c. 1997 Religion News Service

SEATTLE _ A snowball in hell probably has a better chance of surviving than the human rights resolution the Rev. Michael Crosby plans to introduce here April 28, as shareholders of the Boeing Company gather for their annual meeting.

But Crosby, a Capuchin friar with a long history of tilting at corporate windmills, is undeterred. As Boeing celebrates the recent sale of commercial jets to China and aggressively pursues more deals with the Chinese government, Crosby and a corps of investor-activists are demanding the aerospace giant, which has long advocated keeping business separate from politics, link human rights improvements to its China trade. “We don’t want to isolate China, we just want to inject the human element into the trading process,”said Crosby, whose small group of religious investors (mostly Catholic priests) purchased 100 shares of Boeing stock with help from an anonymous trust. Their resolution is intended to draw attention to human rights violations throughout China, especially in Tibet, which China has ruled since 1950.

But as Crosby exhorts Boeing on the merits of corporate responsibility, on the arid northern slopes of the Himalayas, another group of Christian activists is deeply engaged with the Chinese government in a different way.

World Concern, an interdenominational ministry based in Seattle, has quietly been building schools and providing vocational training in Tibet since 1994. The charity is one of a handful of religious groups allowed to do humanitarian work in China.

World Concern’s stated mission is not to preach the Christian gospel, but to improve the lot of the poor, especially in nations receiving little foreign aid. It conducts agriculture, health and veterinary projects in more than 20 nations, many of them hotbeds of political repression, such as Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Mongolia.”We’re dealing with human rights, but not in a political sense; we think of them as survival rights,”said World Concern spokeswoman Christy Gardner.”The people we’re working with aren’t thinking about free speech, they’re worried about having clean water, a roof over their head, teaching themselves and their children how to read.” Crosby, who works in a parish office above a Milwaukee soup kitchen, has come under fire over the years for taking on Boeing, tobacco conglomerates and companies doing business in South Africa under the now-dismantled apartheid system.

World Concern gets its share of criticism as well: The six schools under construction in Tibet are to be run by the Chinese government; Tibetan students will be taught not in their native language, but in Han Chinese. And critics say such projects only further China’s goal of suppressing Tibetan language, religion and culture.

The different approaches Crosby and World Concern take on China illustrate a central tension of religious activism: By helping people living under the thumb of a totalitarian government do you advance the aims of an unjust political system? By focusing on high-level political or economic reform, do you risk neglecting the tangible needs of the poor?

The answer to both questions is yes, according to theologian John B. Cobb. But that does not mean the work should not be done.”There are no pure and righteous acts. Everything is ambiguous,”said Cobb, now retired from the Claremont School of Theology, a United Methodist school in Claremont, Calif.”It’s very important to address questions of systematic injustice, but that does not mean the hungry child immediately facing you can be ignored.” Cobb, who was born in Japan of missionary parents, is an eminent proponent of process theology, a school of thought inspired by the writings of philosopher-mathematician Alfred North Whitehead. He is co-author, with Herman Daly, of the landmark 1993 book on Christian social ethics,”For the Common Good”(Beacon Press). Cobb is currently at work on a critique of the ways in which he believes economic development efforts of the World Bank often make matters worse for the poor.”Humanitarian efforts can sometimes make the situation worse,”he explained.”If, for example one takes actions that make it possible for the children of the poorest poor to survive without changing attitudes about family size, a massive global problem results. Since World War II, we have eradicated malaria and that’s a good thing. But the population explosion intensifies problems of poverty for millions more.” As Cobb sees it, corporate responsibility activists like Crosby serve as catalysts to draw attention to systematic problems.

And therein lies the tension between people of faith who differ on whether it is better to challenge unjust systems from the outside or seek to transform them from within.

Boeing’s board of directors is motivated by profits and the prophetic tradition inspiring Michael Crosby’s work does not have much bearing in the boardroom. Yet in a recommendation to defeat Crosby’s shareholder resolution, Boeing argues its trade with China has been a force for good.”We believe that the lives of hundreds of millions of Chinese have improved dramatically under economic reform and through the engagement in China of international companies, including Boeing,”the board said in a statement.

It’s an argument that doesn’t wash for Crosby and other religious activists who are concerned about political and religious repression in China. Vice President Al Gore’s silence on human rights during his recent visit to China has added more urgency to the issue. “I’d like to believe that when you better people’s economic conditions they become more aware of democracy and the dignity of every person,”said Crosby.”But China presents a very unique situation. It is now government policy to promote economic development, but without any possibility of truly democratic processes based in individual human rights. That’s a new dimension that we never had to face before in the West. It’s a whole new ballgame.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Nevertheless, it is a game that some religious groups are committed to play. Among them is the evangelical development organization World Vision, which has operated orphanages and done relief work in China since 1982. “World Vision … seeks to serve the poor and in the process demonstrate the Lord’s love. We witness not so much with words that may sound empty, but with humble service that transcends culture and politics,”said Thomas Chan, who, from his office in Hong Kong, oversees 25 World Vision workers in nine Chinese provinces.”We see lives changed and communities coming out of extreme poverty after our projects,”Chan said.”It is my belief that through dialogue and working together, we can change the way we see things and come to understand more of each other.” (END OPTIONAL TRIM)

Gardner, the World Concern spokeswoman, acknowledges the tensions inherent in serving the poor who live under repressive regimes in places like Tibet, Myanmar and Mongolia. “World Concern works in many difficult, controversial places. We are the guests of the countries where we work and agree to abide by the laws of the land,”she said.”But helping hungry farmers grow better crops or teaching illiterate children to read are not political acts, they are humanitarian acts. If we were to break the law and be expelled, how would this help the poor? This is a constant tension, but we believe that engagement is the most effective way to provide people with better choices for their lives.” The tension between those who seek to transform an unjust world and the workers who seek to serve those who are most damaged by it will not be resolved any time soon. But Cobb said there remains plenty of work for all.”My own inclination is to focus on the larger picture: what kind of system would improve things in the future,”Cobb said.”But at rock bottom, here’s where we stand: Regardless of the socio-political situation, when people are hungry, they need food. And the Christian has some kind of compulsion to give.”

MJP END CONNELL