Run by Franklin Graham, the son of the legendary evangelist, Samaritan’s Purse is an extraordinarily effective ministry that has touched millions of lives around the globe. But an Associated Press story today is headlined “Evangelicals’ work in Africa criticized.” Here’s the criticism:
Christian evangelicals have been coming to Africa for centuries. Critics accuse them of taking advantage of vulnerable communities — forcing people to abandon traditional beliefs in exchange for desperately needed goods and medicine. Graham, though, says his group is meeting spiritual as well as physical needs, and he’s proud of what has been accomplished.
Randall Balmer, professor of American religious history at Columbia University, said the influence of groups like Graham’s can be far-reaching.
“One of the most common criticisms of evangelicals is that they are looking for cultural conversions as well as spiritual ones,” he said. “They want to change the way people dress and behave.”
That’s it–one scurrilous and unsourced allegation from the reporter, and a similarly scurrilous allegation based on very old and universally discredited missionary practices that Balmer (the author of Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America) doesn’t tie in any way to Samaritan’s Purse. Fact is, overall it’s a very positive article, focusing on what’s important in the organization’s work including building hospitals, helping people with HIV/AIDS, aiding refugees of war and natural disaster, etc. Why the headline writer chose to focus on two irrelevant accusations–and why those accusations were included without evidence that they had anything to do with the organization the article was about–is anybody’s guess.
