Christian humanitarian aid

Christian humanitarian aid includes the shares humanitarian performed by Christian NGO. The charity is a concept of great importance in the Christianity. Humanitarian actions are a sector where some church invest time and money in optic of compassion.

Origins

The modern concept of Christian humanitarian aid comes from the teachings of the Bible.^[1] Indeed, charity and the concern for providing assistance to the poor, is a concept established from the Old Testament.^[2] According to Exodus, part of the tithe was devoted to the needy (orphans, widows, foreigns). According to the New Testament, Jesus-Christ talked a lot about the subject, in addition to asking for shares (healing, material or financial donations, advocacy, etc.). In the Sermon on the Mount, he called to help not only his friends but also enemies ^[3] or people rejected by society, such as people with a disability.^[4] Jesus himself is compared to a doctor who came to save people.^[5]

The Catholics monasteries and monastic orders have, since the Middle Ages, a long tradition of charity, asylum and assistance to the poor.^[6] The Protestant churches have the Department of deacons responsible for helping the poor. The missionary societies of 18th and 19th century often offered humanitarian assistance in parallel to their main activity of evangelism.^[6]

It was in the 19th century, that the first Christian NGOs began emerging. YMCA, a Protestant NGO, was created in 1844 in London.^[7] Then came the Caritas, a Catholic NGO, founded in Cologne in 1897.^[8] As for Evangelical churches, the entrepreneurial culture specific to the movement has fostered the creation of multiple NGOs. ^[9] Like the humanitarian movement, the growth of Christian NGOs becomes especially visible in the 1970s some of which are recognized as important actors in development.^[10][11]

Features and Benefits

There is no universal definition of these organizations; considering that a Christian humanitarian organization has at least one of the following traits.^[6]

• Be affiliated with a religious organization,
• Explicit religious references in its statutes,
• Financial support from a religious organization,
• The selection of its Board of Directors or its teams is based on principles or religious affiliation,
• The decision-making is based on religious principles.

While contacts with local churches often possible to work in countries or regions difficult to access for government or international organizations, as well as issue warnings in case of problems, the international dimension of many Christian NGOs allows them to gather significant funding and to publicize and promote their actions.^[6]

It seems that sometimes Muslims prefer to receive help from Christian humanitarian organizations rather than a non-religious organization, considering that the religion is viewed as a guarantee of moral and virtue.^[6]

Results and budgets

In 2007, Christian NGOs had 57.4% of NGOs affiliated to the United Nations.^[12]

According to a British study by Elizabeth Ferris, published in 2005 in the periodical International Review of the Red Cross , Christian NGOs have large budgets and provide considerable financial support worldwide.^[6] This same study gives the following figures:

• NGOs related to World Council of Churches and those of the group of Caritas Internationalis spend over a billion dollars a year in aid and development.
• The Lutheran World Federation has a budget of $73 million for aid and development.
• According to a 1953 study, religious NGOs have given 90% of the assistance after the World War II.
• According to William Headley (Catholic Relief Services), 1/3 of the persons living with AIDS in the world are treated with the help of the Catholic Church.

Catholicism

Examples of Catholic Humanitarian NGO:

• Caritas Internationalis
• Catholic Relief

Protestantism

Examples of Protestant Humanitarian NGO:

• Some sections of the YMCA.

Evangelical Christianity

For Evangelical Christians, humanitarian is a call from God to participate in the relief of suffering.^[13] Therefore, many believers choose to give their time, talent and money to help the poor in their country or abroad.^[14] In some NGOs, such as "Mercy Ships", health professionals must pay substantial tuition fees, in addition to working for free ^[15] On most Christian NGO websites, such as those of Mercy Ships ^[16] World Vision,^[17] it is specified that aid is provided to all without discrimination of religion. According to Sébastien Fath,^[18] the Evangelical churches and NGOs that they support, develop an international humanitarian entrepreneurship who influence policy decisions. They would be unavoidable geopolitical players in the humanitarian field.

Examples of Evangelical Christian NGO Humanitarian

• Mercy Ships
• Compassion International
• Samaritan's Purse
• Medair
• Teen Challenge
• World Vision International

Problems and critics

• There are sometimes problems of collaboration between Catholics NGOs and non-confessional NGOs in the fight against AIDS, mainly because of different views on use of condoms.^[19]
• In Bangladesh, Christian NGOs are sometimes criticized for their activity of evangelism According to the sociologist Geoffrey Martin, there is no overall policy, but some employees of Christian NGOs distribute Bibles.^[9] The Evangelical work is sometimes criticized by more traditional Christian NGOs because they would not separate evangelism and humanitarian aid, which would have implications for all Christian humanitarian NGOs. For example, the "Council of Churches in Indonesia" has $explicitly behind$, after 2004 tsunami, from Evangelical groups, according to the media, mingled evangelism and humanitarian aid to Muslim populations.^[6]
• It is sometimes difficult for Christian and Muslim NGOs to collaborate with each other.^[20]
• In areas of armed conflict, Christian NGOs was sometimes criticized to not respect the principle of neutral.^[6]
• The action of Mother Teresa to Calcutta has sometimes been described as "an imperialist enterprise of the Catholic Church, against an Eastern population, in an oriental city," a "cult of suffering" little concerned about hygiene .^[21]
• According to Tamsin Bradley, who did a study in Rajasthan (India), faith and compassion can sometimes make the members of Christian NGOs can forget the actual situation of people helped and the long term needs, because humanitarian construct a mental image simplifying objects their prayers as always poor and needy.^[22]

Further reading

• Christian Buckley, Ryan Dobson, Humanitarian Jesus: Social Justice and the Cross, Moody Publishers, USA, 2010
• Michael Barnett, Janice Gross Stein, Sacred Aid: Faith and Humanitarianism, Oxford University Press, UK, 2012
• Bruno Duriez, François Mabille, Kathy Rousselet, Les ONG confessionnelles: Religions et action internationale, Editions L'Harmattan, France, 2007

External links

• Elizabeth Ferris, "Faith-based and secular humanitarian organizations", International Review of the Red Cross 87, 858 (2005), pages 311-325
• Christopher L. Pallas, "Canterbury to Cameroon: a new partnership between faiths and the World Bank", Development in Practice 15, 5 (2005)

References

Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at fr:Humanitaire chrétien; see its history for attribution.