the Salvation Army is uncharitable

[miriam_e]

I've always been suspicious of charities that emphasise religion. Plenty of religious and non-religious people do charitable things without feeling the need to use it as a platform for extending their superstitions to other people. I'd always heard about the good things the Salvos do, but had never heard the bad. It is important to know what a charity really does before you give them money (and power). If it does evil things then that is not negated by doing some good things.

Here is some information lifted directly from the facebook information page for http://www.facebook.com/BoycottSalvationArmy:

The Salvation Army is not only a charity, but an evangelical church promoting conservative Christianity and anti-gay politics.

In their own words:
Marriage is "one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others."
"Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex."
"...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." (The Salvation Army position statements: http://tinyurl.com/83lz86)

In 1986, the Salvation Army gathered signatures against the repeal of a New Zealand law criminalizing homosexuality. (http://tinyurl.com/2vfpvba)

In 2000, the Salvation Army in Scotland spoke out against the repeal of Section 28, which prohibited schools from treating homosexuality as acceptable. (http://tinyurl.com/yb4hvnr)

In 2001, the Salvation Army secretly made a deal with the Bush administration to exempt them from local ordinances outlawing discrimination against gay people. The deal fell through when internal SA documents were exposed by the Washington Post. (http://tinyurl.com/5e3awh)

In 2004, the Salvation Army threatened to close all their soup kitchens and homeless shelters in New York City instead of following an ordinance requiring city contractors to provide equal benefits to domestic partners. Discriminating against gays was more important to them than helping the poor. (http://tinyurl.com/2ef7kdm)

Giving to the Salvation Army means funding this kind of bigotry. There are many other charities that are just as helpful, without spreading homophobia:

* Doctors Without Borders (http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/)
* The American Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/)
* Heifer International (http://www.heifer.org/)
* The Trevor Project (http://www.thetrevorproject.org/)
* Direct Relief International (http://www.directrelief.org/)

Later edit: I've just read Zinnia Jones' blog pieces about the Salvation army too here and here. He also has a video on the topic at The Salvation Army: Doing "the most good"? and Status quo bias, charity, and the trolley problem.