Idaho Baptist Adoption Suspects Planned to 'Gather' 100 Haitian Orphans, Cross Border.

Kidnappers for Jesus? A group of Evangelical church folk from Idaho, led by personal shopper Laura Silsby, Executive Director and Founder of New Life Children Refuge, descended upon the earthquake ravaged country of Haiti last week, to snatch and grab 100 orphans off of the streets and from orphanages. The Baptist group’s mission statement was to “share God’s love with these precious children, helping them heal and find new life in Christ.” However, they were only able to “gather” up 33, some of whom weren’t even orphans. The evangelical do-gooders became alleged kidnappers and child traffickers when they loaded the Haitian “orphans” on a bus and attempted to take them across the border to the Dominican Republic to the New Life Refuge orphanage, with no documents from the Haitian government. Well, the so-called orphanage turns out to be a 45-room hotel at Cabarete, a beach resort in the Dominican Republic that the group was renting.

The group of ten Americans from two Baptist churches based in Idaho were arrested at the border and are now in custody in Port-au-Prince Haiti, charged with child trafficking. And the group of child-snatching evangelizing Americans have set off an international firestorm in Haiti, with officials already fearful of child trafficking in the wake of the chaos in the devastated country.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive says the ten Americans, although they may have had good intentions, are “kidnappers.” “God is the one who called us to come here and we just really believed that this was his purpose,” said Carla Thompson, one of the group’s arrested members...

Rev. Clint Henry of the Central Valley Baptist Church told reporters, “we believe that Christ has asked us to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world, and that includes children.”


http://chattahbox.com/us/2010/02/01/idaho-baptist-adoption-suspects-planned-to-gather-100-haitian-orphans-cross-border/

Jesus must have been more hard up for converts than I realized!

Suffer the little children unto me in a Jonestown-like environment.

since they believe in praying to Mary and the Pope and all that stuff. :sarcasm:

You can just imagine the outrage there would be in this country if it were a Muslim organization, or any other non-Christian group. But because it's a Christian group, I think a lot of people are willing to give them a pass by saying "oh, at least they meant well".

Somehow, I don't think they had the best interests of these "orphans" in mind.

It's always about money with these cretins.

always, always always use this excuse when they're caught in criminal activity AND the really disgusting part
is in this nation of delusional fundies it's usually enough to get them off the hook. I hope the international
community makes such a big deal over this the Haitian officials will not give in to the pressure from the US
to drop all charges.

They were going to charge prospective parents resort rates for their 90 day stay and who the hell knows how
much for each child.

Call yourself a christian working with gods direction and you can scam a shitload of people. It's the oldest
American racket and people never learn.

They claim they were just "doing Gawd's work" and that they had no idea that any paperwork would be needed to take the children out of the country. How were these people capable of getting their passports with that level of stupidity? People this abysmally ignorant should not be allowed out without a keeper.

What would they think if after a natural disaster in Idaho - a blizzard or something equivalent - some well meaning religious group from another country came to Idaho to "rescue" children, gathered up a bus load of Idahoan children and tried to take them across the Canadian border with no paperwork? They would be screaming bloody murder and wanting to lynch them!

to cover their lying. Better to come off as being dumb than showing a criminal intent to traffic children.

It was child soldiers all over again. Grab them young, indoctrinate them, and have them fight for some perversion of Christ. Just like those nut cases in Africa. Not even an original idea.

The church pastor in Idaho tells CNN that adoption was never in the plans for these children. That they just wanted to
educate and take care of them. Yet Silsby is quoted in the following part of the OP's article ...

"Silsby’s unrealistic pipe dream-plans for an orphanage facility in the Dominican Republic, involved purchasing land, building an orphanage, chapel, school and providing seaside villas and a cafe for American adoptive families to satisfy the 60-90 stay before adopting:
“Interim New Life Children Refuge Location: NLCR is in the process of buying land and building an orphanage, school and church in Magante on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. Given the urgent needs from this earthquake, God has laid upon our hearts the need to go now vs. waiting until the permanent facility is built. He has provided an interim solution in nearby Cabarete, where we will be leasing a 45 room hotel and converting it into an orphanage until the building of the NLCR is complete. This interim location will enable us to provide a loving environment for up to 150 children, from infants to 12 years old.”
“Seaside Villas at Playa Magante: Villas for adopting parents to stay while fulfilling requirement for 60-90 day visit as well as Christian volunteers/vacationing families. Provide opportunities for adoption through partnership with New Life Adoption Foundation which works with adoption agencies in the U.S. to help facilitate adoptions and provide grants to subsidize the cost of adoption for loving Christian parents who would otherwise not be able to afford to adopt.”

What a bunch of lying POS.

So did Stalin, Pol Pot, Napoleon and USAma bin Laden. It's all about perspective. These people appear to me to be little more than opportunistic child kidnappers. Would they have tried this if there were a working government in Haiti? I don't think so.8

They at least noticed and acted to protect their children.

Salient too.

While driving, yet!

Jeez, think about it.

What do you suppose these Haitian kids will be doing in Idaho for their new religious masters?

This is a sickening story.

Argh. Recommended.