speedracer said:
I am highly skeptical of it. I often fear that it is mostly self-serving charity: the missionaries feel "holy" about themselves, converting and helping people all along the way. The "martyr complex" seems to be quite popular nowadays.
However, that is certainly up for debate, as I am unsure what to believe on that. Overall, though, there has been missionary work for decades now and these same nations are still mired in poverty. In Catholicism, at least, there are two concepts:
1) Corporal works of mercy
2) Social justice
The first concept is the crux of missionary work: treating people case-by-case, while working within the existing system. The latter involves broader social change, whereas help is given by changing the social structures that cause people to be in such abject poverty. This has been the forefront ideology behind "liberation theology," which is fairly prevalent in Latin America.
Personally, the former is the equivalent of throwing change at homeless people: they're still going to be homeless afterwards. I've always been more of a social activist at heart. We should be working to change the governments that cause some people to have so much and cause others to have so little. The United States, while admirably being one of the forefront nations of global charity work, is guilty of this even within domestic borders. For a nation that churns so much money, we have a crumbling infrastructure where millions are homeless, millions more have no health care, etc.
In other words, we want this perfect world, but we don't want to sacrifice. Even then, it isn't as much "sacrifice" as ending gluttony. America, itself, takes up 80% of the world's resources. How many resources do we flat out *waste,* because business isn't forced to update their technology? Go to a grocery store and look at all the trash you'll get opening up all the packaging. How much grain is thrown into the ocean every day just so we can supposedly prop up already ailing farm prices (in other words, it is economically feasible to throw away food rather than actually give it to those who actually need it)? A fucking utter shame. Missionary work is the equivalent of throwing change at the homeless, to me. It is about time we actually do something to permanently help those in abject poverty. I can guarantee that you'd want the same done for you if you were stuck in the third-world. "Do unto others..." Such a difficult concept for such a "Christian" nation.
Melon
) simply by the way I live my life. I feel no need to force my beliefs down everyone's throats, because I am not about to be so arrogant as to say that "I'm right; you're wrong." What is fundmentally wonderful about living in the free world is having the right to be "wrong," as long as it doesn't infringe on anyone else's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I am not some archetypical liberal; it is under this principle, for instance, as to why I believe that abortion should be outlawed. What has utterly bothered me the most about conservatism, in general, has been its utter disdain for anyone else's beliefs but its own. Unfortunately, its "forced conversion" tactics have often turned more people off to its beliefs than actually willfully converting anyone.
jus messin wit chu, melon-oma. 
