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wow. this video certainly demonstrates many of the aspects of Christian charity that are often criticized, namely, mixing evangelism & materialism with helping others. in the last century, in Asian countries, Christian missionaries were often criticized for buying converts, given them token material gifts & novelties

naturally, i would disagree with your Christian pastor friend. Christians are generally seen to be more socially engaged because:

1. they may have a goal of evangelism, which can be intrinsically self serving

2. they have the institutional networks & institutional funding to be able to perform large scale high profile charity work

for example, if we compare the number of Westerners that go churches (& give money to the churches) with the number of Western Christians that actually perform the charity work, we will probably find the ratio of the later to be quite small

or we compare the number of large corporations & businesses that fund Christian charities to that of Buddhist charities, we will probably find the ratio of the later to be quite small

Buddhism in the West is small; those attracted to Buddhism in the West often do not have great financial means, given they are not materialistic, unlike many Christians; therefore Buddhism generally does not have the institutional & financial clout to perform large scale high profile charity work

however, most (small) Buddhist groups i know try to do as much charity work as they can. at least in Australia, they often must participate with Christian organisations, because only the Christian organisation can provide the infrastructure needed. the Buddhists i know that offered a soup kitchen did so at a Christian charity centre. if you are a Buddhist and wish to do suicide telephone counselling, you have no choice but to do it with a Christian charity

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also, i think it is important to keep in mind how the need for Christian charity work often arises. i apologize to sound very critical but, historically, Christian charity work works hand & hand with Western political imperialism. 1st the Western/Christian soldiers enter a foreign nation (eg. Somalia, as shown in the video); then 2nd, the missionary workers follow, to heal the mess

historically, such as when the Pope of Rome divided the new world into two, giving one half to Portugal and the other half to Spain, the Christian soldiers create the problems and then the Christian missionaries offer Christ as the solution

the US war in Iraq was often rationalized on religious grounds. how many times did GWB mention 'Christ'? then these Christian charity groups follow up and boast about their good deeds

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the USA is a society of gross economic inequity yet also more Christian than probably most other Western nations. the gross wealth of the many Christian members of the US government, including Presidential nominees (eg. Paul, Romney, Santorum, the two Evangelical women, Palin & Bachmann), is clear to witness. yet the gross economic inequity must obviously, somehow, be related to the US version of Christianity. thus again, one hand of Christianity somehow takes and then another hand of Christianity gives. it is like later hand of Christianity is covering up the sins of the former hand

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anyway. Buddhism historically does not have such a schizophrenic relationship with the world. it has not required charity arms to clean up its sins

Australian history is replete with the sins of Christianity, which are still debated today, such as Christian missionaries removing indigenous children from their families

personally, i sponsor three African children (in reality, communities) thru a Christian charity. i do find it funny when a five year children supposedly writes to me, in a manner far more mature for their age, saying things such as: "God bless you for your good idea to sponsor me; God this, God that, on & on". obviously, it is the charity worker & not the child writing these St Paul style letters to me, which read like an Epistle, rather than the words of a five year old children. anyway. i am happy with the community photos i receive & i trust my money is being put to good use. the crops & people look healthy, which is all that matters

just some reflections