A salvation army employee “has been suspended and will lose his job if he goes ahead with plans to marry a woman who is not a fellow Salvation Army officer.”
That’s crazy. I know Christians think Christians should only marry believers, but for the SA to say their “officers” must marry other officers? It’s creepy cultish.
There’s only one upside to this: it makes me feel a little better for ignoring the rehab bell-ringer outside of the grocery store the other day.
There must be better organizations for atheists/agnostics to support. What do you recommend?
Your local United Way. You can give money to the general fund or specify a group. The Red Cross is always good.
A Salvation Army officer is a minister or priest, and the regulation has been in place since the church was founded (around 1850, I think). Calling him an “employee” is a bit misleading. The situation is closer, I think, to a Catholic priest wanting to marry. You would not say “Church employee fired for marrying” in that case, I assume.
Also, IIRC, this regulation has been relaxed or lifted elsewhere, and rightly so. Don’t quote me on that, but last I heard in Britain and Canada, officers could marry non-officers.
@Pyat: I realize that, but it only makes it worse. Priests are not allowed to marry at all, so I don’t think that’s really comparable.
Rather, it’s like a church telling a pastor he can only marry other pastors or staff in their church denomination.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
I can’t even think of a stupid reason for this rule, much less a reasonable one.
This is absurd.
The SA has no business telling anyone who they can and cannot marry. They greatly exceed their authority here.
Just another reason to not donate to the SA.
My recommendations for alternative charities would be as follows:
1. Goodwill Industries – http://www.goodwill.org
2. The Red Cross – http://www.redcross.org
3. Habitat for Humanity – http://www.habitat.org
4. Americans United for Separation of Church and State – http://www.au.org
5. The ACLU – http://www.aclu.org
Each of these organizations carries out what I consider to be a progressive agenda. Any of them would welcome any donations that people would like to make.
To hell with the Salvation Army and its cult-like hold on its employees and the people they “serve”.
There are so many good charities out there. Seasonal ones, even.
Foodbanks, Red-cross, children’s hospitals, Childs-play, SPCA, Zoos, Museums, Libraries (public, or school) – donate science books, Boys and Girls clubs, drop off stuffed toys at fire halls or ambulances (even if they don’t have something specific, they can hand them out at accidents), searches for cures (pick a disease that has impacted your family or friends)…
For an organisation that is a great one to support that specifically states they have no religious affiliations, I’d go with Heifer International. They do the “hand up not a hand out” type of thing. They give animals for families to have a way to help feed themselves, something to sell or trade with other villagers, and when the animal breeds, they give it away to someone else in the village. You can give cows, sheep, chickens, goats, geese, ect. Mostly they are using what the animal produces (wool, milk, eggs). This doesn’t work for those who are looking to support those in need within the United States, but almost all of the organisations that I know of and contribute to for in the States are local to Michigan.
Also, John, with your “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”, it took me a moment to figure out what you meant by that. Very clever!
EDIT TO ABOVE STATEMENT:
Heifer International does do work within the borders of the United States, helping to support sustainable agriculture in very low income areas.
My personal favorites are Oceana.org, and Mercy Corps. Mercy Corps scores very highly on Charity Navigator’s rankings as using more of their donations for direct aid than most others. They’re based here in Portland, OR, but work worldwide. They put a very small percentage of their donations into “administrative” expenses.
Charity Navigator
I thought I was the only one who said “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”. :(
Bell-ringers annoy me. They should have smaller bells. Or at least make those poor people wear hearing protection, Foxtrot Charlie Oscar Lima.
My dislike for the Salvation Army has led me to set up a Dougmas Jar during the month of December. I keep it by where I dump my keys in the evening. When I get home I dump all my change in the jar. At the end of the month I count the change and send a check to my favorite secular charity.
I like the Solar Electric Light Fund (self.org) and Trees for the Future (treesftf.org).
In the Salvation Army, husband and wife are co-pastors – you’ve got to be married before you enter training to be SA officers.
In this case the man’s wife died, and this is his second marriage. Private organizations have the right to set rules for the members, even if they’re stupid ones.
I always donate to Habitat for Humanity. Good group and no preaching.
I always donate to Habitat for Humanity. Good group and no preaching.
….which, considering they were started by a conservative Christian, is pretty good going. Except: the one time I went on a Habitat workday, first thing this minister shows up and we all stand around in a circle while he says a prayer. Then he leaves and we start in with the real work of banging in nails and such. Irritating, though not enough to stop me going on another workday (sometime, when I get around to it…no, really — I *like* building stuff….)
I would point people to http://www.kiva.org .
Kiva does not ask you to give money, only to loan it. They provide loans to small business in third world countries.
So a small business goes to one of the Kiva partners and asks for a loan (usually between $200 and $1000). The loan gets posted to Kiva along with a photo and a short paragraph or 2 about the client and what they will use it for. People chip in $25 a piece until the loan in funded. Then, over the term of the loan that can run for 6 months to 15 months, the loan is paid back. You get your money back and you can pull it out or you can loan it to someone else. So the money is always being re-cycled to help the next person.
So sign up at Kiva, make a loan or 2 and join the Atheist, Agnostic, and Free Thinkers group. We are in second place, but the Kiva Christians are hot on our tail. Help us stay ahead of the Christians.
You can view my loans here:
http://www.kiva.org/lender/devin7957
I’m new and my loans have not been paid back yet. I should start seeing some payback in another week or 2.
I would also point out that some of the Kiva partners are strongly associated with religious organizations. So you may want to check out the loan partner before funding the loan to be sure who you are giving it to. One of the partners, Hope International, makes a point of saying that it has Christian Loan Officers, who will be sure that the client’s spiritual needs are also taken care of. I funded one of these loans before doing much research on the partners and I don’t think I will fund another Hope loan.
Kiva seconded. I donated a couple hundred bucks, and got it all back (you don’t earn interest, but that’s ok by me).
Kiva does accept donations, but that’s for the organization itself, NOT the borrowers.
Heifer & Habitat were mentioned, but no one mentioned SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) – one of the best charities that I’ve found.
Direct Relief is the most efficient secular charity in existence with something like 98.2% of the money it collects going directly to the beneficiaries. There is a blerb about it and some links here:
http://www.atheistnexus.org/group/chariotsofiron
Happy holidays, ya’ll.
Donate to Wikipedia.
I’d also like to throw in UNICEF’s Gifts of Magic, and http://www.spreadthenet.org, which works to stop childhood malaria infection.
If, as Michael says, you can specify a group when you give to the United Way, I would definitely suggest you do so. There was a meeting not too long ago at my place of employment about signing up to have part of your paycheck sent to the United Way. I found out from my manager later (because I missed the meeting) that it would all be sent to a local charity, which is run by… The Salvation Army. Needless to say, I didn’t opt in.
ddr, thanks for the reminder about Kiva. I had heard of it before, but had forgotten about it. In general, despite being a wacko left pinko commie (or however that goes), I prefer the “hand up” to “hand out” charities (though I see the need for both), and that one sounds good.
What, you mean they STILL do that? I thought Huxley’s critique of the Salvation Army (In Evolution and Ethics was entirely historical.
I was a Salvation Army Officer for more then 20 years and I can say with authroity that you have it all wrong with respect to the marrying issue. What you are missing is that the Officer is asked to commit to marrrying only other Officers at the time they are ordained. All the Army is doing is enforcing the agreement.
The reasoning behind this committment is that Officers are required to put unbelievable hours into both the social work and ministry of the organization. This reqirement is the best way to insure that when marriages occur, they will last.
As for what charity to give to? I don’t blame you for not wanting to donate to an evangelical organization. If you are not a believer you do not want you money going to support an organization like this. However, I can tell you from experience that it is the most frugal charity on the face of the earth. No other organization even comes close to the Army’s efficient use of a donated dollar.
As for my personal position and why I left, I will only say that they required too much of me and my family. I gave more then twenty years to serving the needs of other people. I need to serve the needs of myself and my family now. And for the record, I have no ties whatsoever to them at this point in my life. Nor do I want any.
@John: Thanks for giving your perspective. I always appreciate the view from the inside. Thanks!
Just recently started reading your blog and have been browsing through tonight. I found this post and thought I’d give a link to another good charity. I know it’s after Christmas, but there’s always next year.
http://www.childsplaycharity.org/index.php