Who says Christians don't care about the poor?

The article "Wealth abuse taxation and religion" by Brian Morris contains a fundamental contradiction, and is full of unsubstantiated generalizations with a conspicuous paucity of factual detail.

Taking the first point first, Brian seems unable to decide whether religion has poverty as its cornerstone, or whether its cornerstone is wealth. On the one hand, "poverty has always been the cornerstone for religion", and as an example, Mother Teresa "was a friend of poverty, not a friend of the poor". (I'm almost tempted to respond with a somewhat provocative rhetorical question I once read: "So how many filthy, starving beggars have you washed, clothed and fed today?")

On the opposite hand, "Christianity influences the creation of wealth", and has "symbiotic rapport with the elite who perpetuate inequality"; while churches "continue to champion Christianity's privileged elite", and are "a major player in the environment of wealth escalation."

So which is it? Is poverty the cornerstone? Or is it the creation of wealth and the perpetuation of privilege? Surely a symbiotic rapport with the most privileged is hardly compatible with a dependence on impoverishment and economic dispossession.

Turning to generalizations, Brian confidently asserts that "all churches have remained silent and miasmic with indifference" [bearing in mind that miasmic means noxious and putrescent] on the issue of the poverty-wealth gap. That "the churches" (no exceptions) "say and do little" about poverty, and their purported "care" (Brian's italics and quotation marks) is by clear implication feigned. That "all churches flourish primarily in impoverished societies" in a manner he clearly regards as exploitative. That religion never "muscle-flexes" to condemn the wealth gap. That there is never any "clamour from Christian churches to do something about the poverty problem". That religion has "an overall callous insensitivity" toward the poor. That Christianity (across the board) is "predatory" towards people in sectors such as welfare, employment, private education, and private health and aged care. And, last but not least, that "the churches" (again without exception) "have departed from the alleged teachings of Jesus to give succour and comfort to the needy."

Now that is an awful lot of largely, if not totally, unsubstantiated generalizing, and it's best countered with concrete examples to the contrary. It would take a month of Sundays to enumerate the veritable plethora of faith-based and church-based agencies and enterprises around the world that are directly addressing the issues of poverty and injustice that Brian has raised.

And when I say faith-based, this includes aid agencies which have Christian origins. These include the Red Cross (founded by Swiss Christian philanthropist Henri Dunant); Amnesty International (founded by Peter Benenson after becoming a Catholic convert); Opportunity International (co-founded by Australian Christian entrepreneur David Bussau); Habitat for Humanity (founded by American Christian convert Millard Fuller); Doctor Barnardo's homes for orphans and destitute children (founded by Christian evangelist Dr.Thomas Barnardo); Bread for the World; and Urban Neighbours of Hope (UNOH), founded in Melbourne by Christian couple Ash and Anji Barker, which has grown from humble origins in Springvale to become an international service to the poor and marginalized. UNOH engages in alleviating poverty through grass-roots community transformation, and is now operating in several centres in Australasia and in overseas locations from Klong Toey, the largest slum in Bangkok, to Birmingham in England.

Another outstanding Christian enterprise is TEAR Australia (known internationally as Tearfund). It's an international development agency which describes itself as passionate about ending poverty. TEAR is an acronym for Transformation, Empowerment, Advocacy and Relief - clearly a far more comprehensive approach than simply giving handouts to the poor.

There are also countless other faith-based agencies that don't address poverty directly, but which provide a wide variety of welfare services that improve the fabric of communities and societies in which the poor are living. These include Alcoholics Anonymous, founded by Christians, and acknowledging a Higher Power (AA has inspired all subsequent 12-step programs); the modern nursing movement (founded by devout Christian Florence Nightingale); the modern hospice movement (founded by another devout Christian, Dame Cicely Saunders); the Australian Inland Mission and subsequently the Flying Doctor Service (founded by Rev.John Flynn); Prison Fellowship (founded by former Nixon aide Charles Colson after his Christian conversion); Prison Network Ministries (for female prisoners and their families); L'Arche communities, caring for people with severe disabilities (founded by French Christian Jean Vanier); Operation Smile (founded by plastic surgeon Bill Magee); Children First Foundation (founded by Melbourne-based Catholic Moira Kelly, of conjoined twins fame); and many more.

And of course, there are many agencies that are perhaps more obviously Christian (or as Brian would call them "religious"), such as the Salvation Army, St.Vincent de Paul, the Brotherhood of St.Laurence, the Mission of St.James and St.John, Anglicare, Baptcare, Uniting Care, Melbourne City Mission, World Vision, Micah Challenge, Christians Against Poverty, Christian Blind Mission (now known as CBM), and leprosy missions in many afflicted parts of the world.

Another set of examples that should torpedo Brian's generalization that Christians don't muscle-flex or create a clamour to challenge injustice, is the list of courageous Christian leaders who have been passionate and outspoken campaigners against the inequality and injustice in their midst - in some cases at the cost of their own lives. They include Archbishop Oscar Romero, put to death by the military junta in El Salvador, and Ugandan Archbishop Janani Luwum, murdered on the orders of Idi Amin. Another prominent church leader who can rightly be regarded as a martyr for freedom was German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis for working with the resistance. Other church leaders who have openly taken an unflinching stand for the poor and oppressed include South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, American civil rights leader Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King, and Filipino Archbishop Jaime Sin. In more recent times, outspoken activists on the issue of world poverty have include U2's lead singer Bono, and World Vision CEO Rev.Tim Costello.

If, on the other hand, we look at the lives and legacies of famous atheists such as Nietzsche, Rousseau, Hitchens, Dawkins or Krauss, for instance, do we find examples of life-long compassionate service to suffering humanity in blighted corners of the world? I think the question is rhetorical. (Although it's probably unfair to single him out, Rousseau is infamous for fathering five children, all of whom he dumped as babies on the front steps of a foundling hospital.)

Brian's assertion (another generalization) that "the very essence of being a religious charity is to actively engage in the advancement of religion" is countered, again, by a host of specific examples. Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Camara, for instance, was widely known for both his social work and political advocacy for the poor, and was an advocate for human rights and democracy under Brazil's military regime. He is famous for having said: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." Another example is the aforementioned El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose outspoken advocacy for the poor and oppressed cost him his life. To accuse such heroic champions of the poor of caring only about advancing religion is not only ignorant but profoundly insulting.

Then there's the case of Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity after his Christian conversion. Today Habitat enlists thousands of volunteers to build houses for the poor all over the world. In relation to Brian Morris's assertion that religious charities are only in it for the advancement of religion, Fuller said this: "We don't try to evangelize. You don't have to be a Christian to live in one of our houses, or to help us build one. But the fact is, the reason I do what I do, and so many of our volunteers do what they do, is that we're being obedient to Jesus." And countless other faith-inspired servants to the poor would say likewise.

Such cases torpedo Brian's baseless assertion that "the churches have departed from the alleged teachings of Jesus to give succour and comfort to the needy without counting the cost." The reality is that for many, the cost has been their very lives. One such case is that of Australian missionary-martyr Graham Staines, who spent 34 years giving succour and comfort to leprosy sufferers in India, before being burnt alive (along with his two young sons) by Hindu extremists in 1999.

As Andrew Bolt (who is not a Christian) wrote in the Herald Sun a few days after the tragedy, "It is dishonourable to suggest that Graham Staines just wanted to bash heathens with Bibles, or to ram God down Hindu throats. Rather, he wanted the people he served to see God's truth through his exemplary life. So he built homes for lepers, and helped the poor tribal people of Orissa. He was widely admired for his work, and India's president called him a role model." His widow Gladys was equally inspiring, deciding to stay on in India after her terrible loss, to continue the work among leprosy sufferers.

Famous English journalist and broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge once said that he knew of many Christian leprosy missions, but had never heard of a single atheistic one. Which raises the broader question of what and where are the corresponding atheistic equivalents to the vast array of faith-based agencies and individuals such as those mentioned above?

When I looked up "secularist organizations" on the internet, I found there are four main ones in Australia: the Atheist Foundation of Australia, the Rationalist Society of Australia, the Secular Party of Australia, and the Council of Australian Humanist Societies. I will need to do further digging to discover the various works of sacrificial service to the poor and marginalized, and compassionate care of the hungry and homeless, that these societies are undoubtedly performing throughout Australia and beyond.

Brian asserts, without naming any source, that 63% of charities are "primarily secular" (whatever "primarily" may mean), and 37% are "religious". That's a ratio of almost two to one. In this article I've alluded to at least 40 faith-based organizations and individuals which/who have provided, or are providing, outstanding aid and advocacy for the poor and oppressed. And the list is nowhere near exhaustive. In stark contrast, Brian, in the 33 paragraphs of his article, provided not one single example from his "63%" of secularist or atheistic agencies. If the ratio is two to one, it should be no trouble for Brian to whip up about 80 such agencies that are providing the same sort of devoted service to the poor, the outcast and the dispossessed as the faith-based ones are providing.

And please note: I'm not asking for the names of highly commendable humanitarian organizations like UNICEF, Oxfam, Save the Children, Care Australia and the like. Rather, I'm looking for non-government charities that have been inspired by atheism, rationalism, nihilistic secularism and/or anti-Christian humanism, in the same way that faith-based agencies have been inspired by the Christian faith, its truths and teachings, and the life and example of its Founder.

Speaking of whom, one wonders if there has ever been any atheistic historical figure who has come even remotely close to having the immeasurably beneficial effect on the welfare of humankind as has the carpenter's son from Nazareth, whom The Age described in an editorial (24/12) as a "kind, gentle activist" - one whose life divided human history into Before and After, and one whose enduring influence has inspired the compassionate enterprises and individuals mentioned above, and so many more besides.