Operation Christmas Child is in full-swing at St. Vital mall again. It's an appealing display with an attractive radio DJ, the mission of shoeboxes to be filled stacked around, taking up a popular section of the mall by Chapters book store and a fireplace surrounded by cosy sofas and chairs. Posters of smiling children and the words OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD are plastered everywhere. It's easy, catchy, and most importantly it appeals to our Western nature: Christmas equals charity, we like shopping, boxes are fun to fill, we like children, we like to feel good about ourselves.
And if we question charity for children, we're dicks.
Last night I watched family after family sign up for the cause, while volunteer after volunteer filled boxes and stacked them up. Nowhere is it mentioned on their posters or in their leaflets (again, smiling children plastered all over them) that Samaritan's Purse, the group that took over Operation Christmas Child, is headed by chief executive controversial Christian fundamentalist Franklin Graham - son of a more well-known TV evangelist Billy Graham and good friend of former President George W. Bush.
No mention is made of Franklin's comments that Islam is "wicked, violent and not of the same God" as Christianity, and the difference between the two is like the difference between lightness and darkness. He does tend to favour the dark bit, as he also referred to India as being full of "hundreds of millions of people locked in the darkness of Hinduism . . . bound by Satan's power."
In fact, while looking over the display that urges shoppers to make a child's Christmas morning one to remember, there is no mention at all of the fact that Christian literature will also be stuffed into those boxes along with Lego and other gifts that will create inequality and fighting amongst the recipients, or that according to the chief executive of Samaritan's Purse that it doesn't matter what you put in that box as long as you pay those transport fees because, "It is about introducing children and their families to God's greatest gift - His Son, Jesus Christ. As long as evangelism is the focus, God will continue to bless it."
Yes, you are sending a doll to a little girl somewhere in the world. You are also paying to send her bible stories because Franklin Graham thinks she needs to read them. And you are doing it even if she is Muslim, or of any other faith because Franklin Graham, right-wing Christian fundamentalist (who is against gay rights and feels women contemplating abortion should be forced to have internal ultrasounds and hear the babies' heartbeat) thinks her faith isn't good enough. At Christmas.
This isn't the worst thing Samaritan's Purse has ever done in the name of Jesus Christ. They were caught denying temporary housing in 2001 to earthquake victims in El Salvador unless they attended an evangelical prayer session first (afterwards, Graham gloated that they had converted 150 people to Christianity). Even earlier, in 1990, they sent over 30,000 Arabic bibles to troops in Iraq to handout to the defeated Iraqis. In Nicaragua in 1999, Samaritan's Purse used potential relief money during the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch to not help the homeless, injured and starving victims but to put on an evangelical concert for children, asking them to choose to be saved by Jesus in exchange for a box of gifts and a bible. Graham bussed in 50,000 children for his concert.
It is also the gift that keeps on giving, because Graham knows it could take more than a Pez dispenser to lure a child away from the religion of his parents and people. The box is given with the clarity that it is a "Gift from Jesus" (that's right, you and your kid don't get the credit) and the child is then enrolled to attend a further 10 lessons in bible study, regardless of their religion. And it's a pretty attractive deal to a child because there's a toy involved. And across the world while our children may be many colours, languages and religions the one thing that unites them all is there is nothing better than a toy.
While Operation Christmas Child is on at St. Vital mall I will be taking my Christmas shopping elsewhere. I have to, out of respect for the racially diverse staff who must work longer mall hours alongside this radical and hate-spreading religious group run by a rabid evangelist that preys on the poorest and neediest of our world. Out of respect for our children whose empathy and love for other children is being exploited. Out of respect for the children across the globe who don't celebrate Christmas because it isn't part of their religion and don't realise how much we selfishly and needlessly (and wrongly) pity them for it. This Christmas, fill a box of food for our local Harvest program. Bring some socks to the Siloam Mission for a homeless person's feet, or warm coats and mittens for their children. Donate toys to our Children's Hospital. Give what you can.
Put your heart in the right place, and not your money in Franklin Graham's pocket.
