Tens of thousands of American missionaries like those who were kidnapped in Haiti on Saturday dedicate themselves to humanitarian work around the world, playing a useful, but sometimes cumbersome, auxiliary role in American diplomacy.
A Haitian armed gang kidnapped on Saturday 17 missionaries and members of their families, including 16 Americans and a Canadian. The group linked to the Mennonite association Christian Aid Ministries had just visited an orphanage near Port-au-Prince despite warnings from the US government.
The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of $ 17 million, security sources on Tuesday confirmed to AFP on condition of anonymity.
This abduction highlighted the sometimes strained relationship between the State Department, called upon to intervene whenever an American is in trouble, and religious organizations that play a crucial humanitarian role by going where others dare. not surrender, but may take undue risks by considering themselves under God’s protection.
“US embassies abroad often see missionaries as a problem,” said Knox Thames, a former head of religious freedom issues in the State Department. “They sometimes offend local sensitivities, violate anti-proselytism laws or get kidnapped, as in Haiti. “
There is no shortage of examples of American missionaries in difficulty abroad. In November 2018, a 27-year-old Catholic, John Chau, died on an island in the Indian archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar under the arrows of an indigenous tribe who refused contact with the outside world, but who ‘he wanted to convert.
In May of the same year, a 26-year-old American Mormon missionary, Joshua Holt, and his wife Thamara were released by the Venezuelan government after two years in prison, which Caracas presented as a “gesture” of openness in leadership. the United States.
In 2010, a young Korean American, Robert Park, crossed the border between China and North Korea on Christmas Day in an attempt to draw attention to the human rights situation, he said. in the country. He was released two months later by the Pyongyang regime.
A “major element” of American diplomacy
Yet the US government is increasingly using religious groups to deliver US humanitarian aid to countries at risk – a practice that was once controversial but has become widespread since the administration of George W. Bush.
“If you want to help set up a clinic in South Sudan or Haiti, you don’t go through the government, you go through an NGO,” notes Melani McAlister, professor of American history at George Washington University. “And American religious groups are undoubtedly a major part of the American NGO network. “
For Todd Johnson of the Center for Global Christianity Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, missionaries who spend several years in a country acquire the linguistic and cultural skills that enable them to be effective. “The US government has a vested interest in their success,” he stresses, noting that the administration’s response should be the same in the event of an abduction, whether it is a missionary or of a businessman.
The kidnapped missionaries in Port-au-Prince apparently did not seek to convert unbelievers in a largely Catholic country, but proselytizing is an essential part of their lives.
With 54,000 missionaries in the world in 2020, Mormons are the most numerous, followed by Baptists, with 3,550 missionaries, according to the latest figures published by these congregations.
The US government funds the humanitarian activities of religious groups, but not their proselytizing, which the vast majority of missionaries readily accept, according to Todd Johnson. “From a Christian perspective, helping others is part of the faith,” he explains. “If people want more than that, that’s fine, but if they just want help, that’s fine too. “