I'm totally with Monica. In fact, that's probably what most accounts for my occasional Christophilia outbursts: In the two causes in which I've had long-term involvement--homeless services, and food security for children under five in sub-Saharan Africa--I've encountered so many fantastic, inspiring, compassionate people whose work is informed by their Christianity. Yes, there are some Bible-bangers out there who try to leverage assistance in order to secure converts, but in my experience they're in the minority. The ones I've worked with--and I'm talking about some real believers, a Catholic nun, two different Jesuits, several Evangelicals, etc.--have generally waited to be approached about religion before discussing it with people who were receiving, and even then were low-key in their deliver. They wanted it to be very clear that there were no religious strings attached to the assistance they were providing.
And most importantly, they were doing it. If you care about the actual goals of this sort of work, then that matters infinitely more than the conceptual framework that got them there.
Joey Kurtzman
I'm with Monica
I'm totally with Monica. In fact, that's probably what most accounts for my occasional Christophilia outbursts: In the two causes in which I've had long-term involvement--homeless services, and food security for children under five in sub-Saharan Africa--I've encountered so many fantastic, inspiring, compassionate people whose work is informed by their Christianity. Yes, there are some Bible-bangers out there who try to leverage assistance in order to secure converts, but in my experience they're in the minority. The ones I've worked with--and I'm talking about some real believers, a Catholic nun, two different Jesuits, several Evangelicals, etc.--have generally waited to be approached about religion before discussing it with people who were receiving, and even then were low-key in their deliver. They wanted it to be very clear that there were no religious strings attached to the assistance they were providing.
And most importantly, they were doing it. If you care about the actual goals of this sort of work, then that matters infinitely more than the conceptual framework that got them there.