Matt Walsh: The countless good works of multitudes of Christians have been all but obliterated from the public conscience. None of it is happening. None of it ever happened. The light of their love and goodness is buried both by secular propagandists and their Christian sycophants. Meanwhile, a quarter of the 100 best non-profits in America are Christian. Take a look at the Forbes list of the 200 largest charities in the country and you will find one Christian organization after another. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that the most charitable states in America are also the most religious, despite being less wealthy than the less charitable states. The anti-Christian crowd will point out that Christians give more to religious charities, but secular groups receive donations equally from religious and non-religious alike. This is true, but it’s also true that the best charities in the world are religious. The Catholic Church, by far and without contest the largest and most prolific charitable organization on Earth, runs a quarter of the health care facilities in the entire world. This includes about 1200 hospitals and another 1200 orphanages in some of the most destitute regions of Africa. Catholic health and social services organizations have been serving the needy in this nation since before this was a nation. While internet commenters make sweeping generalizations about the selfishness of Christians, people of faith are stationed in Guatemala, providing food and medicine to the oppressed and impoverished. Christians are healing and serving disabled children at CURE International in Ethiopia. The faithful risk life and limb to offer education in Sudan or food and water in Somalia. They help the victims of earthquakes and droughts. They go to places where they are not wanted, they travel to areas that the world forsakes. They are murdered and persecuted, but still they serve more sick, comfort more children, feed more hungry, and perform more charitable acts than anyone. Instead of starting a website to compile baseless allegations about stingy Christian tippers, why not tell the world stories of people like the monks of Tibhirine? These men lived in a monastery in an Albanian Muslim town. They served the Islamic inhabitants, and their service was not contingent on conversion (it never is, by the way). When a militant Islamist group showed up and told them to leave, they refused. They knew they would likely die, but they decided to embrace that fate rather than abandon the people who needed them. Sure enough, the group eventually took them prisoner. They were never seen again. Or why not tell stories like the one about the Christians in Texas who rallied to raise money for an outspoken atheist after he was diagnosed with a devastating medical condition? He had antagonized them and filed lawsuits against them for years, but when he needed charity, they did not turn their backs. Many would, but they did not. Christians are out there in the muck, in the dirt, in the real world, doing real things. But enemies of the faith are desperate to hide their deeds, which is why they’ve even taken to slandering Mother Teresa, and dismissing the good works of Christ’s followers as nothing but the charitable person’s selfish attempt to rack up brownie points and get to heaven. Yet the attacks on Mother Teresa, or the smarmy discounting of Christian charity, or the broad stereotypes about bad Christian tippers, always seem to emanate from the shallow waters of Western apathy and luxury. These people aren’t out in the deep end, risking everything to give everything to people who can’t give anything in return. Their criticisms are hollow, but loud enough to distract many of us. Yes, we Christians can improve. Of course we can. So can you, whoever you are and whatever ideology you profess. But if you only ever speak of the failures of Christianity while never breathing a word of its enormous triumphs, then your motivations are dishonest and your intentions are evil.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:39:23 +0000
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