Religious Groups Fight Sex Trafficking

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/27/religious-groups-fight-sex-trafficking_n_1918053.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Religion News Service | By Amanda Greene
Posted: 09/27/2012 7:40 am EDT




-snip-


Law enforcement is increasingly teaming up with faith groups to combat sex trafficking around the country. Some are calling the faith-based push against human trafficking the newest "Christian abolitionist movement."

In California, an Underground Church Network has formed to help U.S. trafficking victims. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has developed a human trafficking curriculum. And the National Association of Evangelicals' humanitarian arm, World Relief, told CNN in February that its North Carolina offices had seen a 700 percent rise in reports of human trafficking last year.

Religious groups have also rallied against Backpage.com, which is owned by Village Voice Media, which they say is a haven for pimps and traffickers.

The issue drew the attention of President Obama at former President Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative on Tuesday (Sept. 25), where Obama said the estimated 20 million victims of human trafficking would become a major focus of his Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

more at link

[cleanhippie]

1. That's nice, but I think religious groups should be fighting sexual abuse in their own houses first.

Clean up your own mess first. It helps to muffle the hypocrisy.

[rrneck]

2. They're doing more harm than good. nt

[cbayer]

3. How so?

[rrneck]

4. If I may br forgiven for

answering with a previous post...

This one fits fairly well:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=47452

We shouldn't outsource necessary governmental services to private concerns. It's bad for democracy.

[cbayer]

5. So do you also object to the Clinton Global Initiative, which has listed this as one of their

priorities?

[cleanhippie]

6. Is that a governmental resource?

[pinto]

7. My friend called me after the speech. She was surprised and really pleased to see trafficking

- both labor and sex trade trafficking - brought up on a national stage. Lo's pretty passionate on the issue so the mention in the speech really caught her attention. She's equally adamant about sexual abuse in religious institutions.

I asked her how she reconciled supporting the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships on trafficking while protesting against institutional acquiescence /cover up to sexual abuse in faith-based, i.e. religious, organizations.

She didn't miss a beat - It's all equivalent. Slavery is slavery, trafficking is trafficking, sexual abuse is abuse. All are illegal. Faith isn't the issue (Lo's an atheist). The key is that they come to light, be reported, discussed and resolved. Legally, culturally and within religious institutions.

I agreed.

[cbayer]

8. She reconciles it very well. Doesn't matter who's doing it - it's wrong.

Doesn't matter who's fighting against it - that's the right thing to do.