This is salvation army’s statement against people who are LGBTQ. When you see them ringing a bell outside the grocery store or mall, please think twice before giving them your change.
This is something that I find interesting. I’ve seen a lot of people reblogging this, etc. and I get why. At the same time, we also live in Canada, a country where free speech is apparently one of our rights. I also find it interesting that everyone is getting in really pissed off about that one paragraph, but then don’t look at the paragraph under it which states:
“likewise, there is no scriptural support for demeaning or mistreating anyone for reason of his or her sexual orientation. The Salvation Army opposes any such abuse.”
Albeit I am not saying that I agree with the Salvation Army RE: the “highlighted” section, I do wish that people would read the entire thing before making a huge stink out of it. I am fully supportive towards anything LGBTQ, and do not agree that we should take an old book 100% literally, but the Salvation Army has the right to say whatever they want to. They’re stating their specific beliefs regarding something, but don’t condone persecution of these same individuals. There are lots of things wrong with this world, and a lot of things have changed A LOT over the past few years. The SA is an OLD organization, with foundations rooted in religious dogma; however they also do a whole hell of a lot of good.
There are a lot of really shitty things about religion, but there is a lot of good that comes from it as well. Who are the majority of people running soup kitchens, donating huge chunks of money to charities and donating time and resources to help the needy? It’s usually those religious type people. I’m not saying I love them, but I’m not saying I hate them either. We’re all just god damn human beings. You’re allowed to believe whatever the hell you want to believe, but at least the Sally Ann aren’t like those assholes from godhatesfags.com. Fuck those guys.
You can donate to whoever the hell you want to donate money to, and don’t blanket everything that’s positive due to one section of text that’s a negative. I think it’s fucked that one person decides to box off a specific section of text, and then the whole internet world ends up in a huge uproar screaming “oh no! fuck the salvation army! they’re a bunch of homophobes!”. I doubt they are to be honest. Most religious folks aren’t. Go and talk to some, and don’t be generalize negative findings from small sample sizes. It’s one of the first things you’ll hear in a research methods class. For some reason it makes sense in class, but we tend to ignore it in the real world.
Sorry for the vent, internet.
I think it’s apologetic to say religion isn’t that bad. Disapproving of discrimination against LGBTQs is not good enough. As a well funded charitable organization, standing idly by just doesn’t cut it - they should be speaking out against abuse.
The charity many christian missionaries provide come with strings attached; many christian organizations working in Africa reject the use of contraceptives, further undermining the rights of women and propelling the spread of disease. (that’s one example out of many but it is a significant one)
I would say it is better to be vehemently skeptical in regards to the affairs and conduct of Christian organizations and their ignorant agendas.
Oh, I whole heartedly agree Paula, just saying. I think my frustration stems less from the specific post and more from the fact that I find a great deal of people blanket all religious people as being pieces of shit, which I think is fucking retarded. Pardon my polite and eloquently written sentence. I’m also not saying that I support it, (and these belief systems in general) at all, because I don’t. I don’t believe in a lot of shit that these organizations have to say, and there are a lot of absolutely abhorrent things done by charities (both religious and not). I guess I just started to get the vibe, and have been for a long time, that a lot of people blanket religious people in general as being homophobic, bigot assholes, which isn’t necessarily true. There are a lot of these people within these organizations and many outside of them too. Albeit these institutions (eg. The Salvation Army, the Catholic Church, the Church of England, etc.) may be preaching and standing by this type of dogma, there are substantial numbers of individuals within these groups that don’t believe it, don’t want it, and want change.
I’m not saying “I love the Sally Ann, give them all your money!”. I’m just saying that you can choose to donate your money to whoever in gods name you want to donate to. It’s your money. We live in a society of choice (be it a good or bad thing). I’m not condoning or supporting anything, and I’m sure one of my 5 followers will probably get mad because typing this shit on the internet is a pain in the fucking ass and not conducive to getting a point across at all. In the end we’re all just a bunch of god damn people trapped in some ideological mindset. I don’t really know any other way of saying it. This rant has gone on too long. dert.
