Human Trafficking and Lukewarm Christians
How This New Attack on 'Sound of Freedom' is Forcing Us to Make a Choice
Once upon a time, ending human trafficking was a cause we could all get behind; all of us except human traffickers and their clients of course. But in terms of politics, religion, or most other differentiations, to be anti-human trafficking was to literally be a normal person. It was the 101 of being justice minded. When I was in college, it was an issue my alma mater’s Christian fellowship took on loudly and proudly, and it would bring together people from all walks of life.
We’ve heard statistics for years like the ones listed in the Justice and Mercy International website, which says:
50,000,000 people on a given day are trapped in modern-day slavery.
1 out of every 150 people in this world is trafficked.
1 of every 3 victims of human trafficking worldwide is a child. In economically impoverished countries, children account for half of the victims detected.
27,600,000 people are trapped in forced labor on any given day, and 3,300,000 are children.
6,300,000 in forced labor are sexually exploited, and four out of every five are girls or women.
178 nations have ratified and implemented the United Nations Trafficking in Persons Protocols.
22,000,000 people (14,900,000 women and girls) live in a forced marriage on any given day.
$150,000,000,000 (billion) is the global profit for traffickers.
And if someone reading has never heard stats like this before, you can find them anywhere. These statistics are sadly true and have been for a long time.
Major publications, left and right leaning would report on human trafficking in certain cities, and every nationwide. Child sex trafficking would sometimes be referenced or even directly addressed in our mainstream movies and even sitcoms.
But now, since the movie Sound of Freedom was released, suddenly this global evil that we’ve all heard about, and some of us even help fight against, is some sort of rightwing, QAnon conspiracy theory?
What?
If you don’t believe me, you can simply search the title of the movie. You will find Rolling Stone, CNN, BBC, and countless other large and small publications labeling it as such. I did not link them simply to not send more clicks their way.
If you’re a Christian reading this, and you thought you were safe from controversy and attacks by fighting this seemingly non-partisan fight, you are now wrong. My question to you is, what are you going to do now that you are being labeled a right wing QAnon conspiracy theorist? Especially those of you who have been trying so hard to be accepted by everyone, you’ve even sacrificed your own convictions to do it? Will you bury your head in the sand and abandon this issue too? Or will you take a stand, dig deeper, and push back harder? Do you see now that evil never stops advancing until there is nothing left? Or will you find a way to not lose your ‘friends’ so you can have your applause here on earth instead of in heaven?
My questions are to the Christians who abandoned their positions on life in the womb because President Trump attended the March for Life in Washington DC; to the believers who adopted mainstream corrosive ideology because it would score them points with their friends; to the saints who, despite knowing better, hopped on the “Jesus is [insert whatever trending identity is at the moment] so I can feel better about myself” train to stay relevant.
Did you really care, or did you just like championing an issue that provided you a safe haven?
We’ll see.
There are lots of Anti-Human Trafficking and Anti-Slavery organizations you can find and give to. Here are the ones my family and I support.
Operation Underground Railroad
Christian Solidarity International
Our voices have to be louder now. Our actions have to be more intentional. If we back down now, may the Lord have mercy on our souls. Don’t stop crying out for our little ones just because it’s starting to become taboo. If we do that, we become the enablers.
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
-Luke 17:2