Last Detained Missionary Returns From Haiti

By Ankita Rao
Religion News Service

(RNS) Convicted of arranging illegal travel, Baptist missionary Laura Silsby on Monday (May 17) became the last of 10 Americans released for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti after the January earthquake.

Silsby, released in Port-au-Prince, was sentenced to the three months and eight days she already spent in jail, according to The Associated Press. Prosecutors had called for six months of imprisonment on charges of kidnapping and criminal association. "I'm praising God," Silsby told the AP after the trial. The 40-year-old businesswoman attends Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho. She had led her group, comprised of members from her church and other Baptists, to Haiti to move children to an orphanage she planned to operate in the Dominican Republic.

During the trial, Silsby stated her occupation as the manager of an orphanage, and said she thought the Haitian children did not have parents. However, CBS News reported that the children had come from the devastated village of Callebas, where families told reporters they handed over their children because the missionaries promised to educate them and allow visitation.

Silsby reportedly landed in Miami on Monday night, according to Fox 12 in Idaho. The local television news station visited Central Valley Baptist Church, where members of the congregation were ecstatic about her return.

"With her coming back there will be some better feelings for future missions and things," church member Jerry Hamilton told Fox 12. "That's very, very big in the Baptist faith."

Comments

[AZreb]

07:59 AM on 05/21/2010

How many Commandments did this so-called "missionary break? The one about lying? Stealing? A true "Ugly American" wearing the Bible as a disguise.

Thank goodness I now have locked gates and two large dogs who are not that friendy - NO missionaries welcome here!

[digoweli]

12:41 PM on 05/20/2010

Final sentence:
"With her coming back there will be some better feelings for future missions and things," church member Jerry Hamilton told Fox 12. "That's very, very big in the Baptist faith."

Is it any wonder that people bring their children indoors when these people pass by? What do they have to sell? They are bankrupt and they have no shame. They still believe that the little black book was worth the millions who were killed and enslaved in "Christian" America's history. And they quibble over the population figures. When will we all outgrow this profanity and come together as a nation of people with respect for what was given to each of us as our traditions. Stealing souls through violence or intimidation is the opposite of that and promises only a continuous culture war.

[springsm]

11:21 PM on 05/20/2010

They are not main stream christians. It seems that they have their own little "mission" and are using religion to make it well. I was hoping that they would quiet down and leave well enough alone. The woman however, should have no passport ever again

[AnastasiaBeaverhausen]

05:33 PM on 05/19/2010

Convicted criminal.
Kidnapper.
National Embarrassment.
Hypocrite.
Child-Trafficker.
Lying, opportunistic, despicable Baptist.

any of those would be more appropriate that "missionary" -- she stopped being that A LONG TIME ago.

[Feenicks007]

03:35 PM on 05/19/2010

Wow, she got off easy on what essentially was an international kidnapping incident. She should still be in jail.

[MrNCN]

01:37 PM on 05/19/2010

This woman is disgusting. Whether or not she ever admits it, this was another failed business venture for her (this time) under the guise of goodwill. Having a missionary program can be a big draw for a church as it brings in new members, increases donations and, of course, they can create all sorts of marketing materials showing how they're "helping the poor" (read: promising to help people if they convert). Many many many of the missionary groups out there do fine work and do not even mention that they are "doing God's work." This woman is absolutely the worst example of a missionary.

Of course, the sheep at her church are going to hold her up on some sort of pedastal for this nonsense.

[citlali]

12:00 PM on 05/19/2010

No doubt she'll now form a PAC, hit the lecture circuit, and start reaping her earthly rewards. These people use religion like an ATM machine!

[Eva Adams]

05:14 AM on 05/19/2010

What angers me most about this case is that Silsby and her cohorts have the attitude that she was terribly wronged that she had to spend 3 months in jail. It remains inconceivable to them that she might have done something wrong herself and that's the reason why she had to face the consequences. I felt so badly for the parents and children she separated for her own personal gain and her outrageous lack of concern for their family values and culture that she arrogantly disdained. I'm sure she still believes she could have given those children a better life than their parents because God is in her but NOT in THEM. Disgusting.

Just hope very, very much she loses custody of her children and wakes up to following laws rather than always believing she knows better without them. But I fear she'll keep following Sarah Palin and develop a following herself bound and determined to defy reason and reality in the name of "God". ugh.

[KIVPossum]

12:13 AM on 05/19/2010

She's going to make a bundle on the fundie Christian circuit.