Do not donate to the Salvation Army
We can do good better
Religious people often claim moral superiority because of the fact that there are so many religious charities, and so few explicitly secular ones. The reason for that, of course, is that atheists generally don’t care whether the charity is labelled “Christian” (or whatever other religion), so long as it does good work. Unfortunately, it turns out that in some cases, the label does matter, and one of those cases is The Salvation Army.
You know them. They have arms in over 100 countries, with slick advertising campaigns, and pick-up bins and outlet stores in most major urban areas. Every year around Christmas time they come out in droves with their little pots – sometimes with musical accompaniment, sometimes just bells – and camp out in malls and on street corners asking for your spare change with “sharing is caring” signage. It’s hard to forget about their religious background given that the word “salvation” is right in their name, but they’re so pervasive, and so non-controversial, that it’s just not a big deal to most people. And if you do want to donate to a charity at holiday time, you can’t beat the convenience. For years it used to be my custom to do all my Christmas shopping with a set amount of money, and once it was done, whatever was left went straight into the bucket of the first Salvation Army volunteer I happened across.
I now regret that custom, and will no longer donate to the Salvation Army. I also ask anyone of conscience to stop doing it, too.
Why? Because it’s a religious organization? Not exactly. The fact alone that they are religious never bothered me, and it still wouldn’t today. Unfortunately, there are some disturbing facts about their operations that are not well known that ruin their value as a charity. And, unfortunately, their religious background is to blame for their failings.
The Salvation Army sometimes refuses help to people they don’t approve of
The Salvation Army is an explicitly Christian organization, and has in practice – many times – shown the limits of Christian charity by refusing to help various groups. In other cases, they have refused help unless the people being helped attend Christian lectures and services.
I know it sounds almost too shocking to believe, but it’s actually true. The Salvation Army has refused assistance to gay couples unless they break up and go straight, Muslim families who refuse to attend “Christian Bible classes”, kids who can’t prove their immigration status, and more.
The Salvation Army claims that (some of!) these kinds of lapses are isolated incidents, and that they contradict the policy of the organization as a whole. That may be partially true, but for some facts to keep in mind:
- Some types of discrimination are explicitly Salvation Army policy (more on this shortly). While there may not be explicit instructions to refuse help to groups that are institutionally discriminated against – and while such a refusal might contradict with their stated policy – there are apparently no instructions to require that help be given, which is an important point, because;
- The various branches and shelters of the Salvation Army have a fair amount of independence in their day-to-day activities. Whenever one of these discrimination incidents hits the media, the organization usually responds by saying that the decisions were made at the local level, not at the top. That’s probably true, but when you stack the organization with religious people, under a religious banner (and, in some cases, institutionalize the bigotry associated with the religion), it’s foolish not to expect some kind of religious discrimination to happen. Mission statements notwithstanding, if you’re a religious organization, and you’re serious about preventing discrimination when providing services, it’s irresponsible not to make it clear that discrimination during operations is not tolerable.
So if you’re a member of some group not approved by standard Christian mores, it’s a craps-shoot whether you are going to receive help or not. That’s bad, but it gets worse, because the discrimination exists on the other side, too.
The Salvation Army sometimes discards or destroys donations they don’t approve of
If you donate something to the Salvation Army, such as a toy or a book, you would expect that it would almost certainly end up in the hands of a needy person, or at least at one of their thrift stores so that the proceeds could go to the needy. You would be wrong. The Sally Ann [slang for Salvation army] refuses to distribute the Twilight and Harry Potter toys because of their wizardry, vampire and werewolf content,
said Capt. Pam Goodyear.
Please note: the undesirable toys are not sent to another charity, they are destroyed. [1]
It’s not just your donated Harry Potter and Twilight toys at risk of being silently destroyed, because, as Canadian Atheist‘s Ian Cromwell reveals, the Salvation Army burns destroys books. Which books? Well, some are reasonable candidates, like pornography (although, really, if you don’t want to distribute it, at least give it to another charity who might), but others…:
On the other hand, maybe they're doing the world a favour by keeping Harry Potter and Twilight out of the hands of children
Cromwell: What books (besides pornography and promiscuity) are removed from your shelves?
Salvation Army spokesperson: Books that promote any religion other than Christianity. Certain authors who we know use bad language, explicit sex or violence in their books. Again, I repeat our knowledge in this area is limited so it is highly probable that we miss some unsuitable books.
Cromwell: What happens to those books? Are they put in a place where others may read them?
Salvation Army spokesperson: Destroyed, not re-circulated.
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- [1] The Toronto Sun article is contradictory on this point. The story’s source was told the toys would not be sent to another charity, but the Salvation Army representative said they would, although he could not name any. However, this does not invalidate the claim that they are destroyed because another article, with a different Salvation Army source, confirms unequivocally that some items are destroyed. That source is used later in this article. ↩