “break even”.” That’s not true. If they fail they could alienate many Iraqis who might otherwise support the US or at least be neutral. Like some of those Shias who are probably happy to see Saddam go but who may not be happy at all to see a bunch of Christian evangelicals duirng an American occupation. Plus it will look really bad around the Arab world especially given the kinds of bigoted statements about Islam made by the likes of Franklin Graham. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-evangelical-relief-organizations-in-post-war-iraq/166296/8 "2003-04-03T23:48:47Z")
Here, downtrooden soul, have this rice, and milk and some crackers, oh, and here are some Chick tracts for you to read to pass the time… It’s just a bad idea. I don’t think the Gov’t can (or should) stop them, on the off chance that they’ll offend the wrong folks and we can thin the herd (or flock as it were) a bit. I don’t think that after the dust settles, these folks will be doing anything more than covert witnessing. You can liberate a country and it’s people, and you can feed them, clothe them, and teach them a trade, but the minute you try and exchange that help for a change in religious view or belief, you’re itching for a fight. Frankie is the very LAST person who should be even thinking about going to a Muslim country to assist. I suppose he’s saying that he can put his bigotry and hatred of Islam aside and help the downtrodden without any witnessing? Hoo boy… To think that these folks will go without witnessing and provide no-strings assistance is just like saying Hussein doesn’t have chemical weapons, we can’t prove it, and by the time we do, it may be too late. Perhaps Frankie ought to leave the Iraqis alone, and perhaps make sure, if they can do all they SAY they can do, that every American head has a roof over it, and every American is fed and has clean drinking water before they go over and start a potential international incident, or at the very least turn potential terrorists into actual terrorists.