Shame, shame, shame on the Salvation Army
Two Shames today, actually. I’ll be amazed if Shame #1 surprises anyone: Home insurance companies are screwing people worse than even us player-haters suspected. They’re keeping a database (through the oh-so-trustworthy Choicepoint) of every claim ever filed on a house, and even incidents where a claim wasn’t filed, and using the data to blackball consumers from getting policies and even from getting the full value for their house when it’s sold. As I’ve said before and will probably say until I die: Insurance, with fewer exceptions every year, is a scam that causes you to waste money based on fear. Save or invest that money instead and you’ll be a thousand times better off.
Shame #2 I found out about last week, but I didn’t feel right posting about it until today. Why do I feel okay about it today? Because I just got back from volunteering for Goodfellows all morning, delivering charity Xmas stuff. Now I feel I’ve got the moral ground to publicly flog the Salvation Army for their disgusting misuse of taxpayer money to discriminate against those who don’t share their beliefs.
This revolting organization has in the last few years instituted a strict religious-discrimination policy among its employees. Not only are they refusing to hire people who aren’t “Christian enough”, but they’re forcing new and existing employees to fill out “pledges” that they believe in Jesus and will support the organization’s religious mission. At least one Jew has lost a job for refusing to sign in support of J.C.
This isn’t as new as I’d like this news to be, considering the money I’ve given these rotten people in the past. It’s new to me, but doing some reading brings disturbing clarification to a culture that’s been aching to discriminate all along. In 2001 they were lobbying Bush to include a provision in the “faith-based initiative” that would let them discriminate against homosexuals and still receive federal funds. The “pledge” thing was begun in 2004, and resulted in an ACLU lawsuit that was dismissed in 2005, but may still bring charges of violation of the Establishment Clause. There is also an employee lawsuit that appears to be still pending.
Now let’s be clear: The Salvation Army is a church, and a creepy, creepy one at that. But they run a secular organization called the SSC, or Social Services for Children division, that receives about 95% of its funding in taxpayer dollars. The church has always been permitted to discriminate — there’s no law against being an asshole in your own private circles — but until a few years ago the SSC was strictly, Constitutionally secular. Obviously when the oh-so-pious in charge smelled the stench of a friendly administration, they leapt right on it.
And that’s what upsets me. I’m all in favor of charities helping the poor, but dude, even Jesus himself would tell you that if you’re not helping for the sake of helping, then it’s hardly help. Or did I miss the part where Christ talked about feeding the poor because it’s good PR and gives you a shot at converting them?
This country has religious freedom, no matter what any religion thinks about it, and that’s something I’ll go to bat for. You want to sum up being an American in ten words or less? How about the first ten words of the Bill of Rights? Even if the Salvation Army is reigned in by a better government in the future and ceases to use public money to push their relgious agenda and discriminate against those who don’t buy into it, I will never trust them again, because they’ve proven that, given the chance, they will only help others when it helps them.
In other words, I’m not boycotting them permanently now because they’re Christian. I’m boycotting them because they’re not acting Christian enough. Even this tormented philosopher understands that Jesus wasn’t real big into discrimination, so why is it so hard for people who study Him all their lives to grasp that simple fact? I guess, until I learn otherwise, that I just get to assuming they’re all fucking stupid. ;)
-PD
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