compassion

I've added a widget to my blog which links to the Compassion website in support of their Haiti appeal. The box in the sidebar provides updates on the situation from Compassion and allows you to give online. Bloggers you can click on the 'share' button and grab the code for your blog. You can also put it on your Facebook page or other web pages (h/t The Church Mouse). Another effective way of donating is through the Disasters Emergency Committee which acts as an umbrella organisation for the UK's leading aid charities.

My blog on the disaster and some of theological issues raised is shaking the ground. Other blogs that may be of interest include:
Haiti, hate and God by Nick Baines.
Haiti and suffering by Sam Norton.
Earthquakes and bad theology by Symon Hill.
Haiti: Sorrow + Anger = Resolve? by Alan Wilson.
Not on my watch... please by Peter Banks.
Haiti responses by Alice Smith.
God and the Haiti earthquake by Graham Tomlin.

I do think it is important that as Christians we are able to give an account of our faith in the face of the reality of human suffering and the very legitimate questions that people raise. However, I very much want to identify with the comment made by Nick Baines at the end of his blog:

All our energies need to go into alleviating by all means possible the suffering in Haiti. Concurrently we need to be asking why we don’t put effort into alleviating poverty and suffering before such tragedies happen.