On Operation Christmas Child; Colonialism Masquerading as Charity

Earlier today I met a stunning Ichneumon wasp & deep-hearted & wise Birch Moon Wisdom on Instagram commented that wasp medicine is afoot. I agree! On so many levels, now that I have almost recovered from how beautiful she was, my meeting with her was significant, but perhaps more of that soon. In the meantime, I am reminded that several times in my life I have been accused of being 'waspish', that insult which is so often cast at women who speak their minds. And this week I have had to speak my mind in a way which I'm sure was unwelcome, & that's where I come to the angel because this was about Christmas.

In the 1,000 year church last Sunday we were given a talk on Operation Christmas Child, whose parent organisation is Samaritan's Purse, a US Evangelical Christian group which provides disaster relief throughout the world.

Operation Christmas Child organises thousands upon thousands of shoeboxes to be filled with Christmas gifts by well meaning people, including in our schools and churches, & then distributed to children who have been affected by war, famine, poverty, disease, & natural disasters. Since 1990, more than 168 million children in over 160 countries have been given shoeboxes; an astounding feat. It sounds so lovely, so kind, & in this complex & bewildering world we so need things that are kind. But truly Operation Christmas Child isn't kind or lovely at all. 

Firstly, Operation Christmas Child is evangelical, hoping to convert children & their families to Christianity; the sort of Christianity that voted Donald Trump into the White House & believes him to be doing 'God's work'. Ironic then that this organisation which professes to care for children supports a man who has overseen the removal of migrant children from their families, the deportation of parents whilst their children were at school through ICE, & the incarceration of children at the border with Mexico. Whether evangelism itself is a good thing might be debated (I say not) but evangelism of this nature; fundamentalist & done by offering shiny gifts to vulnerable children who are first obliged to attend a 'prayer meeting' is beyond both religious & human decency. And it could so easily be argued that the inequality of power in that exchange makes it almost impossible for any conversion to be freely arrived at. As one commentator said, "You have desperate people and you have someone who has food in one hand and a Bible in the other."

In addition, the president of Samaritan's Purse is US evangelist, Franklin Graham who has been accused many times of hate speech & who was quoted in last Sunday's talk. Indeed it was that that made me investigate the organisation more deeply. 

Franklin Graham has spoken out against LGBT rights & in favour of conversion therapy, he supported the Iraq war & most definitely supports Donald Trump. Furthermore, he considers Islam to be "evil and wicked" & has said that Muslims should not be allowed to enter the US. It is ironic that his own organisation is named after the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story about overcoming bigotry towards those we consider 'other'. That is certainly not something that Franklin Graham is able to do. And, in addition, he is the highest paid CEO in the charity sector in the US. It must be hard indeed to consider the opinions of others when you can't hear them over the rattling of your own money.

In short, Operation Christmas Child benefits financially & otherwise from the continuation of war & injustice; a worldly system of greed openly supported by their president. You cannot provide 'relief' to the victims of war with one hand whilst cheerleading for it with the other. 

And this is certainly not the teaching of Jesus, a radical preacher in an occupied land who spoke out against injustice in all its forms. We must remember that he was murdered by the forces of Imperialism, and Operation Christmas Child is Imperialism in action; self-soothing by offering shallow charity, whilst ignoring, feeding, & even benefitting from, the deeper roots of injustice. Chillingly, Revd. Giles Fraser points out that US evangelism "systematically confuses the kingdom of God with the US's burgeoning empire. It is no coincidence that the mission fields most favoured by US evangelicals are also the targets of neo-conservative military ambition." And, of course, the more children and adults in distress, the more money Franklin Graham & Samaritan's Purse makes, and the more opportunities they have to create compliant & reliant Christians. This is the most terrible face of Christianity, and of any religion. 

Indeed, this is not truly Christianity at all. To follow Christ is to be counter-cultural, to demand the 'world turned upside down', to 'do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly' (Micah 6:8), or to do our best to at least. Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan's Purse is none of these. It is thinly disguised Colonialism by another name, and it preys on well meaning people, including my kind friend at church, who wish to share their prosperity with those who are less fortunate to spread its poison.

I am pleased to say that several organisations in the UK no longer support Operation Christmas Child by allowing their premises to be used as collection points. These include, Oxfam, the South Wales Fire Service, DHL, the Inland Revenue, & the Co-op. Surely our churches and our schools must do the same.

If we are to survive these times we must be better than this. We have to have difficult conversations, look and think more deeply, speak out; even if that means being considered 'waspish', be willing to listen and to change, sometimes to give up what we had held as good and precious and kind. And we have to transcend the attitude that tells us that a few plastic gifts in a shoebox makes up for hundreds upon hundreds of years of systematic exploitation and oppression. Then we might truly be doing God's work.

But, until we do, Christ have mercy.

There are several fine, Christian and otherwise, alternatives to Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Here are a few that I've been told about. Please let me know if you know of others.

https://linktohope.co.uk/shoebox-appeal-2019 ~ provides shoeboxes to families & the elderly to those in need in Eastern Europe

https://www.msrm.org.uk/liab.html ~ a Mustard Seed Initiative supporting children in Eastern Europe 

https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/the-backpack-project ~ a year round initiative to fill a backpack with everything children in Malawi need for school; clothes, art materials etc

References:

http://emilyjoypoetry.com/7-reasons-not-to-participate-in-operation-christmas-child-this-year   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan%27s_Purse#Controversy   http://humanistlife.org.uk/2015/10/14/why-parents-shouldnt-support-operation-christmas-child/   https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/news-opinion/truth-behind-your-childs-operation-854545   https://baptistnews.com/article/10-alternatives-operation-christmas-child/   https://baptistnews.com/article/stuffing-shoe-boxes-for-the-worlds-poor-maybe-you-should-reconsider/#.WbXydbJ96M8   https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanism-today/humanists-doing/good-causes-and-charities/samaritans-purse/   https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/jan/15/fundraising.guardiansocietysupplement   https://sites.google.com/site/occalert/   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/nov/10/religion.society   https://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2013/10/operation-christmas-childs-shoebox-campaign-just-propaganda-tool-christianity   http://www.inminds.com/occ.html   https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/news-opinion/wont-donating-christmas-charity-shoebox-13796645   https://www.secularism.org.uk/charities/operation-christmas-child.html   https://www.secularism.org.uk/opinion/2014/11/