Freedom for the captives

From The Economist-

HOW happily can groups motivated by faith co-operate with secular ones to achieve a common goal or defeat a common enemy? On the face of things, this should work best when the foe (be it a disease or a social problem) is so manifestly bad that everybody wants to thwart it. One such enemy, you might think, is human trafficking, especially of minors. But Richard Flory, research director at the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture, told me that global religious bodies, operating in poor countries, sometimes get the problem of trafficking wrong. By concentrating on rescuing individuals, they fail, in his view, to grasp the social and economic forces that drive people into prostitution.

On the other hand, successful examples of secular-religious co-operation certainly exist. I asked Sara Pomeroy what prompted her to start a small NGO that campaigns against human trafficking in the American state of Virginia, and she cited the Book of Isaiah, especially chapter 61 in which the prophet proclaims that he was sent by the Lord to "bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..."

More here-

http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2013/04/religion-and-human-trafficking