Firstly, CPT never goes in on their own. They always have an invitation from someone on the ground, because otherwise there is very little point being there.

Secondly as to why CPT isn’t in Tibet or Myanmar…It would be extremely difficult for CPT members to get visas to allow them to go into these countries.

Thirdly, once they are invited, CPT goes through a discernment process to see if what that they can do in a given situation, and to see if they have the people necessary to carry out the work.

Off the top of my head, I can tell you that CPT has worked in Palestine and Iraq, yes, but also Columbia, Mexico (Chiapas), Haiti, Bosnia and Canada. (In Canada they monitored a standoff between First Nations fishers and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans at Burnt Church NB and patrolled the property of a First Nations Reserve in the Windsor, ON area that was being vandalized by people spray-painting hate slogans.)

According to thisHe’s Christian. According to the wikipedia (as pointed out before), he’s Sikh. But from Kashmir. And he has lived in Auckland for 3 years. But was born in Zambia (where his father still lives) and his sister and he lived in Canada for a while. Also, for a second I thought the Eastern Menonites were praying for him (Turns out they were holding a vigil for all the hostages, Tom Fox, who was killed, went to EMU). Glad at least Singh, regardless of his hotch-potch background, is out safe!

1) CPTers are not Missionaries. They are people who feel called by God to “get in the way” when people are being mistreated. Just because someone says “my faith compells me to do this act” does not mean they are actively seeking converts. Do people have to pretend they don’t have faith just to work in the world without being accused of trying to convert people? I hope not.

2) Not all CPTers are Quakers. As a matter of fact, CPT was founded after the Brethen in Christ (BIC) thelogian, Ron Sider (author of such books as Rich Christians in the Age of Hunger and Completely Prolife) made a speech at the Mennonite World Conference. In his speech Sider said that if the traditional peace churches were serious about being pacifists then they had to be willing to put their lives on the line for peace. He said their peace activities were simply confided to being conscientious objectors then they might as well give it up now. There are Catholics, Mennonites, Quakers, United Church of Canada Members, and a whole lot of other denominations as well.

3) Harjas if “A real Singh would have the power to oppress the oppressors to bring true justice.” then why aren’t you over there oppressing the oppressors? Real easy to critize someone else. Not so easy to act.

And for that matter, it’s not at all clear that Harmeet Singh has converted to Christianity. (If someone knows for sure, please feel free to correct me.) The Wikipedia reports that he is a Sikh (and it says “Of the Sikh faith” so I don’t think the person who wrote it meant that he was culturally a Sikh.) On the other hand, I thought CPT required a statement of faith before one could join. So things are a bit muddy on this point.