Sandra and Michelle

Do I write the most unbelievable crap?

Claims that OCC are transparent about their mission, nobody is pressurised to become a Christian, and that my site contains "the most unbelievable crap..."

From Sandra to OCCcritic:

My family and I have participated in Operation Christmas Child for a number of years. We have never felt misled by OCC in any way. We see this as a wonderful opportunity to give children in many countries throughout the world hope, and share our love for them. I have visited the Samaritan's Purse website and have read the OCC information repeatedly. I do not think it is possible to read their material without knowing that this is a Christian organization with the burning desire to spread the good news of the love of Jesus with a lost world. It is hard for me to understand how you can think they are not open and honest about their mission. If you disagree with OCC and sharing the love of God, then of course, you have the right not to participate. It appears that your objective is to stop this caring promotion that brings hope and happiness to the faces of millions of boys and girls around the world. With all respect to you, I am sure you will never reach your goal.

Sandra

From OCCcritic to Sandra:

Hi Sandra,

Which country are you from? In the UK there is much misunderstanding of what OCC is about. But there is far worse...

I intend to write up FAQ a but in the meantime I've pasted some recent correspondence which goes into some detail about why I have put up my website.

Also note my concerns at http://www.geocities.com/occcriticism/concerns.html

If you believe Samaritan's Purse to be upfront, then you should see the watered down explanations they write in the British Press.

e.g.

The Rev David Applin, chief executive of SPI, admits that a religious pamphlet - "The greatest gift of all" - is distributed with the boxes (though not inside them). But he denies that the appeal is evangelical. "The word evangelical has connotations and I prefer to think of us as a Christian group," he says, adding that he does not regard SPI as a missionary agency.

( http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,7843,861580,00.html )

However Compare this with what Samaritan's Purse tell the faithful in their Newsletters and on fundamentalist church websites:

From www.samaritanspurse.org/about/pdf/AR2003.pdf

"We shared the Gospel with them and distributed Bibles," Victor said. "Each time we do a distribution, it begins with a testimony that Jesus loves you and died for you...Operation Christmas Child is one of the best evangelistic tools because it is a gift," ministry partner Victor Kulbich said. "It opens the door to telling about Jesus."

If you've seen "The greatest gift of all" (see http://www.geocities.com/occcriticism/booklet.html) then it should be obvious that to deny its purpose is evangelical is completely dishonest!

Also contrast the following:

"We're over there trying to help them, we're trying to make the quality of their lives better and we're not over there to convert them." [Sean Campbell, executive director of Samaritan's Purse Canada.]

vs.

the Christian organisation "Ministrywatch" http://www.ministrywatch.org/mw2.1/H_Home.asp contains the following statement at

http://www.ministrywatch.org/mw2.1/F_SumRpt.asp?EIN=581437002

The conversion of the lost is the ultimate and expressed goal of

Samaritan's Purse. This fact distinguishes them from many other

relief and development organizations, even some others which are

Christian in name and in charter.

So do you still think it is "completely upfront" for Samaritan's Purse to claim "we're not over there to convert them" ?

Note that my website is not for people like yourself who are comfortable with evangelism, but is an alert for those who didn't realise what OCC is. The reasons people do not understand what OCC is are explained below. There are many such people who have thanked me for alerting them, so my website succeeds in its purpose.

My purpose is not to prevent happiness, but is to allow informed consent, alert people to the less than upfront nature of OCC and to question whether the cost of fundamentalism is worth a box of toys, no matter how poor people are.

Here's some recent correspondence (from someone called Michelle) which goes into this and more on your points in detail:

From Michelle To OCCcritic:

This is the most unbelievable crap I have ever heard! You make it sound like there torturing the children into Christian beliefs instead of just handing out leaflets. It's not OCC's fault that its donors are so ignorant and careless. If people really do care about there charities intentions then maybe they should not be so vulnerable and start doing a little research beforehand. For crying out loud Samaritan's Purse is a well known CHRISTIAN organization. If these people you're talking about are so against Christianity then what the hell are they doing donating to this organization? Past years leaflets for Operation Christmas Child contained the verse 2 Corinthians 9:15 and it specifically ask you to pray for the child that will receive your box. How could such "concerned parents" miss this? These people are "horrified" to find out there donating to an organization that promotes Christianity and uses the shoe boxes to help share Christ message with these children but yet they can't read a leaflet before sending the gift? That would worry me. What else are these "concerned parents" unknowingly supporting? If the parents of the shoe box recipients did not want to be involved in ministry then they could turn the opportunity down. No one is forcing them to become Christians. These families can choose not to believe in what OCC has to say. They are walking, breathing, thinking people capable of making there own decisions. The motives of OCC maybe horrifying to you but your concern with the organization is horrifying to me. Please take a step back and think about the facts and opinions your website so strongly suggest. Do hundreds of people really care this much about OCC's motives? I agree that this organization should not be advertised in a school setting but rather at church or other Christian events but I still think it is the donors responsibility for not getting to know the charity before donating or sending a shoe box in this case.

Thank you for your time,

Michelle

From OCCcritic to Michelle:

Hi Michelle,

I agree with some of your exasperation. People should know better, but unfortunately many do not and have thanked me for telling them so that they did not take part in something that is against their conscience. Believe it or not many people and organisations think that Samaritans Purse is a Christmas present charity, and are completely unaware that the presents they have been packing are used as an evangelical tool. This goes far beyond "handing out leaflets" as you suggest, but is a well orchestrated tool in conjunction with local churches, including in many cases, registration, insistence on taking literature (and bringing friends), conversion rallies and follow up. The fact that you didn't appear to know this (claiming instead that they "just hand out leaflets") implies you too need my website! It is one thing to think that OCC is run by Christians (like Christian aid) but it is not clear that the primary idea of OCC is to bring children to Christianity (and fundamentalist Christianity at that!)

If you were unknowingly supporting a well organised Islamic evangelical mission would you want to know? That is the issue.

You mentioned yourself that you think it is inappropriate for schools to take part in OCC. Why then would they do so if the information on the leaflets is so transparent? Instead schools and other bodies (the Inland Revenue, The South Wales Fire service, the Co-Op and recently OXFAM) have all stopped acting as collection points, but only once the extent of the evangelism was pointed out to them.

I am afraid that the verse you mention is not on the leaflet I have (last years, as used in the UK). Which country are you from? What is more the leaflets (at least in the UK) used to be much more low key and it was complaints in the national press that led to Samaritan's purse going as far as they do in their leaflets. They certainly do not state in their leaflets that the shoeboxes are to be used as an evangelical outreach. For that you have to dig quite far into their website before you find it admitted that they are (quote) a "powerful tool...to evangelise people..."

I'm afraid if you think that children are not put under pressure to accept Christianity via OCC then you have probably not seen the promotional videos at Samaritan Purse's website, or read their yearly reports. Whilst I do not claim that every vulnerable child is put under pressure, some are, and there are plenty of us (including Christian ministers) who think that is immoral. See too the letter I received from someone who used to be involved at the bottom of http://www.geocities.com/occcriticism/

i.e.

...Because of the position I held in the company, my boss made me go through the training for people working at collection sites. I was appalled by what I heard. A man who had taken part in the shoebox delivery spoke and said that he did not give the children their shoeboxes unless they brought a friend to hear the story of Jesus. Another said that any child who took a shoebox HAD to take a Bible as well. There was tremendous pressure placed on children who received the shoeboxes (and their families) to convert to Christianity.

After hearing that, I was even more appalled when the trainer encouraged us to "downplay" the fundamentalist, evangelical Christian aspect of OCC. (Although we were only supposed to solicit donations from Christians.) She knew very well that not as many people would donate if they were aware that their "gifts" were actually used to bribe children into accepting Bibles and converting to Christianity.

etc.

I did a great deal of research before putting up my website. I have had personal interviews with supporters, written numerous emails to other supporters and had a long telephone conversation with one of the organisers. I have also directed them to my website and invited more comment and discussion (I'm still waiting). I have also written to my local paper and engaged in some exchanges there with supporters and organisers of OCC.

I was also invited by one of the organisers to go to one of the collection/packing points to see for myself a video of what goes on and to see that no literature is put in the boxes (I explained that I know no literature is put in the boxes - as it used to be - but that following complaints about this in the national press it is now handed out alongside the boxes (as if that makes a difference!)). I agreed to go to the collection/packing point and mentioned that I would also like to show a video of my own that shows the evangelism in action. I was then amazingly told that they are very busy and I couldn't go after all (that turn around is in the course of a single 'phone call!) The simple fact is that the organiser did not want what I know to be shown to the people she had packing the boxes. Why else would she invite me along to see her "proof" and then immediately change her mind when she realised I had material that showed otherwise?

Samaritan's Purse are also well aware that there are people who criticise their activities in the press and on the Internet. (See the exchanges in the press available via my site). Indeed it was the standard "playing down the evangelism" letters on the Internet and in the national press (and in my local press during my exchanges) that got me even more concerned about the dishonest nature of OCC and the lack of understanding many supporters have about its nature, which led to me putting up my website. The fact that I have received letters such as these:

I am so pleased I checked the internet for information before I sent the two boxes I had packed and ready to go! I would have been horrified to think that I had unknowingly (and with good will) contributed to an indoctrination I do not agree with. Thank you!

shows that I am helping people pick a charity that accords with their conscience.

In summary, the point of my website is that many people and organisations, like myself, think that heavy pressure to be evangelised into fundamentalism is not worth a box of toys no matter how poor people are. That is a value judgement so we may just have to disagree. Are you an evangelical fundamentalist Christian? Is that why you are so keen on OCC? You can still give gifts (and more) to needy children without OCC - e.g. UNICEF and Save the Children. Your charitable efforts would be more effective there if you are worried about poor children.

I've also included below a response (in box immediately below) that I made to a similar email which expands on the above points:

However my main problem with OCC is that to a large extent people just don't read what is on the leaflet properly and amazingly don't even understand that this is an evangelical organisation despite the leaflets stating (quoting the UK version in front of me):

"meeting critical needs of victims of war, poverty, famine, disease, and natural disaster whilst sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ".

So sure thing to some extent the problem is with the people who don't read the leaflets. I know this for sure because I have pointed out the evangelical nature of OCC to a number of people who have been genuinely surprised and have subsequently stopped doing the shoebox appeal as they do not feel comfortable with religious evangelism. I have also spoken to my local OCC organiser who agrees that people don't read the leaflets as they still get sharp objects and literature which is explicitly asked to avoid on the leaflet. So even on the account of people "not reading the manual" alone I felt an alert was in order. We all know most people don't read manuals before launching into things! As one reader of my site succinctly put it:

However there remain problems with the statement of the evangelical nature of OCC on the leaflet.

Firstly this is a recent addition to the leaflets. Two years ago there was little indication that this was an evangelical organisation, let alone an evangelical mission. It was only due to the fuss made in the Guardian, an investigation by the Charities Commission and some charities withdrawing their collection points that made OCC include such a sentence to start with.

Second OCC still downplays their evangelical nature in the press. I have had first hand experience of this in my local press and you can see the national picture at http://www.geocities.com/occcriticism/concerns.html

Thirdly OCC mislead the children they evangelise. They are known to tell children that "these gifts were given by people who know Jesus." Whereas in fact the gifts are given by a cross section of people, many of whom are not Christian and would balk at being so included. If OCC staff told children that these gifts are actually sent from a cross section of people from various religions and none (even atheists and agnostics) then I could trust them more.

There are other Christian organisations which manage aid without aggressive let alone misleading evangelism, such as Christian Aid and CAFOD. Even the Tear Fund, which is an evangelical relief charity is quite open about its activities in a way that Samaritans purse is not. It is the downplaying of the activities of OCC in the press that really disturbs me. If OCC plainly stated on their leaflets that "the shoeboxes are to be used as an evangelical tool" then I would have less of a problem with it, as people could choose to support that if they wanted to. However at present there are people who take part are ill informed and would not do it if they knew the nature of OCC. Hence my website is an alert.

You asked:

But, is anyone required to become a Christian in order to get one? Is anyone even required to read the booklet in order to get one? To my personal knowledge, the answer is 'no'.

regardless of their faith (or none), all children receiving shoeboxes are intended to be registered in advance, attend a Christian rally, and receive Christian literature wherever the government allows it ( http://www.pursestrings.ca/shoebox.htm ). There are also evangelical follow up meetings subsequent to the distributions. This can be seen in action near the end (from the 6th minute) of the Samaritan's Purse current promotional video at http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.asp?section=Projects .

Evangelical Christians are in general not uneasy with the thought of vulnerable children being evangelised. Sure they are not "forced" to be Christians, but there is an intensive network of OCC working with local Churches to do their best to evangelise children through OCC, so there is little difference. If this doesn't make you feel uneasy then imagine that this was a Muslim organisation holding Islamic meetings telling vulnerable poorly educated children that gifts sent by Muslims, Christians, Hindus, agnostics etc. were all sent by people who have submitted to Allah, and the local Mosques held well organised and intensive follow up meetings to cement this evangelism, and what is more a good proportion of the people who contributed to the shoeboxes read the literature poorly enough to think that this was merely a Christmas present charity.

Regards,

OCC critic

www.geocities.com/occcriticism

Regards,

OCC critic.

http://www.geocities.com/occcriticism/index.html

From Michelle To OCCcritic:

Thank you very much for replying to my e-mail. I must say that I respect your concern for these innocent children and there well being but I disagree that OCC is causing any damage to them. Yes I am quite concerned about impoverished children and families and I am very passionate about helping them in a variety of ways. OCC is only one of those ways. UNICEF, UNHCR and World Vision are other charities I have been supporting and donating to for many years. I have gone on numerous humanitarian trips and I also have two daughters adopted from Vietnam. I love my role as a humanitarian I am and plan to remain a proud donor of OCC. I was just working on some of my shoe boxes today when I came across your website. I was shocked to find out that there were people who criticized and objected to OCC efforts. I see your point on certain motives of OCC but I don't think that you know any more then I do on the manner of witch the leaflets are handed out. I will still continue to send shoe boxes every year but I'm glad I have new points of view on this organization.

Thank you for your time and your concern for these precious children

Michelle

From OCCcritic to Michelle:

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for your reply and cordiality. I'm impressed with your level of involvement in numerous humanitarian concerns. There are to my mind so many ways to help people and I regularly give to charity, have helped for a number of years taking disabled elderly people on holiday, donate blood etc.

Regarding the material you mentioned was written on the OCC leaflet you saw last year (or presumably have now if you've just been packing boxes) could you tell me which country that is?

If I'm wrong in my concern about OCC then I do want to correct that. Likewise if I am right to be concerned (and there are many like me, as you can find via my website, and the resources at http://www.pursestrings.ca/), then these concerns need to be aired and understood.

I am concerned that you mentioned:

I don't think that you know any more then I do on the manner of witch the leaflets are handed out.

I don't know how far you've read my website, or http://www.pursestrings.ca/ or the material at http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ and http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ (particularly their yearly reports) and I do not know how you've evaluated that claim.

In your first email you berated the lack of attention that people paid to the leaflets for OCC. However you've also stated that OCC "just hand out leaflets" and have described OCC as "only one of those ways" of helping people. You have also stated that you think it is inappropriate for OCC to use schools as collection points, and yet, at least in the UK, schools are heavily targeted by OCC as has been OXFAM, although recently OXFAM has pulled out due to concerns about OCC.

It is instructive to note that many schools have pulled out of OCC once they have found out about the proselytising nature, which you might think is daft since they should have known from the start. However note two things. Firstly you yourself doubt the proselytising extent of OCC, have described them as "just handing out leaflets" and see them as just "one of those ways of helping people." Secondly many schools have a long tradition of packing shoeboxes for OCC. It was only in recent years following complaints in the UK national press that Samaritan's purse have included the bare statement they do on the UK flyers. Those schools who traditionally packed for OCC had little idea initially and have not noticed the change as I know for sure when I pointed it out to my daughter's school and the feedback from other parents who have done the same at their schools that supported OCC. Some schools just flatly refuse to believe that they do proselytise at all (and we can't even get them to view Samaritan Purse's website!) I wonder if in some cases there is a refusal to examine evidence which may be embarrassing.

Also regarding people not reading the literature, as I mentioned before I have also spoken to my local OCC organiser who agrees that people don't read the leaflets as they still get sharp objects and literature which is explicitly asked to avoid on the leaflet. Even more amazingly I have received an email from someone who thought my site was a portal for OCC rather than a critical resource, and I was asked:

I would like to enquire on behalf of my church Freedom Worship Baptist Church,

here in Blanchester, Ohio. If you could send me updates and information on how to

start this outreach in my community, and also how to participate in the outreach

around the world, I would appreciate your help. Please look forward to our church

participating in this for years to come.

It is quite false to portray OCC as just another humanitarian effort, which is the point of my website. Whilst some children may be visited by groups of OCC individuals who are not particularly evangelising (who knows, none of us have seen them all) it is certainly the case through eyewitness accounts and reports from OCC themselves that there are many cases of overt evangelism. If you read their literature or hear their promoters who come to schools you can see that they contain plenty of examples of high-octane evangelists. I know someone who has witnessed the distributions and described it as "sickening." I also know of a school visit from an OCC volunteer who completely shocked the headmistress who had no idea of the level of American style high-energy fundamentalist evangelism that OCC entailed. She immediately withdrew her school's support after the visit.

It concerns me that you have come to think of OCC as "just another way" of helping people and that you have prematurely concluded that you know what I do, as I have done more than just read the websites, as I detailed last time - and I have not indicated that I have told you everything I know. Nevertheless my website needs updating, but I have been cautious as the people at http://www.pursestrings.ca/ have warned me that they have been on the receiving end of threats of litigation from Samaritan's Purse (although it has never been forthcoming) and have received threatening emails and phone calls from supporters. I have always tried to be civil in emails and personal contact, and tried not to overstate my case, but I have still received some very aggressive emails which do little to reassure me as to the nature of the support base for OCC.

OCC are not like other "humanitarian relief agencies." Far from being a Christmas present charity that also hands out religious material, rather the presents are an evangelical tool that is used in an attempt to manipulate vulnerable children into fundamentalist religion. Granted, not all children may be so targeted, but my examples so far have demonstrated that plenty are so targeted.

Even the website of the Christian organisation "Ministrywatch" http://www.ministrywatch.org/mw2.1/H_Home.asp contains the following statement at

http://www.ministrywatch.org/mw2.1/F_SumRpt.asp?EIN=581437002

The conversion of the lost is the ultimate and expressed goal of

Samaritan's Purse. This fact distinguishes them from many other

relief and development organizations, even some others which are

Christian in name and in charter.

So it really is false to label them with other agencies and to claim that time and money spent on OCC is equivalent to time and money spent on other charities.

Unless one is an evangelical fundamentalist Christian I cannot see how it is possible to donate to OCC with a clear humanitarian conscience.

Regards,

OCC critic

www.geocities.com/occcriticism

From Sandra to OCCcritic:

I do not have any information about Operation Christmas Child in the UK. I am speaking from our experience in the United States. And, yes, as a Christian myself, I am thrilled that an organization is, through love, sharing the message of our savior with a lost and dying world. My family will pack boxes this year as well as hundreds of families at our church.

Sandra

From OCCcritic to Sandra:

Hi Sandra,

Do you still think it is completely upfront for Samaritan's Purse to claim " we're not over there to convert them" ?

You said:

It is hard for me to understand how you can think they are not open and honest about their mission.

whereas the Charity commission said about SPI:

"We are concerned about the way the charity might be representing itself, both in its fund raising and recruitment of volunteers."

An American ex-volunteer wrote to me to say:

I came across your website about Operation Christmas Child. I worked for a company that did (and still does) a huge push to collect gift shoeboxes from the community and from employees for OCC. In fact, our company served as an OCC collection site.

Because of the position I held in the company, my boss made me go through the training for people working at collection sights. I was appalled by what I heard. A man who had taken part in the shoebox delivery spoke and said that he did not give the children their shoeboxes unless they brought a friend to hear the story of Jesus. Another said that any child who took a shoebox HAD to take a Bible as well. There was tremendous pressure placed on children who received the shoeboxes (and their families) to convert to Christianity.

Next, we were all supposed to sign a volunteer agreement for OCC. The agreement stated explicitly that we were Christians working for Christ. As I am not a Christian, I did not sign, even though my boss wasn't very happy with me. I told her that if I signed the form, I would be lying; and if she forced me to sign the form, she would be violating my right to religious freedom. Even at the buckle of the Bible belt, that's a no-no for employers.

By the time I left the training, I was so disgusted with the whole program that I flatly refused to take any part in OCC for the rest of the time I worked for that company. Some of the other employees tried to make me feel guilty about not even giving a shoebox, but I replied that my time and money went to programs that did not use bribery and coercion to "help" children.

Sean Campbell, executive director of Samaritan's Purse Canada said. " ... we're not over there to convert them."

The Rev David Applin, chief executive of SPI denies that the appeal is evangelical. "The word evangelical has connotations and I prefer to think of us as a Christian group"

If you've seen "The greatest gift of all" (see http://www.geocities.com/occcriticism/booklet.html ) then it should be obvious that to deny its purpose is evangelical is completely dishonest!

In your original email you wrote:

It is hard for me to understand how you can think they are not open and honest about their mission.

Given all the above evidence, how can you still claim OCC are open and honest about their mission?

Regards,

OCC critic