Christians Give Haitians What They Need Most – Solar-Powered Bibles

January 21, 2010 | Filed under: Americas,Culture Wars | Posted by: Jenny Donati

A Christian group is working overtime to ensure that the Haitian people get what they need in their time of crisis. Food? Shelter? Safe drinking water? Medical assistance? Of course not! They’re sending solar-powered AUDIO BIBLES . . . In Haitian Creole!

Not food. Not water. It's FCBH's Proclaimer.

Jon Wilke of Faith Comes by Hearing, an organization which provides free solar-powered audio Bibles in various language to ensure that even the illiterate can become enslaved to their particular imaginary friend, sasy they are working overtime to make sure starving and dying Haitians get what they really need.

“We already have 600 Proclaimers on their way through our ministry partner, Convoy of Hope. These portable, solar-powered Audio Bibles will be given to local pastors so people can hear God’s Word in their own language–Haitian Creole. There is an immediate need for 3,000 Proclaimers. We want to equip those short-term groups, disaster relief teams, church teams and ministries with the Word of God in a format people can use.

Even more revolting than the desire of this group to proselytize when people are at their most vulnerable — standard operating procedure for cults worldwide — is the press release they themselves have crafted. In order to encourage people to donate, they point out:

Standing on a pile of concrete and tin rubble, a 20-something year old Haitian man points over his shoulder.

“This was my father’s house,” he said, matter-of-factly. Then the reality rolls over him like a wave, and his voice breaks, “My mother was in there. My family was…”

He is interrupted by another man who yells, “I can hear them in there. But we can’t get to them. Without a loader, we can’t move this.”

…

People have set up makeshift shelters, refugee camps and hospitals, as others dig through concrete mounds that once held their children, spouses, family, friends and neighbors. More than 100,000 people are sleeping on the streets.

Faith Comes By Hearing, the world’s foremost Audio Bible ministry, is responding to this crisis by providing faith, hope and love through God’s Word in audio.

…

Right now, Haitians are afraid to go inside whatever is left of their homes. They are fearful of aftershocks or further collapse. Masses of people are sitting outside, on the curbs and under homemade shelters. Imagine the change in atmosphere if God’s Word is there, playing in their language, reminding them that God is with them.

Were I a Haitian being subjected to this ridiculous drivel, I’d be asking where the missionaries’ god was when the earthquake hit . . . when my parents were crushed . . . when my child lost her leg . . . when my home and everything I owned was destroyed along with half my family and friends . . . And why I should listen to these missionaries, when some of their leaders (like Pat Robertson, and like the 2.5-million-member American Family Association) are telling the world that the earthquake was their god’s judgment against my country . . . and my dead baby boy!

Is there anything more pathetic than taking advantage of a tragedy like this to convince people that they should worship your imaginary friend?

Is there any more sick way to go about it than sending solar-powered audio Bibles, instead of showing genuine compassion and helping Haitians with things they actually need to survive?

If you’d like to donate to a worthy cause providing medical aid to Haitians, please check out Skeptics and Humanists Aid and Relief Effort. 100% of your donation will go to Doctors without Borders and provide on-the-ground relief in Haiti.

Jenny Donati is webmistress and co-editor of Secular News Daily. Jenny is an outspoken secularist who believes firmly in the separation of church and state. She demands evidence to support arguments, and holds herself to the same standard. She doesn't write about herself in the third person . . . but there's a first time for everything.

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15 Responses to Christians Give Haitians What They Need Most – Solar-Powered Bibles

Baconsbud January 22, 2010 - 3:47 am

I have tried finding the cost of this thing but have had no luck so far. Can anyone help me with this? Come on which is really more important gods word or those pesky needs like food and water. I can’t believe people really think there is a need for these types of things. This is no different then the money spent on building churches for 100′s of thousands of dollars. They aren’t needed other then to try and show how faithful people are.

- Jenny January 22, 2010 - 10:03 am
  
  They don’t list the price on the website; you have to call for pricing information.
  
  I haven’t called. Even if they cost only $10 each (which I doubt), that’s $6,000 that could have provided food or medicine or clothing.
  
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Audio Bible January 22, 2010 - 2:54 pm

Thanks for the spirited debate.

These Audio Bibles are still in the U.S., being sent to these partners. They will go out in waves and start arriving in a few weeks. These solar-powered Audio Bibles are in NO WAY delaying those supplies essential for the Haitians at this time. They aren’t loaded on some airplane that is clogging the runway or on a container being offloaded in a port.

Nearly a dozen disaster relief groups (ranging from medical teams, water purification specialists, native Haitian and DR missionaries, etc.) have requested these solar-powered Audio Bibles from Faith Comes By Hearing. Faith Comes By Hearing is working alongside these groups to provide these solar-powered Audio Bibles at their request. We understand the need for necessities and survival supplies and encourage people to support those first. But after the supply lines provide that relief, these people who have lost so much have to deal with the emotional loss of their loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods.

There are many stories of people singing praise to God and clinging to their Bibles as their source of comfort through this tragedy. It’s not unreasonable to send solar-powered audio Bibles to a group of Christian people who are suffering so much loss, who need comfort, have no electricity and asked for them.

- James January 23, 2010 - 1:22 am
  
  So, how much do they cost each? A question you could have answered in your post but for some reason known only to yourself, you failed to do so.
  
  The people of Haiti do not need books right now. They do not need proselytizing missionaries. They need water, food, shelter, medical assistance. They need someone to stop the trade in their children to other countries.
  
  All of this is needed under your gods very nose and yet you think your god wants you to spread his word instead of actually saving lives?
  
  This appalls me to my very core. At least you seem able to sleep at night by telling yourself what you have just told us.
  
  - Jon January 23, 2010 - 6:32 am
    
    We 100% agree with you that these poor and desperate people need all the essentials they can get.
    
    Governments and organizations are in a global initiative breaking their backs to get millions upon millions of dollars worth of that aid there. These devices are still in the U.S. being shipped out in small phases along with food, water, medical supplies, etc.
    
    We are responding to requests by disaster relief groups, medical teams, native Haitian pastors, etc., they are calling us asking us for these audio Bibles. We are doing what we can to that response.
    
    And, how do you proselytize an already predominantly Christian nation? These Bibles don’t have any preaching, teaching, doctrine, denominational nothing on them. It’s just the Bible. People listen then make up their own mind.
    
    Some see this as opportunism, but our organization has been working in Haiti since 1986. We work in 150 other nations with their poor and illiterate too and have responded to other disasters by providing people emotional and spiritual healing through the Word of God.
    
    As for the cost, which seems to be your major concern, we already had the audio Bibles. So, we will raise the money for these later from our ministry friends and donors. They cost about $100 each.
    
    James, these aren’t mass distributed on the street like bottled water. They will be used a medical facilities while people wait, at water purification and feeding distribution points, by Haitian pastors who will use them at their religious services, and at Bible listening groups in those soon-to-be refugee camps.
    
    We respect your right to believe or not believe and your right to disagree with our organization’s purpose.
    
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Mariano February 3, 2010 - 7:46 pm

The Bibles are a blessing!
Also, FCBH is teamed up with another org and together they are providing food, water and various other goods.
FYI: I wrote a favorable mention of them and a refutation of atheist condemnations of them at this link.
For the past few years atheists worldwide have literally wasted enormous amounts of money during times of recession, war and poverty not in helping anyone in any material need but in order to purchase bus ads and billboards attempting to demonstrated just how clever they consider themselves to be; and now they want to become the charity police—please!

- Lesley February 4, 2010 - 12:31 am
  
  If you’re going to over generalise then allow me to return the favour.
  
  Most religious groups also waste huge amounts of money (“literally” much more than atheists) on bus adverts, billboards and other various advertising to boast how moral they consider themselves to be and how immoral they consider none-believers to be? Sounds like a very empty argument. Hypocrisy and double standards once again.
  
  If they want bibles, then what is wrong with normal book-bibles at around $1 a pop and then spend $99 on aid and oh yes, security. Maybe to help stop other religious groups stealing orphaned(?) children? Name an atheist organisation doing _that_.
  
  All in your good lord’s name no doubt.
  
- Jenny February 4, 2010 - 10:18 am
  
  Would you be so kind as to provide a summary of the money that secularist organizations have used to enter devastated areas solely for the purpose of attempting to change the beliefs of the people in that area rather than providing any material assistance?
  
  Then compare it to the amount being spent by religious organizations, such as FCBH and the Church of Scientology, specifically for the purpose of proselytizing to people who are dying and starving to death worldwide.
  
  Thanks!
  
Audio Bible February 4, 2010 - 4:13 am

Thank you all again for your spirited debate on this issue. Regardless if you are a person of faith or not, we all have one thing in common. We care enough to be vocal about it.

A Haitian man outside of Port au Prince emailed me with his location and said please send Audio Bibles because he and others would love to hear the words of God in their own language during this crisis. All the other Haitians we've communicated with have simply said, "Thank you, send more."

We are responding to THEIR needs and desire. The Haitians' well-being is in our best interest. That's why we are sending these solar-powered audio Bibles down with other groups who have room for them and will use them.

Note: THEY ARE NOT DISPLACING, DENYING OR DELAYING ANY EMERGENCY AID.

In fact, nearly 30 groups are now taking solar powered Audio Bibles to Haiti. From well-drilling teams to medical specialists and doctors to water purification experts, etc. Yes, they need food, water and essentials. We agree. We also know that the Haitian people can not survive at all without faith, hope and love. They are more than just living beings who need sustenance in times of crisis; they need emotional support, comfort, and guidance. And they are asking for it.

Again: THEY ARE NOT DISPLACING, DENYING OR DELAYING ANY EMERGENCY AID.

Regardless, some will see our actions as useless, wasteful, and opportunistic. There is much misinformation out there, and if anyone really wanted to know more they could just visit our website.

The Haitians have to deal with the loss of loved ones, the memories of what they’ve experienced and lived through, and a long reconstruction process. They know they need religion, comfort, and direction in this time. It would be inhumane, irresponsible, and inappropriate to deny them that.

The money for these has not and will not take away from any relief supplies. As a Bible organization, people who donate to us, give for Bibles and nothing else. We are legally bound to use their donations for Audio Bibles. We encourage all those who want to give financially to support Haiti to do so at http://www.ConvoyOfHope.org. They are disaster relief experts that are working in 110+ countries, providing food, water and other support in times of crisis.

- E. Nigma November 2, 2011 - 6:12 am
  
  Bitches be silly.
  
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Christians Give Haitians What They Need Most – Solar-Powered Bibles

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