Up to 17 US missionaries and family members kidnapped in Haiti - reports

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

As many as 17 American Christian missionaries, including children, were kidnapped in Haiti on Saturday, according to US media reports that cited security officials.

The kidnapping happened as the missionaries were leaving an orphanage in the crisis-engulfed Caribbean nation, according to the New York Times.

A US government spokesperson said they were aware of reports of the kidnapping.
...
A spokesperson for the Haitian police said she was seeking information on the issue.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/17/up-to-17-us-missionaries-and-family-members-kidnapped-in-haiti-reports

[NurseJackie]

1. This was interesting to me...

https://aninjusticemag.com/missionaries-are-evil-b8228a8c5ab

An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: “If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?”

“No,” said the priest, “not if you did not know.”

“Then why,” asked the Inuit earnestly, “did you tell me?”

~Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Missionaries travel to all sorts of places, aiming to provide help to those who need it while also spreading the word of their religion. At first glance, it seems like they’re doing a good deed, right?

However, to me at least, missionaries seem to also carry the charge of cultural imperialism. These Christians impose their ideas on cultures who Did Not Ask for it while actually worsening their lives instead of improving them.

I’m not the only one who agrees with this sentiment. In the words of Kenyan activist Jomo Kenyatta:

“When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.”

[bahboo]

2. Wish I could rec this post...

[NurseJackie]

8. Thank you.

[SharonClark]

3. K&R

[Owl]

7. K&R

[ForgoTheConsequence]

4. Haiti is 96% Christian.

Why do they need more missionaries?

Are they not willing to help unless the Haitian people abandon their "wrong" form of Christianity (Catholicism) for this Anabaptist sect?

[lonely bird]

5. Precisely this

Ding, ding, ding.

We have a winner.

[TheProle]

6. They built an orphanage and were trying to come home

The group – 16 Americans and one Canadian citizen – were on their way home from building an orphanage, according to a statement from the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, which supports 9,000 children in Haitian schools and sent out a message asking supporters to pray for its members

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

9. Violent Haitian gang demands $17M for kidnapped missionaries, pay it, track $, drone strike x 17