It's a part of the tradition of Christmas in America. The bell ringers on the sidewalk with the pot emblazoned with the logo of the Salvation Army. The nostalgia of the sound of a Salvation Army Band playing a hymn....
It's hard to resist...
But, if you care what is done with your money, if you care enough to consider the way this organization, which is an active right wing evangelical organization that actively lobbies in this country against immigrant rights and engages in the persecution of homosexuals world wide...if you care what they do with your charity dime...think of another, better place to put it than in a Salvation Army Pot!
They actually run a program in the United States which requires parents to present valid birth certificates and immigration papers before they will give children toys.
In a year when more families than ever have asked for help, several programs providing Christmas gifts for needy children require at least one member of the household to be a U.S. citizen. Others ask for proof of income or rely on churches and schools to suggest recipients. The Salvation Army and a charity affiliated with the Houston Fire Department are among those that consider immigration status, asking for birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children...
The Outreach Program requires parents to show photo identification and birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children. They say they will make an exception if parents can show they have applied for legal status or that a child is enrolled in school.
not only that......
The Salvation Army is anti-gay and actively lobbies against pro-gay legislation in the US and abroad . The money you put in that red can is going to anti-gay evangelical Christian lobbyists. They believe that since they're a "church" they have the right to not hire gay people because they're sinners.
And don't be fooled by the Salvation Army's crafty public relations
spin on this issue. They like to trick folks by saying "we don't
discriminate in the provision of our services." True enough, you can shop at a Salvation Army store to your heart's content. But they DO reserve the right to discriminate in hiring, promoting, and firing gay people, and in the benefits they provide their employees. And they come right out and admit that "practicing homosexuals" are not welcome in the "church."
SALVATION ARMY TRIED TO OVERRULE LOCAL GAY RIGHTS LAWS
A Washington Post front-page expose two years ago revealed that the Salvation Army tried to broker a backroom deal with the Bush Administration to overrule state and local laws banning anti-gay discrimination in the workplace. Here's an excerpt from the Post article:
And don't be fooled by the Salvation Army's crafty public relations
spin on this issue. They like to trick folks by saying "we don't
discriminate in the provision of our services." True enough, you can shop at a Salvation Army store to your heart's content. But they DO reserve the right to discriminate in hiring, promoting, and firing gay people, and in the benefits they provide their employees. And they come right out and admit that "practicing homosexuals" are not welcome in the "church."
SALVATION ARMY TRIED TO OVERRULE LOCAL GAY RIGHTS LAWS
A Washington Post front-page expose two years ago revealed that the Salvation Army tried to broker a backroom deal with the Bush Administration to overrule state and local laws banning anti-gay discrimination in the workplace. Here's an excerpt from the Post article:
"The Bush administration is working with the nation's largest charity, the Salvation Army, to make it easier for government-funded religious groups to practice hiring discrimination against gay people, according to an internal Salvation Army document.... George Hood, a senior official with the Salvation Army, said the group never discriminates in delivering its services, but on the question of hiring gay employees, 'it really begins to chew away at he theological fabric of who we are.'"- Washington Post, 7/10/2001. You can read the entire Wash Post story here.And here are a few beauts from the Salvation Army's various Web sites around the world:
"Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage." - Salvation Army USA Web site, Dec. 2003
"[Homosexual activity is] as rebellion against God's plan for the created order.... Homosexual practice, however, is, in the light of Scripture, clearly unacceptable. Such activity is chosen behaviour and is thus a matter of the will. It is therefore able to be directed or restrained in the same way heterosexual urges are controlled. Homosexual practice would render any person ineligible for full membership (soldiership) in the [Salvation] Army." - Salvation Army Australia Web site (emphasis added)And did you know that Salvation Army in Scotland actively fought against the repeal of anti-gay laws in that country?
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