Human trafficking foe enlists churches for the cause



By S. Craig Sanders - Posted at Baptist Press:

NEW YORK (BP) -- In an age of partisan conflict, few causes unite people of faith and secularism like the human trafficking crisis that enslaves approximately 45.8 million people around the world.

But if you ask someone how they feel about those who are prostituted, homeless and undocumented in their communities, their responses may be different -- even hostile. That's because, says modern-day abolitionist Raleigh Sadler, our presuppositions often blind us to the reality that many of these are victims trapped in forms of slavery, whether it be for sex or domestic servitude.

"When we say, 'Look at that bum!' or 'Oh she's just having sex for money!' we're inferring upon them a narrative we've chosen," Sadler says. "We take someone who could be victimized and we label them a perpetrator."

In January 2017, Sadler launched Let My People Go, a nonprofit ministry headquartered in New York City to empower local churches to fight human trafficking.

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