Okay, so my title is lame. Well, so is this post! There's certainly a lot to say on this topic, though for the moment I'll pass on the commentary. I did want to highlight a few stories I've come across about the intersection of faith and international development however.

First, from the International Herald Tribune is this piece on the motives of a Christian charity operating in Pakistan being questioned:

Christian groups are providing health care, education and disaster relief in many Muslim nations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has awarded about $53 million from 2001 to 2005 to finance projects by Christians in Pakistan, indonesia and Afghanistan. Both the private aid organizations and the U.S. government hope the projects will sow good will in a region growing increasingly wary of the West.

But the war in Iraq and the detention of Muslims at Guantánamo Bay have greatly angered some residents, who are finding it hard to separate the policies they vehemently oppose from the activities of Christian aid groups, local Islamic leaders said.

"People hate America as a whole. People in general think the West, and Bush especially, have a double standard for Muslims; they are killing Muslims," said Ameer-ul-Azim, secretary of the Jama'at-e-Islami Party in Lahore. "It can come to the point where it can affect the relationship between the Muslim community and the Christian community."

Some other food for thought ...

*Taking off the above, see this Guardian article on how half the Christians in Iraq have fled since the current conflict started. I guess there's always new Christians to be made, eh?

*Conference on fighting global poverty brings together Catholic bishops and international development experts in San Francisco.

*Canadian Catholic bishops are pushing the government to get back on track with Kyoto

*Compassion International and Opportunity International get into microfinance game in Uganda.