Micah 6:8

Noteworthy sites

World Mapper is a cool site that takes different data about the world and distorts maps based on the figures to give you a visual image of the state of the world. You can choose from many different sets of statistics to get a view of the disparity that exists in the world between the rich and the poor countries.

Gap Minder is a google tool that shows statistical trends with moving circles on a graph. It's a bit difficult to explain but is pretty straight forward to understand when you play around with it a little.

Slavery

Ahmit (L) and Rahul (R) worked in sweat-shops producing zaris

When it is mentioned we tend to think of people, almost always black people; degraded, abused and bound in chains, and we tend to think of such images, and the word slavery itself, as belonging to another era.

We do not see slavery as belonging to our world, not as something which is still happening today.

Yet the truth is that if William Wilberforce were alive today and he travelled to different parts of the world - not just in Africa, but also in large parts of Asia, the Middle East, South America and even parts of Europe - he would find children living in conditions and circumstances which Wilberforce would understand and which I am sure he would describe as slavery.

It is believed there are nearly nine million children around the world today who are enslaved.

BBC news is currently doing a series on the present state of slavery in the world. The quote above is from the first article that that I linked to below. Please try to read some of these article and let your heart go out to these people and to pray to God that he would come soon and bring justice to this world. Please also consider giving to organizations that are working to relieve the suffering of slaves and speaking up in advocacy. Below are links to several articles about child slavery which I find particularly grievous.

The world of modern child slavery
The child slaves of Saudi Arabia
My life as a child prostitute
Haiti's hidden 'child slaves'
Slave Children with Rageh Omaar
The magnitude of the problem
Sex slavery widespread in England

International Adoption

Here is an interesting AlertNet blog entry on some of the ethical dilemmas surrounding international adoption. Joel and I have wanted to adopt needy children for several years now. A couple of years back we seriously looked into adopting a child from Liberia. We ended up giving up on the idea after we ran into quite a few moral considerations that we had not thought of before. Our main problem was that we realized that because of the way adoption is done there is always going to be uncertainty that you are actually doing the best thing for the child that you are adopting. Depending on the country that you adopt from there is either an expected donation for the orphanage our a fee that goes to the orphanage above and beyond the cost of the adoption. We realized that while the orphanage managers may really care about their children, when they receive money for the orphanage from the adoption they may over look local options for the care of the child that is placed for adoption. They may even have pure motives. They may just be realizing that if they don't encourage extended family to take in the child and they just give up the child for adoption then they will receive money that can be used for the care of other children in the orphanage. Unfortunately in international adoption you can't generally guarantee the situation is as they say it is. Even if you trust the foreign agency it's very difficult to trust that they will make wise decisions about which children should be given up for adoption. We just couldn't tolerate the thought of adopting a child and by doing so cut off all possibility for reconciliation with their biological family. I think that these issues should be given closer examination by Christians that want to help children.

Why Buy Fair Trade?

The simple answer to this is that it is the right thing to do. Abuse, cheating, corruption and even slavery are a very common part of everyday production of goods around the world. Every time you spend money to support companies that are involved in exploitation you indicate, whether you like it or not, that you also support their unjust behaviour. Nobody has to support these evil practices. It may require sacrifice but that is what Jesus calls us to. Christians everywhere should be doing all that they can to pressure the companies that do these evil things to change. To continue supporting cruelty is to indicate that you don't care about the victims.

Consider a similar situation for a moment. Suppose that your neighbour had a slave and you personally are opposed to slavery. Do you think that it would be all right to pay your neighbour a few dollars to mow your lawn when you know that they are just going to make their slave do it? Would it be all right if you weren't home and didn't have to watch? If these situations aren't OK then why is OK to buy chocolate from companies that have been found guilty of using child slaves in the Ivory Coast or other similar situations. The only logical conclusion is that it is not.
Please consider the following few verses:

Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.

You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. James 5:1-5

Those that grow our chocolate, sew our clothes and assemble our Christmas lights are the "field workers whom we have cheated". Let us repent and change our shopping practices today.

Greater Vancouver Fair Trade Network

I am announcing a new service that I have put together for all those are interested in shopping for fairly traded food in Greater Vancouver, Canada. If you are from this area then please check out my website and consider using this service.

Injustice in Canada

There have been some recent blows to freedom of speech in Canada that I would to draw all of your attention to. Recently UBC's Okanagan campus's student union passed a motion to ban all pro-life groups from having club status. Carleton University in Ontario will be attempting to pass a similar ban at their campus next week. This a substantial blow to freedom of speech because groups that do not have club status are denied the ability to organize events on campus, use campus facilities for their purposes and to pamphlet the campus. Because Canadian campuses are actually private property this also shuts down any peaceful demonstrations because with prior approval people can be charged with trespassing if they refuse to leave when confronted. Interestingly enough, the ban at Carleton University was drafted after a friend of mine did a debate against a pro-choice representative. His debate spawned criticism that even discussing these topics might upset people that had had abortions previously. I guess this means that public discourse on any contentious subjects is now politically incorrect. Good thing the gestapo is out there protecting the sensibilities of the masses of impressionable university students.

Universities need to be places where open discussion is not shut down. Societies can not move foreword if dissenting views are squashed. I really think that violations of our freedom of speech such as this one are only a small step away from a ban on any controversial Christian activity. Once we ban pro-life groups from speaking out on campuses what stops student unions from then banning any group that is pro-evangelism? If student unions are free to do this then what stops government authorities from putting similar bans on free speech into the public sector?

Here are some links to brief news stories that cover some more of the details:
UBC Okanagan Campus
Carleton Unversity

Please consider writing some letters to the following people to voice your disapproval. I have linked to some sample letters that you are free to use directly or just for ideas.
Letter to Carleton President
Letter to UBC Okanagan
Letter to UBC President

Carlton University Student Union Contacts:
President - Shawn Menard: pres@cusaonline.com
Executive Coordinator - James Pratt exc@cusaonline.com
VP Finance - Shelley Melanson vpf@cusaonline.com
VP Internal Affairs - Lyndon George vpi@cusaonline.com
VP External Affairs - Blake Brooks vpx@cusaonline.com
VP Student Issues - Isaac Cockburn vpsi@cusaonline.com
VP Student Services - Katy McIntyre vpss@cusaonline.com ***Originator of
the motion to force all clubs to be 'pro-choice' ***
Clubs & Societies clubs@cusaonline.com

Carleton University Administration:
Vice-President, Acting Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Dr. Feridun
Hamdullpur, provost@carleton.ca
Vice-President, Finance & Administration Duncan Watt c/o
b_wells@carleton.ca

Carleton University Board of Governors:
Board of Governors governors@carleton.ca

UBC Okanagan Administration:

Prof. Stephen J. Toope
President, University of British Columbia
6328 Memorial Road
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6T 1Z2
Phone: 604.822.8300
Fax: 604.822.5055
E-mail: presidents.office@ubc.ca

Marie Molloy
Human Rights & Equity Advisor
University of British Columbia, Okanagan
3333 University Way, SSC 119F
Kelowna, BC, Canada, V1V 1V7
Tel: 250.807.9291
Email: marie.molloy@ubc.ca

1 in 3 People Agree with Tortue!

I just read this article by BBC news. They did worldwide poll that revealed that 1 in 3 people agree that there is a legitimate time to use torture when combating terrorism. In Canada nearly 1 in 5 people agree that it is OK. I'm shocked and horrified. I know that people are crazy but to actually say that you're OK with torture is horrifying to me. Nobody, absolutely nobody, deserves to be tortured for any reason. These are people that we're talking about. I think what blows me away is how high the amount of support is from people that are removed from terrorism. I can understand why countries like Israel and Iraq would have higher support but when people are removed war situations like in Canada the high support indicates to me just how few people actually respect human life and dignity. What I would like to ask these people that support torture is how they would feel if it were their son or daughter that was being tortured. What a ridiculous world we live in.

Thoughts on a Recent Comment

I had a comment on my post "Why I am a Pro-Life Activist". I want to share it, and my response, with everyone. It defintely fueled some good thought for me.

I am very torn on the issue of perspective.

On the one-hand you have, as you say, the life an unborn child. On the other hand, you have the woman's freedom to carry or not carry the unborn child.

I think to argue that "life" should be given priority over "freedom" is over-simplistic. For example, thousands are dying in Africa for basic lack of water, food, etc. Should we send America's rich people to prison unless they all of their money to these causes at least until those people are no longer dying? Why is a woman who is impregnated through rape any more responsible for the life of another than, say, a millionaire who gives nothing to help the starving in Africa?

So, I'm on the fence on this one, putting me in an extreme minority of Americans. The one thing that I think pro-life and pro-choice should agree on however is that the number of abortions should be minimized. If pro-lifers want to meet that goal, they ought to spend less time picketing and more time letting young unwed mothers know that, if they have the baby, their needs and the needs of their baby will be adequately met. I'm amazed how the "religious right" cares an awful lot about the lives of babies up until birth, but after that, do not expect any handouts.

Thank you for your feedback on this issue. I'm definitely open to having rational conversations with people about this topic.

I think that the problem with your argument is that there is a difference between neglect causing death and active killing. Our laws acknowledge this as well. With abortion there is someone actively taking the life of another human being. How would you feel about someone arguing that mothers had no responsibility to feed their babies? They could argue that it wasn't their body and therefore they could just be grossly neglectful of their children. Obviously most people would think that this would be insane. Interestingly enough, though, we would convict someone who is grossly neglectful of a dependent and inadvertently cause their death with a different crime then someone that actively does it. I think that abortion is a situation where someone is actively taking the life of another person. While I think that all abortion is wrong, I also think that there are different levels of guilt for those who have abortions based on how much they know of what they are doing and how pressured they are by life situations. In this regard, I don't think that abortion is directly parallel to someone who sneaks up on an unsuspecting child and shoots them in the head. Both kill a child but one assailant is likely more aware of what they are doing.

Personally, I also think that people should be willing to sacrifice their comfortable lifestyles for the sake of those that are starving in other countries. A big part of my blog is trying to encourage people, but especially Christians, to do just that. While I know that you're not a Christian I want to point out that this is what the Bible instructs people to do. Jesus says that we are to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. How are we loving others as we love ourselves if we live in luxury while other are starving? 1 John 3:17 asks, "if anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?". I think that the calling of Christ is to do as much good for others as we possibly can. Out of appreciation for what God has done for me and in recognition that I am no better then anyone else I seek to love others as he loves us.

The more that I think about it the more I realize that neglecting charity is essentially gross neglect causing death. If someone left a child on my doorstep and I left it out in the cold to die this would essentially be no different then refusing to help others across the world. I guess that this situation also comes down to ones level of awareness of their crime although I don't think that is why the crimes are handled differently by the law. I think that the reason that we have laws against the one and not the other is that our laws are set up to protect our society rather then people. This is why we have tax funded social programs, which are basically mandated charity, but we only give a token for international aid. This is why we have minimum wage for our people but our happy inflicting sweat shop labour on other people. In my opinion, this is also why we have legal abortion but illegal homicide of other people.

Zondervan is Producing Bibles in China!

I have a friend that just bought a bible for her sister and upon closely examining it she realized that it had been made in China! Chinese factories have a notorious track record for unethical treatment of their employees. Undoubtedly their are questionable practices occurring in the zondervan factories as well because if they really cared about being different then they would certify themselves as being a fair trade company.

Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you. Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.—James 5:1–5

Here's my action for you. Mull over the following verses. Consider boycotting Zondervan products and let them know why on the grounds that they are very likely not treating their employees fairly. These verses make it clear that God's judgment falls on those that act unjustly towards their employees. I think that God would see little practical difference if the owner of a field were to hire out the management of employees to someone that was holding back the wages unjustly. The owner would be empowering a manager to hurt others. Now consider the situation we are in in the west. Not many people here have employees but we buy products everyday from companies that do. Essentially our system has put middlemen between us and those that mow our fields and do our other work for us. How then is buying a bible from Zondervan any different then the owner of a field hiring out someone to manage his field employee without knowing if they will be ethically treated?

Another point to consider is what witness this gives to the people who work in the Chinese factories. The non-Christians in the factor are going to come to associate Christianity with unfettered consumerism (maybe rightfully so) and lack of concern for the poor. The Christians that work in the factor would become discouraged by recognizing the fact that their brothers and sisters that have the ability to help them are not.

Is this Canada or China?

Here's an interesting story for those of you that still believe that we have freedom of speech in Canada. Here's a "good story" summerizing the events. I know that it accurate because I personally know Natalie Sanesh who is mentioned in the story. Here is a "really good unbiased commentary" on the state of Canada with regards to it's civil liberties which mentions this incident in particular.

Priorities

My husband put together a slide show of pictures and facts that illustrates how every little decision that we make can have a profound impact on someone else. If you're interested you can view the site here. Please let me know what you think or offer me any suggestions that you might have.

Organic and Fair Trade Issues

I've noticed that a lot of people these days seem to really care about buying organic produce. I've also noticed that the fair trade market still hasn't made it into the main stream. I have a theory that the reason behind this is primarily selfish. People want organic food because they are concerned about the health effects of chemicals. It's only a bonus that it's better for the environment and encourages land reform. The reason that I believe that this is the case is because fair trade food doesn't offer the same motivations and so is not as popular.

Joel and I have decided that we are not going to spend extra money to buy organic items because for now we believe that the money that we save by buying regular food can be given to charity and benefit people more then the benefit that people would receive from us buying organic food. I'm not totally comfortable with this decision because I don't have all the information about organic farming. I'm going to a conference this weekend that will have information about this.

I feel very differently about fair trade. Joel and I do a lot to try not to buy items that encourage exploitation. It bothers me to no end that Christians that I've talked to about this issue still continue to buy such products. It is not alright in God's eyes to buy something that oppresses someone else just because it tastes better or looks better. We don't buy a lot of fair trade items because in almost all circumstances we either don't actually need the product and so can save money for charity by simply not buying the item. While it's good to support the economies of the developing world we're not willing to support the misuse of land resources for growing frivolous things like coffee.

What I'd really like to see is fair trade manufacturing of important items grow. Why couldn't we see fair trade underwear or socks? How about inner tubes for bicycles or pots and pans. Unfortunately I can't really see this ever catching on because people are selfish. The fair trade market that has grown is the part of the market that feeds the high tastes of our culture. Fair trade coffee tastes better but what advantage is it to me if my underwear manufacturer can feed his family?

Below I've included a list of common items for you to think about
Food
Tropical Fruit: bananas, mangoes, papaya, avocados
Sugars: beet sugar is good but cane sugar should be questioned
Chocolate: This is one of the worst. Please read into the awful conditions of the plantation workers on the ivory coast
Coffee
Tea
Vanilla
Any food that is not grown in North America should be questioned.
Manufacturing
Read the labels. If the item is not made in a first world country you should probably question it.

Democracy and our Freedom of Speech

I found an interesting news story on BBC about Belgium. Their supreme court just put to death a political party that was gaining power on the basis that it was racist. I think that this is an interesting example of how our culture's strict adherence to being politically correct has the power to erode democracy. From the sounds of the article the courts probably had some legitimate concerns but I think that it is crazy that courts of unelected judges have the ability to strangle democracy. Even if the party was neo-Nazi I don't think that any court should be able to prevent the populace from voting into power those that they want in power. If they have this power and exercise it how can they reasonably claim to be a democracy.

I see that this could happen in Canada or US easily as well. I think that the underlying problem has to do with the government being able to decide what values for our countries are unalterable. If I want to stand in opposition to an agreed upon value it can be criminal. For most people the laws that protect their values are seen favorably. If I am a Neo-Nazi you're probably comfortable with any expression of that being illegal. The problem is that people are comfortable until it's a value that they want to stand in opposition to. Speaking against homosexuality in Canada can now have charged with hate crimes. Maybe next it will be abortion. The laws could easily be changed so that it was considered a fundamental right for a woman to choose to be able to have an abortion just as homosexuality became protected. What would be next? It could be anything that you are opposed to. I don't think that there is anything within our laws to prevent the governments from degrading into a fascist state.

My proposal is that we all work to protect the freedom of speech, even the freedom to say things that we disagree with or consider downright evil. In a true democracy everyone should have the right to attempt to shift public opinion in whatever direction they want. While I don't think that this could actually be a workable model I think that is better to aim that way then to continue going down the path that we are currently on. I think that our current course is headed towards a more oppressive law that will be created in the name of political correctness.

Freedom to Disagree

I just read an article put out by the human rights watch about how activists that are using the internet through blogs and other venues to get their message out are being arrested in Iran. As much as I complain about how awful our society is I'm very thankful that for the most part we still have the freedom to express our disgust.

I was on the News!

I try to make most of my blog entries relevant to those who read it but just had to share what happened recently. My city government is purposing to put a drug rehabilitation facility for those with mental illnesses into my neighbourhood. The centre would have 39 single occupancy suites and would have at least one staff person on at all times. Also, in order to qualify to move in the applicant must be drug and alcohol free for the previous two months and have no violent crimes or sexual offenses on their criminal record.

On Monday night the city and the organization that would be running the centre held a second meeting with the neighbour. The first meeting had around 1000 people attend but I wasn't there. The meeting on Monday had about 600 people. I attended the second meeting because the first was huge mess. The community was all riled up and mob mentality was on a high.

The mess at the first meeting made me angry. These people need homes. I don't understand what the community was afraid of. They were claiming that part of why this was a bad location was that it was near a high school and an elementary school. What do they think the people at facility are going to do? There are other similar facilities around the city. Why aren't they agitated about those facilities. It's just a whole lot of selfishness running around.

Anyways, on Monday evening during the question and answers/feedback part of the presentation I got up and spoke my mind on the issue. I was the first to speak in favour of the facility so I think that I caused quite a stir. When I left the microphone I got followed out by the camera man from our local media. They did an interview of me. My rebuke of the community made the 11 o'clock news as well as the morning news yesterday. I don't know if it hit the evening news last night. I also got quoted in The Vancouver Sun and The Province. You can read the articles if you follow the links. I feel like a celebrity! I know that that doesn't matter. Really, I'm just happy that I was able to be an advocate for marginalized people.

Let's help Darfur

I came upon this article on the Radical Congruency blog. Although most of the criticism in the article is directed towards the UN and other governments I think that the criticism can just as easily be directed towards individuals. As is also mentioned on the Radical Congruency blog August 25 has been named the Day of Conscience. It is intended to be a day where the international community raises awareness and demands accountability from their governments. I encourage you to look over the link and see what you can do. Please consider writing your local representative or other appropriate government officials an email to encourage them to take a stronger stand on this issue. If you and I do nothing but criticize the governments for allowing this atrocity to occur then we are part of the problem.

Here is an exert from the article:

Europeans cannot criticize the United States for waging war in Iraq if they are unwilling to exhibit the moral fiber to stop genocide by acting collectively and with decisiveness. President Bush was wrong to go into Iraq unilaterally when Iraq posed no danger to the United States, but we were right to demand accountability from Saddam. We are also right to demand accountability in Sudan. Every day that goes by without meaningful sanctions and even military intervention in Sudan by African, European and if necessary U.N. forces is a day where hundreds of innocent civilians die and thousands are displaced from their land. Every day that goes by without action to stop the Sudan genocide is a day that the anti-Iraq war position so widely held in the rest of the world appears to be based less on principle and more on politics. And every day that goes by is a day in which George Bush's contempt for the international community, which I have denounced every day for two years, becomes more difficult to criticize.