If the Catholic church in an African country is one of the few choices for education, and in these schools they teach that birth control is evil and that condems are evil even for prevention of disease, should they get credit for feeding and educating the children born for lack of planning (whose parents can't feed them) and taking care of AIDS victims?
If an evangelical church offers 'reparative' therapy, where they try to change homosexuals into heterosexuals, should they get credit for offering counseling?
If a religious organization runs a summer camp where they teach children to be ashamed of themselves and how to be 'soldiers' for Christ, does this fall under tax exempt charity work?
There is a very large homeless shelter here run by a religious organization. I know someone that ended up there for while, and he told me that before they were allowed to eat, they had to sit through a sermon. Is this REALLY helping people of all faiths, when their own faith was disregarded and they were forced to be prosylitized to? What is the motivation? Charity?
When I was a JW, I met a woman who was really proud of the work she did at a hunger center. The part that made her proud was that all the hungry were first 'fed' the word of the Lord, and then they got real food. Same questions as above.
My aunt's husband wanted to send their daughters to attend a Catholic school. BUT FIRST, my aunt had to become Catholic (trust me, this was in name only, nothing in her life changed including her beliefs---that was enough for THEM). Then their finances were investigated, and the church determined how much they had to donate each week. My aunt would show up for mass, make her donation, and leave. When they needed help with tuition, they charitably allowed her to work once a week in the Bingo hall. Is this charitable? Is this motivated by wanting to do good for all, regardless of religion and economics?
When a religious school accepts government vouchers (paid by tax dollars) as tuition to educate children, thereby draining the public school system of much needed money, is this really good for all, or only for their own?
The way I see it, religion causes and complicates so many problems, and then gets credit for cleaning up some of their own messes, OR get credit for charity when they really are looking for members (get them when they are down and weak, that'll bring 'em in), or the majority suffers because they are syphoning off government funds.
Church charity is a murkey cesspool when motives and practices are pulled into the light. Yes, very good people donate time and energy to these causes. Maybe they have completely different motives than the organization, but that doesn't change the system they work in.
I hope secular organizations continue to flourish, but secularists are in the minority and therefore don't get the same support. Churches suck up the manpower. But my wish is that more secular charities pop up with crisper agendas---to give charity---without pushing agendas, either for or against belief in any ideology. Neutral. TRULY helping people without trying to ensnare them into any money making religion.
I think Bill Maher made a fantastic point when they were discussing Romney's 'charitible' donations to the mormon church. He put a pic of the mormon temple next to a pic of a free clinic that focused on children. A palace compared to a crumbling shack. How many children could be treated with the money that goes into these buildings?
And I know that there are other buildings we can look at and say "how many children could have been fed?" but these buildings are not supported by charity, or with money syphoned from the government, and they don't get treated like they have some altruistic motive for building their buildings. There will always be extravagence, and that's fine, it is just irritating when they hide it behind a story of "oh, we care sooooo much, and just want to help" bullshit.
NC