Newsletter:
Vol. 14, Iss. 2
October 2015
Socially Responsible Travel
The Rev. Peter J. Miano
Sometimes well meaning travelers support
harmful endeavors without realizing it. Sometimes the effect of high volume
tourism on a local environment and local people is inconsistent with the traveler's
own value systems. This is why we have developed our leading edge standard
of socially responsible travel. Fundamental to our mission, we seek to redeem
the concept of pilgrimage from the corrosive effects of commercial tourism.
More often than not, commercial tourism is uninterested in the moral and political
dimensions of travel. This means that the interests of commercial tourism
are inconsistent with the ambitions of Christian pilgrimage which, historically,
has always involved relationship with local people and engagement of social
issues. We seek to enable our travelers to experience authentic pilgrimage.
We believe that the biblical faith is spiritually redemptive only when it
is socially responsible.
All journeys with The Society for Biblical Studies feature its unique blend
of historical, biblical and contemporary studies. We want our travelers to
experience the satisfaction of walking in the places associated with biblical
history, i.e., to walk where Jesus walked. We also want them to walk where
Jesus is walking right now. Socially responsible travel is a faith experience,
because there is no holiness without social holiness.
For The Society for Biblical Studies, socially responsible travel is primarily
a posture of faith. We believe that sincerity to the biblical faith has moral,
social, political, economic and environmental dimensions, especially when
we are traveling in conflict bound regions, such as Israel/Palestine or regions
in which economic disparities are enormous, such as Brazil. In the course
of planning our journeys, we are deliberate in investing monies in financially
challenged environments, such as the Palestinian economy. We encourage and
facilitate establishing of ongoing relationships between our travelers and
the new friends and partners they meet along the way of their pilgrimages.
We lodge in locally owned and operated hotels wherever possible, rather than
corporate hotel chains. We are particularly interested in supporting stressed
communities such as Christian communities in Palestine, Egypt and Jordan.
We do not lodge in hotels that are built in occupied territories by occupying
powers, such as Israeli hotels in East Jersualem. We utilize local travel
services. We do not engage in anti-competitive business practices like making
profitable business arrangements with restaurants and souvenir shops. Nor
do we force our staff, neither guides nor drivers, to seek to enrich themselves
by earning commissions by shopping and the selling of various services, as
typical travel companies routinely do. We seek to work with environmentally
sustainable vendors of tourist services. In every case, our itineraries illuminate
the dynamics of the contemporary contexts in which we travel. We educate our
travelers about the backgrounds, history and continuing dimensions of political
conflict and economic injustice and especially Christian obligations to engage
these issues responsibly. We introduce our travelers to local partners who
are engaged in church work, human rights work, social justice work, peacemaking
and interfaith relationship building. The Society for Biblical Studies is
second to none in pioneering and promoting socially responsible travel. Our
standards are far higher than those of any other educational travel organization.
The Christian Science Monitor (25 September 2006) took special note of our
distinctive approach to socially responsible travel. We exceed the prescribed
standards of any church's position on socially responsible travel.
The Society for Biblical Studies pioneered its distinctive programs that blend
historical and contemporary studies. We continue to lead in the field of Holy
Land and biblically based travel. Not only do we introduce our travelers to
authentic spiritual pilgrimage and leading edge biblical and historical studies,
we believe that all biblical exploration requires us to apply the biblical
faith in and for the world. This means that we are also committed to introducing
our travelers to the relevance and relevance of the Bible and the biblical
faith. Especially in the context of travel in the conflict bound Holy Land,
but elsewhere, too, we believe that it is morally irresponsible to ignore
pressing social and political issues. Our experience has shown us that our
travelers are enriched and rewarded when they learn that their pilgrimage
is not only an historical tour, but a matter of contemporary import as well.
The Society for Biblical Studies promotes socially responsible travel, not
because it is "politically correct" or because some churches encourage it,
but because it is consistent with the best traditions of Christian pilgrimage,
because it is enriching for our travelers and because it makes no sense to
us to "walk where Jesus walked" 2,000 years ago, if we do not also walk where
Jesus is walking today.
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