NewsMax a conservative "news" outlet on the Internet has this bit of "news" of Jerry Falwell Liberty University's tsunami "relief" efforts. According to the press release. Sorry, I mean according to the "news" article

One team, led by Dr. Jerry Spencer, Liberty University's director of international crusades, provided relief on the coast of Kerala State. This area was chosen over areas of greater devastation primarily because team members had the opportunity to plant a church in the region, which guarantees a long-term impact there.

Hmmm....so the relief seems to be mostly in the form of building a church. The "news" report goes on to boast that the "relief" effort

distributed 10 kilograms of rice, one kilogram of potatoes and one kilogram of onions, and also provided fishing nets to area fishermen and funds to purchase bicycles for area evangelists.

Now maybe this is a miss print. Maybe they distributed the ten kilos of rice to each family, but the bicycles seemingly only went to those willing to do evangelical work. While the fishing nets were appreciated, I'm sure the local population is wondering why the Liberty team was so insistent on the building of a church. Future missions to the tsunami-hit area will focus on developing "vacation Bible schools and Bible-distribution programs that will assist the local Christians to further establish their ministries in the region." Nothing like using a natural disaster to help you spread the "word." I mean, never mind helping to re-build schools, or homes, or other kinds of infrastructure, what's important in responding to a natural disaster is that the local population have access to bibles and to vaction's to read the bible. That's the true spirit of charity.
posted by Idle Crank at 2/26/2005 10:20:00 PM