A US missionary group says it has flown 300 Muslim tsunami orphans from the Indonesian province of Aceh to the capital, Jakarta, where it plans to raise them in a Christian children's home.
The group, WorldHelp, is one of dozens of religious charities providing relief to victims of the tsunami, which killed more than 150,000 people, most of whom were in Aceh.
Most do not attach conditions to their aid, and many of the larger ones, such as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services and Church World Service, have policies against religious conversion. But some of the smaller groups are presenting the tragedy to evangelical Christian donors as a rare opportunity to make converts in hard-to-reach areas such as Aceh, which is predominantly Muslim.
"Normally, Banda Aceh is closed to foreigners and closed to the gospel. But, because of this catastrophe our partners there are earning the right to be heard and providing entrance for the gospel," WorldHelp said in an appeal on its website this week.
The appeal said WorldHelp, which is based in Virginia, was working with native Christians in Indonesia to "plant Christian principles as early as possible" in the 300 Muslim children, all younger than 12, who lost their parents in the tsunami.
"These children are homeless, destitute, traumatised, orphaned, with nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. If we can place them in a Christian children's home, their faith in Christ could become the foothold to reach the Aceh people," it said.
The website was changed on Wednesday and the appeal removed after The Washington Post called to inquire about it.
WorldHelp's president, the Reverend Vernon Brewer, said the Indonesian Government gave permission for the orphans to be flown to Jakarta last week and was aware that they would be raised as Christians.
However, a spokesman for Indonesia's Foreign Ministry, Marty Natalegawa, said yesterday: "We have no knowledge of this. If confirmed, this would constitute a serious violation of the standing ban by the Indonesian Government on the adoption of Acehnese children affected by the tsunami disaster, and appropriate steps would be taken accordingly."
Mr Natalegawa did not believe any Indonesian official would have approved the transfer.
Mr Brewer said: "These are children who are unclaimed or unwanted. We are not trying to rip them apart from any existing family members and change their culture and change their customs. These children are going to be raised in a Christian environment. That's no guarantee they will choose to be Christians."
He said WorldHelp had collected $US70,000 ($91,200) in donations and hoped to raise another $US350,000 to build the orphanage in Jakarta.
Mr Brewer, a Baptist, set up WorldHelp in 1991. It has since grown to 100 full-time employees in the US and helps support indigenous Christian missionaries in about 50 countries.
Mr Brewer said WorldHelp was an independent body but had an informal relationship with Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia,of which he was the first graduate.
Mr Falwell, who is the leader of the Christian evangelical Moral Majority, has given his blessing to Mr Brewer's approach: "You don't preach the gospel to a hungry man; you feed him. Then if he wants to hear something you've got to say, that's nice, but it's not required."
WorldHelp's primary partners in Indonesia are Henry and Roy Lanting, a father and son team who run an orphanage and school near Jakarta.
The Reverend Arthur Keys, the president of the non-religious aid group International Relief and Development, fears overt evangelising could provoke a backlash.
"I think there's a danger that all international groups could be tarnished by this," said Mr Keys, whose group has a US Government contract to rebuild the water and sanitation system in Banda Aceh.
"I think we have to go out of our way to assure people that we're there to help, period."