The Last Word on Laura Silsby?

If we lived in a rational world, Laura Silsby will have had her 15 minutes of fame and we could all move on. That, of course, will not happen. Nevertheless, I think that Timothy Egan has managed to have the final word on the whole Silsby affair in his commentary The Missionary Impulse.  In the article, Egan, rightly I believe, characterizes the case as one more example of Cultural Imperialism.

At the least, the curious case of Laura Silsby raises questions about cultural imperialism: what makes a scofflaw from nearly all-white Idaho with no experience in adoption or rescue services think she has a right to bring religion and relief to a country with its own cultural, racial and spiritual heritage?

Imagine if a voodoo minister from Haiti had shown up in Boise after an earthquake, looking for children in poor neighborhoods and offering “opportunities for adoption” back to Haiti. He could say, as those who followed Silsby explained on a Web site, that “the unsaved world needs to hear” from the saved.

Who says they are “unsaved?” And who says the world needs to hear from them? Haiti is a predominantly Roman Catholic country, and a nation full of passionate believers at that.

As it turns out, there was no orphanage for the Silsby children, just plans, many, many plans. And some of the young Haitians were not even orphans. As to what qualified Laura Silsby to jump into international relief work with a side of adoption services, well, she had once run something called Personal Shopper. And she was a charismatic Christian, with a golden tongue.

So, despite the fact that she’d been subject to numerous civil lawsuits for unpaid wage claims, and had a history of flouting the law, she could convince fellow Baptists to follow her to Haiti after the devastating earthquake last month. Under the banner of heaven, they would try to help “each child find healing, hope, joy and new life in Christ.”

Egan gives a quick history lesson to those who would believe that Silsby’s adventure is just an isolated case of naivety. The “missionary impulse” to save the heathen is just one variation of the Cultural Imperialism that Egan calls a “personality disorder” of western culture.

I give Egan the last word:

The missionaries say they have found the Word, the Truth, and feel compelled to spread it. Indeed, Paul Thompson, one of the Idaho pastors who followed Silsby to Haiti, expressed these feelings in his pastoral newsletter just before the earthquake.

“War is declared!” he quoted a 19th century British missionary approvingly. “In God’s Holy Name let us arise and build!”

But the Silsby case calls for a different type of refrain: Missionary, heal thyself.

Farmer Crapo

In this case, at least, the Angry Gnome got it right. When Americans like the Baptist 10 break the laws of another country, the United States respects that country’s sovereignty.

When it comes to the criminal justice system in other countries, there is very little that the United States government can do to inject themselves into the process.

Idaho’s senior Senator, Mike Crapo, is not so concerned with legal niceties. He is going to “speak with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in coming days to voice his concerns on how the church’s volunteer group of 10 people was treated.”

We should understand by now that Crapo will never miss a chance for political posturing. With his mentor Larry Craig (a master at political posturing) gone,  it is up to Crapo to pick up the mantle.

However, it was not the posturing that caught my attention when I read the headlines in the Idaho Statesman this morning- Is U.S. doing enough for the 2 Idahoans left in Haiti? No, it was this quote:

There were significant efforts to ensure the interests of our detainees were properly handled,” Crapo said Thursday. “There were also a number of circumstances where the water didn’t get to the end of the row.”

I can visualize readers throughout Eastern and Southern Idaho smiling and nodding at that last line. “See Maude, even though that Crapo boy got his law degree from that high falutin Harvard back east, he is still a farm boy at heart.”

He might have to translate when he has his visit with the Secretary of State.

Kidnappers for Jesus?

The Idaho Statesman has an editorial this morning arguing that it is “premature and irresponsible” to comment about the 10 Baptist detainees in Haiti. The editorial uses a common rhetorical device of presenting the reader with black and white choices.

No middle ground here. Were the Americans well-intentioned – albeit woefully naive about international law? Or were they engaged in a criminal act in a nation where leaders believe they must, in the aftermath of catastrophe, take an unflinching stand against the abhorrent act of human trafficking?

Actually, the legal question is the least interesting aspect of this sorry story. When did ignorance of the law become a defense? Of course, they broke the law. They attempted to take 33 children across the border to the Dominican Republic without the proper papers. The fact that they might be “well-intentioned” is beside the point if you only look at this (as the Statesman claims we must) as a legal issue.

I see this as a story about poverty and about hubris. The real tragedy is that many of the 33 “orphans” had been taken from Haitian parents. Representatives of Laura Silsby’s New Life Children Refuge approached parents from Callebasse, a village outside the direct path of the earthquake but extremely poor, and asked them to give up their children. The parents were promised that their children would be provided with food, shelter and schooling.

CNN tells the story

What were the intentions of Laura Silsby and her New Life Children Refuge?  She makes it quite clear on the nlcr mission statement asking for donations and volunteers. This was originally on the web site of East Baptist Church in Twin Falls, one the two churches supporting the mission to Haiti, but has subsequently been taken down.

Notice that Silsby had plans to build an orphanage, school and church in the Dominican Republic before the earthquake in Haiti. She decided to take advantage of the opportunity that presented itself and “go now”. She did this because “God laid upon our hearts the need” to go now. Silsby filed to incorporate New Child Refuge in November (see document here  New Life Children’s Refuge Incorporation ) It has tax exempt status with three board members- two of them being Silsby and her nanny and appears to be located in her home.

Here is the hubris. These people seem to believe that God speaks to them. They believe that God wants them to take children, most of whom are already Christian (given that Haiti is a largely Catholic country) and help them “find a new life in Christ”.  Their “charity” masks their real intent- to convert the children. As Rev. Clint Henry of the Central Valley Baptist Church points out, this is the central tenet of their religion.

We believe that Christ has asked us to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world, and that includes children.

Silsby and her group only planned on spending  enough time in Haiti to grab any available orphans and ship them across the border to the Dominican Republic, without obtaining permission from the Haitian government:

The long range plans for NLCR were a bit more grandiose.

It is all about teaching the “orphans” Christian values/truths so they can be adopted by loving Christian parents.

This is only the latest chapter in the history of the corrosive combination of Christian missionary work and colonialism.

If you are wondering why the Haitian people might be distrustful of outsiders claiming to “help” them, you might want to read this.

So Statesman editorial board, I am sorry if I sound judgmental, but I find all of this disgusting.