Thursday
(0)Back in May last year here on Samizdata I published a copy of a letter I sent to a church magazine debunking one of their articles about 'trade justice'. In the comments, someone wrote:
You expect the church magazine to publish that?
Rather belatedly, I am happy to report that they did indeed publish the letter. It was given a full A4 page in the next issue, published in a rather large font size. The editor added a short note to the end saying that the article I was responding to had been supplied by Christian Aid and that the church was not reponsible for its content.
You meant 'incredible', not 'incredulous'? Maybe you went for the latter because for some reason, the former has been hijacked in the last few years to mean 'fabulous' or 'extraordinary'.
Posted by Jason Sonoma at February 17, 2005 03:49 PM
See, us church folk are pretty open-minded.
Peace,
Chris
Posted by chris halverson at February 17, 2005 04:04 PM
I am incredulous that you place such a low value on your time to spend it getting pedantic over this, especially seeing as it's glaringly obvious that you're wrong to correct - the term 'incredulous' clearly makes semantic sense in the context of the sentence in question.
Posted by I'm suffering for my art at February 17, 2005 04:05 PM
I find it amusing that Alex is criticized for wasting his time by writing a letter to a paper....by someone who spends time posting a blog comment to make his point.
Isn't this sort of like a pile of graphite powder calling a gray pot names?
Posted by TJIC at February 17, 2005 05:18 PM
Good job Alex, both for writing on the sham that is Christian Socialist Aid and getting it published. Wonder how many letters that will produce in the next issue.
Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge at February 17, 2005 05:53 PM
Well I am somewhat surprised Alex's letter was published having some inside knowledge of the behaviour of my local congregation (not to mention the Minister). Even the conservative-types (to whom anything libertarian would be the least alien) are falling over themselves to give money to Christian Aid and would baulk at any suggestion that 'trade justice' was, ahem, a sin of sorts.
But though they may have published his letter, I'd be even more suprised if it changed their minds.
Posted by mike at February 17, 2005 07:00 PM
As a politically conservative Christian I'm very careful about what charities I give money to, and Christian Aid would not get one cent of it.
Mike, ever thought of doing some informal education amongst the more conservative minded of your congregation about where their money is going? You might not hjave much luck, but at least they would be making a slightly more informed choice.
Posted by Shawn at February 17, 2005 07:33 PM
Shawn: well I do occassionally mention this sort of thing to the chair of the church 'friends' committee, but I'm hesitant to push it - I'd be going out of my way and besides, not being a member as such, it's not really my business who the congregation freely choose to give their money to at the end of the day.
Posted by mike at February 17, 2005 07:49 PM
Besides, didn't someone make a point earlier (on another thread maybe?) about busy-bodies? Despite making the odd daft comments here and on other blogs, I like to think there's enough for me to be getting on with (such as reading up on the history of state decapitation...!)
Posted by mike at February 17, 2005 08:09 PM
I'm sure many are dissapointed by what they see as Church and general Christian bias against free trade, such as Christian Aid, but I've recently come upon a great Christian free trade think tank: The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty (Link)
Posted by Hessian at February 18, 2005 11:39 PM
I'm sure many are dissapointed by what they see as Church and general Christian bias against free trade, such as Christian Aid, but I've recently come upon a great Christian free trade think tank: The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty (Link)
Posted by Hessian at February 18, 2005 11:45 PM
