To the evangelist from Phnom Penh who handed out Christian literature to my young adults at school this morning

On November 6 2007 · 9 Comments · In Diary

After my first English class this afternoon, one of my young adult group handed me a glossy but cheaply produced booklet, the Book of Hope. They had been given it at high school this morning. This book contained pages of advice with titles such as Love, Sex, Health, Career, and Addiction. These are themes that may be playing on the minds of teenagers, so your timing, sir, was impeccable, and providing the book in English and Khmer was particularly thoughtful.

It’s just the way that you interspersed all of this advice with passages from the Bible that disturbs me.

A page on sex juxtaposed with The Sermon on the Mount – do you think maybe this is likely to lead to confusion? What is the relevance of a discourse on holiness to the sexual education of these people? Trust an evangelist to try and completely fuck up people’s heads with biblical passages rather than giving them any useful advice on some of the most intimate areas of their lives.

The dictionary in the back of the booklet was highly amusing, however. A is for Abraham. B is for Baptism. C is for Commandment. I particularly liked H for Herod, K for King David, and S for Sin. Useful, relevant English for the modern world.

To be fair, brazenly handing out chunks of bible is not half as sneaky as the tactics of some evangelist groups, like free English lessons for poor kids that are little more than sermons, or my favourite, asking Khmers to pray in exchange for healthcare or food. You’ve not sunk that low… have you?

So let me inform you that should you come anywhere near one of my classes with your literature, unless it is part of a fair and balanced religious studies curriculum (which we are planning), I shall be happy to suggest you shove your booklets where even the holy light from your Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t shine.


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  • http://theanswers42.blogspot.com/ Margaret

    “… asking Khmers to pray in exchange for healthcare or food” is exactly what Victorian Christians used to do in the slums, and they had hymn-singing too. 19th century tactics in Cambodia.

  • dough

    My Samaritan’s Purse article did elicit some response from Huddersfield’s letter writers. Most felt it was unfair of me to deter people from giving gifts to the poor. Why does provoking the wrath of letter writing types bring me so much joy???

  • dough

    Today’s letters page has this gem –

    “Mother’s fear over Xmas charity boxes” ran your headline. Fear of what? What is there to fear about a message of goodwill at the time of Christ’s birth? That’s what Christmas is all about – love and kindness to those less fortunate than us. There’s enough ungodliness in this country now as it is, killings, drugs etc…that’s what I fear!

  • http://theanswers42.blogspot.com/ Margaret

    This is them, I assume … http://www.bookofhope.net/

    Watch out – see their ‘God Man’ page – they have a visual aid for the ‘benefit’ of non-readers.

  • http://www.spikydog.com/ Nathan

    @ dough – why have these people always got to sound as if someone gatecrashed their child’s birthday party, climbed on the dinner table and shat on the cake? And what has ungodliness in the UK got to do with sending gospel to poor kids?

  • dough

    Well my main observation is that telling people they’re going to burn in hell or when the rapture comes unless they agree with you is hardly goodwill.

  • Coyote

    i’ve always warned my son of revealing all his ignorance at once, and now i’ve met the three stooges of cambodia, Nathan, Margaret, and Dough doh, who have done just that. you havent the foggiest of what true compassion is. remember, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

  • http://www.spikydog.com/ Nathan

    At least we know my name. Am I supposed to take comments seriously from people who call themselves Coyote?

    I know damn well what compassion is, and it has nothing to do with force feeding biblical passages to children in need of genuine help.

    Fear of the Lord is a sign of a delusional mind. Your son should be warned of that.

  • http://theanswers42.blogspot.com/ Margaret

    Coyote, I’m happy to say I’ve never “met” you, and have no wish to.

    The Oxford English dictionary defines compassion as “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others,” which is all very well, but of little value to the objects of your compassion if you don’t act upon it. It’s interesting to note that the word “pity” comes from the Latin “pietas”, which means piety – something you probably value, but I regard as a meaningless waste of time.

    Nathan is my son, and I’m very proud of him because he’s doing something to help other people without expecting anything in return. I regard the approach of evangelical missionaries as deeply unethical.

    As for fearing the Lord, and the beginning of wisdom: attempting to instil fear in your children is a form of child abuse, especially when you expect them to fear something that doesn’t exist, and the beginning of wisdom is learning to think for yourself.

    Don’t bother to respond. I know it’s a waste of time trying to talk sense to faith-heads.