Taliban NGOs Slam Christian Missionary Work
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
The kidnapping of 23 Koreans in Afghanistan has caused people to reevaluate Christians' overseas missionary and volunteer work.
Civic groups claim that Christians should change the way they view missionary work and restrain from ``excessively passionate'' activities, while Christian groups say they will reflect on their activities, however will continue to send out missionaries and volunteers.
The Korea World Missions Association and other Christian groups said Thursday that they are worried over the government's agreement with the Taliban militants to ban Korean missionary operations in Afghanistan.
``We hope Korean Christians will take part in volunteer work more actively, remembering the kidnapped volunteers and keeping the spirit of love, as well as respecting the government's measures,'' leaders of the groups said.
They said the groups would set up an agency to deal with dangerous situations overseas. ``If volunteers are kidnapped, the Christian agency will cope with it directly and the government will not need to act as a negotiation channel,'' they said.
But civic groups claimed the decision to continue overseas missionary work comes from Christians' reckless desire to expand religious influence.
``Churches oppose the government's ban on missionary work in dangerous countries because such work was their main source of expanding influence and increasing parishioners. That is part of the reason why they do not conduct aid operation at quiet regions but at hot spots where people pay attention,'' Shin Yong-gug, director of the People's Association of Religion Critics, said.
``Regarding overseas missionary work, they seem to take the church's expansion into consideration rather than the safety of parishioners or people. Are missionary work and their beliefs above the nation and the people? How come they push ahead with their self-righteous and one-sided activity, ignoring Korea's position, national interest, and diplomatic affairs?'' he said.
Shin also said Korean Christians conduct aid operations on their own, not taking into consideration foreign cultures and local situations.
Christian Science Monitor, a U.S. Christian daily, said that broadly speaking, the Koreans in Afghanistan operated on a 19th-century missionary model that has evolved considerably in the U.S., by quoting David Heim, editor of the Chicago-based magazine The Christian Century.
``American churches going out to the world and converting people have been criticized for a century, and most have learned from the criticism. The South Korean churches seem to be in that older independent evangelical model of going off alone. Today relatively few mainline American churches do this. Most send small teams that partner with indigenous churches and local believers. It's more collaborative,'' Heim was quoted as saying.
Shin said although the Christian groups organize the agency to deal with dangerous situations, the volunteers are Koreans and they would put responsibility on the government if another kidnapping occurs.