Religious and secular actors in the emergence of humanitarianism and development

The origins of humanitarian and development organisations can be traced to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The religious groups sought to bring inner peace and salvation to the wounded, as well as providing medical care when there was hope of recovery. The subsequent emergence of the modern welfare state after the Second World War displaced much of the Christian-inspired voluntary action with the detached authority of secular experts and the disinterested provision of welfare. In the second half of the nineteenth century the association of humanitarianism with religion began to change. Several voluntary societies were established with the particular aim of carrying out charitable activities, mainly directed towards devising and operating solutions to the ‘poverty problem’ in order to alleviate suffering and to retain social order. The conservatives, including the faith missions, disagreed with the approach and decided to take a different route.